FRANCE
Police protest in Paris
Hundreds of police officers protested in Paris and other cities overnight to denounce what they say are insufficient resources to fight mounting lawlessness, defying government demands that they stop the unauthorized demonstrations. Six months from an election, the protest, now in its third day, has put President Francois Hollande’s Socialist government on the defensive at a time when security forces are struggling to combat the threat of further terrorist attacks. Political opponents have seized on the discontent to accuse it of letting violent crime and everyday lawlessness proliferate, despite a large police recruitment drive. “I understand the anger of the police. I’ve never seen such an erosion of authority in this country,” said former president Nicolas Sarkozy, who is campaigning to become president again. In Paris, hundreds of police officers protested at the Place de la Republique and the Champs Elysees, the scene of similar protests earlier this week that have since spread to other cities. Other impromptu protests took place overnight in Bordeaux, Nancy and Toulouse.
BANGLADESH
UNESCO plea ignored
The UN agency in charge of preserving world heritage has joined environmental groups urging Bangladesh to halt plans for a massive coal-fired power plant near mangrove forests on the country’s coast. UNESCO and the International Union for Conservation of Nature said in a report released this week that the project poses a “serious threat” to a region that protects the nation from flooding and holds one of the world’s last populations of wild tigers. The government yesterday said that the concerns were misplaced and that construction would continue. It said the 1.3-gigawatt power station is crucial to expanding electricity capacity in a nation where only six out of 10 people have access to power.
GERMANY
Officer dies after shooting
A police officer has died a day after being shot during a raid. Police in Bavaria said the officer died in a hospital early yesterday as a result of his injuries. A 49-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday by an armed-response unit that had been sent to his home in the Bavarian town of Georgensgmuend to confiscate more than 30 weapons he legally possessed for hunting. Local authorities had revoked his license because they said he appeared increasingly unreliable. The man, whom they did not identify, was a supporter of the Reich Citizens’ Movement, a group that refuses to acknowledge the authority of the post-World War II government. Three other officers were injured in the shootout.
VENEZUELA
Rosales moved to house
Opposition leader Manuel Rosales has been moved to house arrest after more than a year in prison on charges of corruption, the Supreme Court announced. Rosales, who ran for president in 2006, but was defeated by the late Hugo Chavez, was arrested on Oct. 15 last year on his return from six years in exile. He had fled to Peru in 2009 after being charged with misusing public funds as governor of the state of Zulia, allegations that he and his supporters have said were trumped up by the Chavez government. The Supreme Court announced in a brief statement on Wednesday the decision to place him under house arrest. “This less onerous measure will permit the continuation of the legal process through which his possible responsibility for the acts alleged will be verified,” it said.
‘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
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
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in