UKRAINE
Conflict affecting children
The conflict in Ukraine has “deeply affected” 580,000 children close to the front lines and in areas in the volatile east not under government control, the UN children’s agency said late on Thursday. UNICEF said in a statement that about 200,000 children need psycho-social support. Kiev remains locked in conflict with Moscow, which annexed the Crimean Peninsula and has supported a pro-Russian insurgency in the east. Fighting there has killed more than 9,000 people since April 2014 and devastated the nation’s industrial heartland.
UNITED STATES
Marriage forms approved
The Kentucky Senate has approved a bill that creates different marriage license forms for gay and straight couples, with one Republican senator saying a form that does not include the words “bride” and “groom” is disrespectful to traditional families. The Senate voted 30-8 on the bill that also removes the names of county clerks from marriage license forms. The bill is in response to Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis’ refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, because the licenses contained her name. Davis spent five days in jail for refusing to obey a federal court order.
UNITED STATES
Gun industry targets children
The firearms industry is targeting children as young as six with brightly colored guns and encouraging parents to let children take up shooting at an early age, according to a report released on Thursday. The Violence Policy Center, which aims to stop gun violence, said in its report that gun manufacturers are marketing to the youngest consumers, because their primary market — white men — is aging. “The firearms industry has set its sights on America’s children. Much like the tobacco industry’s search for replacement smokers, the gun industry is seeking replacement shooters,” the group said in a statement. “Along with the hope of increased gun sales, a corollary goal of this effort is the creation of the next generation of pro-gun advocates for future political battles.”
UNITED STATES
McCartney gets Tyga offer
Rapper Tyga has offered to personally escort Paul McCartney to an upcoming show after the Beatles legend was turned away from the hip-hop star’s post-Grammy party. McCartney was trying to enter Tyga’s party in Los Angeles on Monday night when a bouncer insisted he was not on the guest list. Clearly unaccustomed to such indignities, McCartney sounded amazed. He was accompanied by alternative rock icon Beck and Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins. “How VIP do we got to get?” McCartney told the doorman in an exchange caught on video released by the celebrity news Web site TMZ. “We need another hit, guys. Work on it,” he said.
UNITED STATES
Comic sells for US$454,100
A Dallas-based auction house said a rare copy of a comic book featuring the first appearance of Spider-Man has sold for US$454,100. The comic book was purchased by an anonymous collector, and Heritage Auctions said Thursday’s sale is a record for a public auction price for any Spider-Man comic book. The 1962 edition of Amazing Fantasy No. 15 was graded as near-mint, with a score of 9.4 on a scale of one to 10. Walter Yakoboski, of Long Island, New York, had bought the comic book in 1980 for US$1,200. He told The Associated Press last week that he bought several rare comics as a young man as an investment.
CHINA
Residency rules to be eased
The government plans to make it easier for foreigners to live and work in the country under new rules for obtaining permanent residency. Guidelines issued by the Cabinet aim to expand the categories of foreigners eligible to obtain the Chinese equivalent of a US green card. Procedures would also be simplified and restrictions relaxed on foreign students seeking jobs in the country. The changes come as the nation’s economy is slowing and once-robust interest among foreign investors is falling. More than 7,000 foreigners have obtained permanent residency since the policy was adopted in 2004, a small fraction of the about 600,000 living in China. Many of those received the status as a reward for meritorious service to the economy, the arts and sciences.
SOUTH KOREA
Death for soldier upheld
The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a death penalty for a soldier convicted of killing five comrades in shooting and grenade attacks in a front-line army unit in 2014. The verdict is final and cannot be appealed, a court official said, requesting anonymity because of department rules. The Ministry of National Defense said it confirmed the court’s ruling. The conscript, only identified by his surname Yim, had told investigators after his arrest that he assaulted fellow soldiers because he felt insulted by drawings they made of him. He had fled into the forest near the border with North Korea, but was captured after a failed suicide attempt.
INDIA
Train runs over workers
A Mumbai commuter train yesterday hit and killed four workers who were walking between the tracks, an official said, the latest deadly incident on the city’s notoriously dangerous rail network. The victims, aged between 18 and 27, were run over at about 6:20am between the Kurla and Vidyavihar stations. “All were returning home after finishing work at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus,” railway police deputy commissioner Rupali Ambure said via text message, referring to Mumbai’s main railway station.
KENYA
Lions escape from park
Wildlife authorities said six lions have broken out of the Nairobi National Park and were last seen roaming in a residential area. Wildlife Service spokesman Paul Udoto yesterday said that the lions were first spotted at 4am near a hospital in the suburb of Langata and later near Kibera, the nation’s largest slum. Udoto said wildlife rangers do not know how the lions got out of the park, which is surrounded by an electric fence. He said a team of wildlife rangers tracking the lions aims to capture them and return them to the park.
‘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