FRANCE
Terror victims remembered
A ceremony in memory of all victims of terror attacks was held yesterday in Paris. The names of the victims of attacks carried out by Muslim extremists last year in Paris and in July in Nice were read during the ceremony, which also remembered those killed in attacks in Brussels, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Mali. The ceremony, organized by associations of victims, brought together hundreds of families and people injured in the attacks, along with President Francois Hollande, former president Nicolas Sarkozy and other top officials.
Photo: AP
HUNGARY
End segregation: experts
Experts on the protection of national minorities are urging the government to end the “benevolent segregation” of Roma children in schools. A report by the Council of Europe says the practice of separate classes for Roma where they are meant to “catch up” before continuing in mainstream education is ineffective and discriminatory. Roma make up an estimated 8 percent of the population. The report issued yesterday also finds that the “uncompromising stance” on migration by Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government “has fueled xenophobic and intolerant attitudes against refugees, asylum seekers and migrants.” Among the positive developments, the experts noted a significant rise in scholarship amounts awarded, including to Roma children, and found a “perceptible drop” in the number of anti-Semitic incidents.
UNITED STATES
Fire delays rocket launch
A wildfire burning on Sunday at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California forced the postponement of a satellite launch, officials said. An Atlas 5 rocket was to carry a satellite known as WorldView-4 into orbit from the base. The satellite is designed to produce high-resolution images of Earth from space. The fire burning in a remote canyon did not immediately threaten the launch complex, but the blaze required firefighters to be redeployed from standing by at the launch, US Colonel Paul Nosek said on the base’s Facebook page. About 800 firefighters were trying to corral the fire. The launch would be postponed until at least Monday next week.
UNITED STATES
Civil rights leader honored
Representative John Lewis of Georgia was to be honored last night with Philadelphia’s Liberty Medal for his dedication to civil rights. Lewis, a civil rights veteran repeatedly threatened with violence while working for voting rights in the Jim Crow South, was a lieutenant of Martin Luther King and the youngest speaker at the 1963 March on Washington. He has represented Georgia in the House of Representatives since 1987. The medal is given annually to those who strive to secure liberty for people worldwide.
UNITED STATES
Tom Waits, wife honored
Tom Waits, his wife, Kathleen Brennan, and folk singer John Prine were honored yesterday for their songwriting at a ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, Massachusetts. The Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence Awards have been bestowed biennially since 2012 by the New England chapter of the writer’s group PEN.
‘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