POLAND
Director Wajda dies at 90
One of the nation’s most famous film directors, Andrzej Wajda, has died at the age of 90. Fans, filmmakers and political leaders went online to pay tribute to the man whose work focused on the nation’s culture and history. One of his best-known releases, 1957’s Canal, showed the struggle of the underground army in the Warsaw uprising. Wajda, who died on Sunday night, received an Academy Honorary Award in 2000 in recognition of five decades of work. His films won a Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival, a Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival and four nominations for Academy Awards.
FRANCE
UK urged to accept kids
The government yesterday said Britain had a “moral duty” to take in hundreds of migrant children from the Jungle camp in Calais desperately seeking to cross the English Channel. “I am solemnly asking Britain to assume its moral duty,” French Minister of the Interior Bernard Cazeneuve told RTL radio ahead of a trip to London to meet his British counterpart, Home Secretary Amber Rudd. “There are several hundred unaccompanied minors in Calais who have family in Britain. We are in the process of drawing up a precise list and the British need to live up to their responsibilities. We have lived up to ours,” Cazeneuve said.
GEORGIA
Ruling party wins election
The ruling party decisively won parliamentary elections, firming its grip on power in the former Soviet nation, near-complete results showed on Sunday. With 99.41 percent of the votes counted, data from the Central Election Commission gave the ruling Georgian Dream party 48.61 percent of the vote and the opposition United National Movement 27.04 percent. Georgian Dream, which is pro-Western, but also favors closer ties with Russia, declared victory shortly after polls closed on Saturday.
UNITED STATES
Five killed in car crash
Five Vermont high-school students were killed when the car they were riding in was hit by a truck driving in the opposite direction on an interstate. Authorities said the driver then stole a police cruiser and crashed into seven more cars before the cruiser burst into flames. State police said they believe Steven Bourgoin, 36, was behind the wheel of a pickup truck traveling the wrong way on an interstate in Williston on Saturday night when he crashed into a car, which then caught fire. A Williston police officer was the first to arrive on the scene. As he tried to extinguish the fire, a man, later identified as Bourgoin, jumped into the officer’s cruiser and took off.
MEXICO
Bone fragments discovered
More than 4,000 bone fragments have been found in a field in a violence-plagued northern region since last year, but most of the remains are linked to just three bodies. An association of families of missing people, Grupo Vida, has been combing the area of Patrocinio, on the slope of a mountain in Coahuila state, for remains of their loved ones. Group spokeswoman Silvia Ortiz said about 700 bone fragments were found in the past week alone in what she calls an area of “extermination due to the condition of the bones.” The local government acknowledged late on Saturday that 3,488 bone fragments, including a jawbone, teeth and finger bones, had been found. “It’s not 3,488 people,” the government said. “Through these fragments, we were able to determine they belong to three different people” via forensic tests.
AFGHANISTAN
Taliban attack Lashkar Gah
Officials say Taliban insurgents have launched a large-scale attack on Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand Province. Ministry of the Interior spokesman Sediq Sediqqi yesterday said that the militants have attacked security checkpoints inside the city, but that security forces “will soon push them back.” A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, says the insurgents are advancing through the city. Helmand is strategically important for the Taliban as it is the source of opium worth an estimated US$4 billion a year, much of which funds the war.
CAMBODIA
Guards, protesters clash
Land rights protesters yesterday clashed with city security guards as demonstrators in Phnom Penh called on the government to end forced evictions. A video circulated on Facebook showed security guards punching and slapping protesters. The protesters, many holding models of homes over their heads, were marking World Habitat Day, which took place last week as a reminder of people’s right to shelter. Phnom Penh City Hall spokesman Mean Chanyada said that a journalist and a human rights worker were injured in the clash and that the use of violence was necessary to stop hundreds of demonstrators from marching forward. “There was a small clash because the protesters didn’t follow instructions of the authorities to gather only at one place,” Chanyada said.
CHINA
Beijing blames Bangkok
It was the Thai government that made a decision to block the entry of Hong Kong student activist Joshua Wong (黃之鋒) last week, Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong (李保東) said yesterday. Wong, 19, was detained at Bangkok’s international airport, after he had been invited to speak at universities about Hong Kong’s “Umbrella Movement” protests and on setting up his political party. “As for Joshua Wong, him not being allowed into Thailand, this was the Thai government’s decision made in accordance with its relevant immigration rules and laws,” Li said. Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has said Wong’s expulsion was a matter for Beijing, not Thailand.
MYANMAR
Trio on trial over cows
Three Muslim men yesterday went on trial for illegally importing nearly 100 cows that have spent the past month under police protection, in a case Muslim leaders say targets their religion. The cows were intended to be ritually slaughtered for the Eid al-Adha last month. Police took possession of cattle last month after a monk complained they had been brought into the country illegally. One of the men, Myo Myint, in his 60s, has heart disease and had to be supported by police as he entered the courtroom. His son, Ye Zarni Tun We, said he was “sure” the animals were bought in the country, adding: “We have documents for purchasing the cows.” The men were remanded in custody until their next hearing.
ETHOPIA
State of emergency declared
Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on Sunday declared a six-month nationwide state of emergency, saying months of unrest threatened the nation’s stability. “A state of emergency has been declared because the situation posed a threat against the people of the country,” Hailemariam said on state-run television. “Vital infrastructure, businesses, health and education centers, as well as government offices, and courts have been destroyed.”
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