MEXICO
Hurricane Sandra weakens
Hurricane Sandra weakened to a tropical storm on Friday and was expected to continue losing strength as it approached Mexico’s Pacific coast, the US National Hurricane Center said. The storm — about 346km southwest of the Pacific port of Mazatlan on Friday evening — was producing maximum sustained winds of 70kph, the center said. “Sandra is expected to be near tropical storm strength when it moves near the coast of Mexico in the warning area on Saturday. After the center moves inland, Sandra should quickly dissipate,” the Miami-based center said. Sandra had been the strongest hurricane recorded in the eastern Pacific Ocean this late in the year. The nation called off a tropical storm watch for the southernmost portion of Baja California. However, it issued a tropical storm warning for part of the mainland and for Las Islas Marias, an archipelago off the Pacific coast. Last month, Hurricane Patricia, which at one point registered as one of the strongest hurricanes ever recorded, landed on the nation’s Pacific coast, but did not inflict major damage.
AUSTRALIA
Police powers to rise: report
Police are to be granted powers to tackle gun crime, including the ability to search suspects without a court warrant, the Australian newspaper reported yesterday, without saying where it got the information. States and territories are considering drafting laws comparable with those introduced by New South Wales state that allow police officers to search anyone subject to an existing firearms prohibition order without a court order, the newspaper said. More than 1,000 people, houses and cars have been searched for guns or gun parts since the New South Wales state law came into effect in November 2013 as police try to crack down on organized crime and prevent terror attacks.
FRANCE
Solvents, fuels banned
The government has banned the sale of some domestic fuels and solvents as well as fireworks in the Paris region as part of security measures surrounding a UN climate meeting that gets under way tomorrow, France Info reported. Stores in the capital and surrounding suburbs have been asked to pull products such as burning alcohol, acetone and fire starters as well as firecrackers, the radio station reported, without saying where it got the information. The measure is to be in effect from Saturday through Dec. 13.
AUSTRALIA
Voters pan policies: poll
Voters have marked down the federal government’s performance on key policy issues since prime minister Malcolm Turnbull ousted former prime minister Tony Abbott, the Australian Financial Review reported. The government’s performance rating fell across all 11 policies, including the cost of living and border security, the newspaper reported yesterday, citing a survey by JWS Research. The survey of 1,100 voters was conducted from Nov. 5 to Nov. 10 and the previous poll was taken in June, the report said. It asked respondents about issues ranging from healthcare to the economy, education and immigration. While Turnbull has turned around the government’s standing with voters, he has yet to improve scores on key issues, the newspaper said. Turnbull deposed Abbott in September after the government trailed in opinion polls for more than 12 months. His coalition led the Labor opposition by 53 percent to 47 percent on a two-party preferred basis, according to a survey published in the Australian newspaper on Tuesday.
CHINA
Pollution smothers Beijing
Air pollution in Beijing has reached hazardous levels as smog engulfed large parts of the country despite efforts to clean up the foul air. The US embassy in Beijing reported the level of PM2.5 — airborne particles measuring 2.5 micrometers or less that are capable of penetrating the deepest part of lungs — at 391 micrograms per cubic meter at noon yesterday. The WHO considers the safe level at 25 micrograms per cubic meter of the particulates. The Ministry of Environmental Protection has forecast severe pollution for the greater Beijing region, as well as the western part of Shandong Province and the northern part of Henan Province until Tuesday, when strong winds from the north are expected to blow away air pollutants. The ministry has advised the public to stay indoors.
PHILIPPINES
Military receives fighter jets
The government has taken delivery of its first two South Korean-made fighter jets, the country’s first supersonic combat aircraft in a decade, as it strengthens its military amid a territorial conflict with China. The Philippine Air Force said the Korea Aerospace Industries FA-50 jets yesterday touched down at Clark Freeport Zone, a former US Air Force base north of Manila, to applause from security officials led by Secretary of National Defense Voltaire Gazmin. It bought a total of 12 aircraft. “We’re glad we’re finally back to supersonic age,” Gazmin said. The military, one of Asia’s least equipped, has been building up its air force and navy at a time of an escalating territorial feud with Beijing in the South China Sea. Its last fleet of a supersonic combat aircraft, the Northrop F-5, was decommissioned in 2005.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese