LIBYA
UN unity deal rejected
The internationally recognized parliament on Monday rejected a UN-sponsored unity government with rival authorities based in Tripoli, dealing a blow to months of efforts aimed at bridging a political divide that has undermined the fight against Islamic militants. House of Representatives member Abu Bakr Beira said 89 out of 104 MPs rejected the Cabinet formed by the UN-sponsored unity presidential council. He said the council would be dissolved if it failed to meet a 10-day deadline to form a new, smaller Cabinet. The parliament endorsed the political agreement underpinning the new government, but objected to an article that would dismiss General Khalifa Hifter. That left the fate of the peace deal uncertain, as the UN has said repeatedly that there will be no changes.
MALAYSIA
Thirteen migrants drown
Police said 13 bodies, believed to be Indonesian illegal immigrants, were found washed ashore after their boat capsized in bad sea conditions. District police chief Rahmat Othman said the bodies of four men and nine women were discovered on a beach in Johor State by members of the public early yesterday. He said authorities found an overturned wooden boat not far from the beach, which had likely capsized before dawn. Rahmat said the boat was believed to be carrying 30 to 35 people, most likely Indonesians trying to sneak into the country. A search and rescue operation is under way, but is being hampered by high tides and choppy seas, he said.
MALAYSIA
Debris not from Flight 370
Authorities have confirmed that the piece of metal found washed up on a Thai beach is not from the missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777. The confirmation yesterday came after a Japanese rocket maker said the piece is likely part of a rocket launched by Japan. Minister of Transport Liow Tiong Lai said in a statement that Malaysian and Thai experts examined the debris and ascertained that the numbers engraved on the body, the wire bundle and the bolts do not match those of a Boeing 777. Flight 370 took off from Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014, for Beijing, but it soon lost communications and made a sharp turn away from its destination before disappearing.
ISRAEL
Victim of attack dies
A woman stabbed by two Palestinians in a West Bank settlement has died of her wounds, a spokeswoman for Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem said yesterday. Another woman who was less severely wounded in the same attack on Monday at a grocery store in Beit Horon settlement, northwest of Jerusalem, was being treated at another hospital. The two attackers were shot dead by security guards. Israeli police said one was in his early 20s, while the other was a teenager. The attack was the third inside a West Bank settlement since Jan. 17, when an Israeli woman was stabbed to death at the entrance to her home in Otniel.
RUSSIA
Fifty die of swine flu
At least 50 people have died of swine flu in the nation since last month, according to calculations based on data from regional health authorities. Health authorities in the southern region of Rostov told RIA Novosti state news agency on Monday that an additional two people had succumbed to the virus, bringing the region’s swine flu death toll to eight. Officials in the nearby Volgograd region have said that at least 11 people have died of swine flu.
‘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
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
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