INDONESIA
Sailor kidnapped by gunmen
Unidentified gunmen have kidnapped an Indonesian sailor in the Sulu Sea where dozens of seafarers have been abducted by extremists in recent months, officials said yesterday. The kidnapping took place on Wednesday in waters off the northeast of Sabah state, on the Malaysian side of Borneo island, Indonesia’s ambassador to Malaysia said. “[The vessel] was intercepted by a boat carrying four armed men,” ambassador Herman Prayitno said. The kidnappers took the Indonesian captain after failing to get the 10,000 ringgit (US$2,500) they demanded, Prayitno added.
AUSTRALIA
Flight diverted to Guam
A Jetstar flight from Tokyo to Australia’s Gold Coast was diverted to Guam yesterday. The twin-engine JQ12 Boeing 787 Dreamliner flight from Narita international airport to the Gold Coast landed on the US island territory of Guam in the Pacific yesterday morning after an oil pressure warning light came on, Jetstar said. “After receiving the indicator message the captain elected to shut down one engine as a precaution. Boeing 787s can fly safely on one engine.” The passengers, which the Australian Broadcasting Corp said numbered about 320, are to be taken to Australia on a flight arriving today.
AUSTRALIA
‘Patriot’ charged with terror
A man with reported links to far-right extremist groups was yesterday charged with planning a terrorist attack after his Melbourne home was raided following police fears of a “specific threat.” The 31-year-old, named in local media as Phillip Galea, appeared in court after he was charged with planning or preparing for a terrorist act and collecting or making documents to facilitate an attack. Galea told the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court he would fight the charges, adding that they were “a conspiracy against the patriot movement.”
MEXICO
Six killed in landslide
A landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Earl left six dead on Saturday in the country’s east as heavy rains began to ease up, but officials warned residents to remain prepared for more floods or mudslides. A couple and their toddler died in Veracruz state when their house was buried, the state’s secretary of civil protection Yolanda Gutierrez Carlin said. The couple’s eight-year-old child was rescued and hospitalized. Another young couple and their three-year-old child were killed when their home was completely swamped by mud.
UNITED STATES
Drugged candy hits revelers
Two dozen concertgoers in northeast Ohio on Saturday suffered medical symptoms after they ate candy laced with a drug found in marijuana. No fatalities were reported at the Ohio Dreams sports camp complex in Butler, about 100km northeast of Columbus, where the weekend-long EST 2016 rap music festival was being held. Major Joe Masi of the Richland County Sheriff’s Department told the Mansfield News Journal someone began tossing out bags of the colorful candies at around 11am. The packages contained about 20 pieces each, according to photographs posted to social media. Masi said each piece had “a very, very high dose of THC,” the chemical that gives marijuana its mind-altering effects. Only one or two candies would get a user high, but some people were eating whole packages, officials said.
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
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