UNITED NATIONS
US to submit sanctions
The US was scheduled to submit to the UN Security Council yesterday a draft resolution that would expand sanctions against North Korea over its latest nuclear test, a spokesman for the US mission to the UN said. “Ambassador [Samantha] Power intends to submit for consideration by the Security Council a draft sanctions resolution in response to [North Korea’s] recent nuclear test and subsequent proscribed ballistic missile launch,” spokesman Kurtis Cooper said in a statement. On Wednesday council diplomats said the US and China had agreed on a draft resolution and hoped to put it to a vote in the 15-nation council in the coming days. The two veto powers had been negotiating on the text for the past seven weeks following Pyongyang’s fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6.
AUSTRALIA
Terror threat in Indonesia
The Department of Foreign Trade and Affairs yesterday said that terrorists might be in the “advanced stages of preparing attacks” in Indonesia and advised travelers to take precautions, just days after a similar warning about neighboring Malaysia. “We advise you to exercise a high degree of caution in Indonesia, including Jakarta, Bali and Lombok, due to the high threat of terrorist attack,” it said. The advisory did not raise the overall threat level, which is at “exercise a high degree of caution,” adding that the department continued to “receive information that indicates that terrorists may be planning attacks in Indonesia, which could take place anywhere at any time.” However, a spokesman for Indonesia’s national police said authorities had not seen any indications of an imminent attack. “We have not found anything worrying,” spokesman Agus Rianto said. “At the moment, Indonesia is safe.”
ChINA
Song, dance to fight terror
Xinjiang will use entertainment to fight terrorism, holding cultural activities — which typically involve singing and dancing — to spread its law-enforcement message, Xinjiang Daily said yesterday. Hundreds of people have been killed over the past few years in resource-rich Xinjiang in violence between the Uighur people and Han Chinese. The paper said the government would begin a new round of public education activities to spread knowledge about China’s new counterterrorism law, passed last year, to help improve the region’s peace and stability. These activities will “mobilize the masses from all ethnicities to proactively and actively participate in the anti-terrorism struggle,” the paper said. “Hold many cultural propaganda activities that delight the masses, and let them be educated through entertainment,” the paper said, citing instructions from the government.
INDIA
Man killed over complaint
A fitness instructor shot and killed a man who complained about loud music blaring from his New Delhi gym, reports said yesterday. The instructor, identified only as Rinku, and his friends were listening to music inside the gym late on Monday when local resident Hardeep Singh asked them to turn down the volume. “When Hardeep went to the gym asking them to end the party or at least lower the volume, Rinku started abusing Hardeep,” English daily the Hindu quoted an unnamed police officer as saying yesterday. The victim reportedly threatened to complain about the noise to authorities and returned to his apartment. The group followed him and Rinku fired at Hardeep during a scuffle, the officer said. Police are searching for Rinku and his friends.
‘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