CHINA
CCP boss wants to see love
The different ethnic groups who live in Xinjiang should make friends with each other to improve trust between them, Beijing’s top official there was quoted as saying yesterday. Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Secretary Zhang Chunxian (張春賢) said during a meeting in Urumqi that more effort was needed to boost ethnic harmony. “We must, starting from officials in leadership positions, broadly develop different ethnicities making friends with each other,” he said in comments carried by the Xinjiang Daily. Xinjiang needs a society in which “all ethnicities respect, trust, love and help one another,” he said.
DUBAI
Saudis regret Yemen deaths
A Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen regrets civilian deaths, which it says are unintentional, and is improving its targeting mechanisms with Western help, the alliance said on Sunday. A UN report seen by reporters on Wednesday last week said the Saudi-led coalition has targeted civilians in Yemen, documenting 119 sorties it said related to violations of international humanitarian law. In a news conference in Riyadh on Sunday, Saudi coalition spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri acknowledged mistakes in air operations, but mostly defended the alliance’s record.
CHINA
Rinpoche’s killers sentenced
Two men have been sentenced to death for stabbing to death a British monk who founded Europe’s first Tibetan monastery over a financial dispute, the state-run China News Service said late on Sunday. Akong Tulku Rinpoche, cofounder of Scotland’s Samye Ling monastery, was found dead with multiple stab wounds at his home in Chengdu in 2013. Tudeng Gusang and Tsering Banjue were convicted of killing Akong and two other men, while an accomplice was sentenced to three years in jail. The killings were linked to a dispute over a 2.7 million yuan (US$410,000) payment.
NIGERIA
Scores killed in raids
More than 50 people were killed in a series of raids on northeastern villages that officials say was the work of Boko Haram. The exact death toll of Saturday’s night attack was uncertain, after the militants stormed several settlements on the outskirts of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno Province. Residents said the gunmen arrived in two cars and a motorbike and set upon the villages. Musa Bawa, a resident of a village that was attacked, said more than 100 people had been killed.
CHINA
an acquitted after decades
A man jailed more than two decades ago for murder was acquitted yesterday. Chen Man was handed a suspended death sentence for killing a man on Hainan Island in November 1994, but the high court of Zhejiang Province, where he was originally convicted, pronounced Chen not guilty due to “lack of evidence,” it said. Chen’s case was re-opened in April last year after he appealed. Chen — who is in his early 50s — was convicted solely on the basis of confessions which were “inconsistent” during two trials which convicted him, the judge said.
MEXICO
Birthday party turns deadly
A teenager’s 15th birthday party became the scene of a ghastly massacre in Guerrero state, where 11 people were fatally shot, officials said on Sunday. The shooting occurred on Friday at a quinceanera coming-of-age celebration.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in 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
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was