AUSTRALIA
Leaders back republic
State leaders yesterday threw their support behind a republic, with one saying the nation should not have to wait for the end of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign to cut ties with the British monarchy. Ahead of Australia Day today, seven of the nation’s eight state and territory leaders signed a declaration calling for an Australian head of state to replace the reigning royal in London. The only state leader not to sign up, Western Australia Premier Colin Barnett, said he also supported a republic, but just did not think “the time is right.” Federal Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is already a noted republican, having passionately led the cause ahead of a failed referendum in 1999, as is opposition Labor leader Bill Shorten. Australian Republican Movement chairman Peter FitzSimons seized on the new enthusiasm. “All of Australia’s political leaders now support an Australian head of state,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
BRAZIL
Most escapees recaptured
A report by a leading news conglomerate says nearly 40 prisoners have been recaptured or killed after escaping from a prison in the northeastern coastal city of Recife by using explosives to detonate a hole in the facility’s wall. Globo television’s Internet portal G1 says 36 of those who escaped during Saturday afternoon’s jailbreak have been recaptured. Two were killed, one is in the hospital and the last remains at large. The break took place at Recife’s Frei Damiao de Bozanno penitentiary. A surveillance video on G1 shows a powerful explosion ripping through a wall. Several calls made on Sunday to the Pernambuco state’s penitentiary authority went unanswered.
SPAIN
Major quake hits southeast
There were no immediate reports of any casualties or major damage across the southern coast early yesterday after a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck about 162km southeast of Malaga. The quake hit at 4:22am GMT, the Spanish National Geographic Institute said, and was followed by six lesser aftershocks. The US Geological Survey had earlier reported the tremor had a magnitude of 6.6 and was registered at 33km deep. Emergency services in Andalucia said in a statement on their Twitter feed they had received 250 calls from alarmed residents. The tremors and aftershocks were felt throughout the region, including in the cities of Malaga, Cordoba, Seville and Granada. In Melilla, a Spanish enclave on the Moroccan coast, emergency services said they had received more than 200 calls from people warning of damage to properties. Schools remained shut yesterday so buildings could be inspected. Media in Melilla said power was being restored to areas where it had been cut.
IRAN
Official calls out to Riyadh
Tehran and Riyadh should take every step to de-escalate the tension between them, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said yesterday. Tensions between the two countries have escalated since Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Shiite cleric on Jan. 2. Iranian protesters then stormed Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran, prompting Riyadh to break off ties with Tehran. “We are prepared to consider any initiative which can help this region become more stable and of course safer, so we can combat the real challenge and the real threat in the region which is terrorism, extremism and of course sectarianism which is a big threat to all of us in the region,” Araqchi told reporters at an aviation conference in Tehran.
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