AUSTRALIA
Medicinal marijuana backed
Lawmakers yesterday committed to legalize the growing of marijuana for medical use. The government introduced a bill to parliament that would amend the Narcotics Drugs Act 1967 and create a licensing scheme for growing medicinal cannabis. Marijuana is currently illegal throughout the nation, but two states are considering making it available for therapeutic uses. “This government understands that there are some Australians suffering from severe conditions for which cannabis may have applications and we want to enable access to the most effective medical treatments available,” Minister of Health Sussan Ley told parliament. The bill is guaranteed to become law because the main opposition party also supports it.
THAILAND
Fake passport gang busted
Police have rounded up six foreigners allegedly behind one of the kingdom’s biggest and best counterfeit passport operations, officers said yesterday. Five years of investigation culminated in the arrest of alleged Iranian kingpin Hamid Reza Jafary, a 48-year-old man also known as “The Doctor,” who had been crafting forgeries from his home in Chachoengsao Province, police said. “He was wanted by security agencies in many countries, especially the EU and Japan,” Immigration Police commander Lieutenant General Nathathorn Prousoontorn said. Five Pakistani intermediaries were also arrested on Monday. The ring allegedly shipped passports to overseas clients for up to 80,000 baht (US$2,300). Jafary’s fake passports were the “best quality in the market,” an immigration officer said.
MYANMAR
Military plane crashes
At least four military personnel were feared dead yesterday after a small air force propeller plane crashed shortly after takeoff in the capital, Naypyidaw, official sources said. The Beechcraft passenger plane, which was carrying five crew members and believed to be on a routine patrol, went down in agricultural land near the airport. The plane burst into flames soon after leaving the runway, according to an airport official.
JAPAN
Watanabe has cancer
Actor Ken Watanabe, an Academy Award nominee for his performance in the movie The Last Samurai and lauded in the recent Broadway revival of The King and I, has stomach cancer and will have to postpone plans to return to Broadway. Watanabe, who more than 20 years ago survived two bouts of leukemia, was diagnosed “almost miraculously early” with the cancer last month and underwent surgery, he said on Twitter. “I was really shocked, my wife and daughter pushed me to have a health check and the cancer was found. It was a very early stage and they operated immediately,” he added. “I’ll be resting in February so my arrival in New York will be somewhat delayed.”
MEXICO
Sikh satisfied with apology
An Indian-American actor and designer who was not allowed to board a Mexico City-to-New York flight after refusing to remove his turban on Tuesday said that he is satisfied with an apology from the airline. Waris Ahluwalia said he is now waiting for Aeromexico to implement special training on how to treat Sikh passengers. “We’re just a few steps away from a lot of hugs,” he said. Aeromexico on Tuesday said: “We apologize to Mr. Waris Ahluwalia for the unfortunate experience he had with one of our security guards during the boarding process.”
‘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
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in