CHINA
Earthquake hits Xinjiang
A strong earthquake in a remote area in the west of the nation has killed at least one villager after a home collapsed, authorities said yesterday. The Xinjiang Seismological Bureau said that 55 homes were damaged and 32 collapsed in an area bordering Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in the quake that struck late on Friday. The government has dispatched emergency response workers and closed some railways in southern Xinjiang. The US Geological Survey said the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.5 and struck western Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The US Geological Survey reported the quake as quite shallow, at a depth of 12km. Shallow earthquakes are more likely to cause damage in populated urban areas, but that area of the Xinjiang highland is largely rural.
MYANMAR
Bomb explodes in Yangon
Media reports said a crude bomb has exploded at a government office in Yangon. Myanmar News Agency said the blast on Friday evening caused no injuries, as it was a holiday. It said security forces also found another homemade bomb nearby and detonated it safely. A similar explosion occurred on Thursday at an immigration office in Yangon, and two more on Nov. 17 at a market. No one has claimed responsibility for the blasts, and police did not name suspects.
KUWAIT
General election begins
Polls opened yesterday for the oil-rich Gulf state’s seventh general election in a decade, at a time of sharp disputes over subsidy cuts due to falling oil revenues. Analysts are expecting a large turnout in the snap polls triggered by the return of the opposition, which boycotted the previous two elections to protest a government amendment of electoral law. The emir dissolved the parliament after MPs called for ministers to be grilled over subsidy cuts, in a state with a traditionally generous cradle-to-grave welfare system. Voting took place at 100 polling stations set up in schools, with separate centers for men and women, and about 483,000 people eligible to cast heir ballots.
VENEZUELA
Maduro slams US verdict
President Nicolas Maduro on Friday said that the US convicted his wife’s nephews on drug charges last week to weaken his government. Two nephews of the nation’s first lady were found guilty earlier this month in a jury trial on charges that they tried to carry out a multimillion-dollar drug deal to obtain a large amount of cash to help their family stay in power. In his first comments since the conviction, Maduro blasted what he said was a clear sign of “US imperialism.” “You think it is just by chance that the imperialists created a case that had as its only objective to attack the first lady, the first combatant, the wife of the president?” Maduro said in an hours-long speech during a “Women’s March” in Caracas.
CANADA
Theme park charged
Ontario’s animal welfare agency has charged Marineland amusement park in the tourist city of Niagara Falls with five counts of animal cruelty. The Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals on Friday said the charges relate to peacocks, guinea hens and black bears. The society said inspection officers and a veterinarian went to Marineland on Nov. 10 after receiving a complaint about alleged animal cruelty.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in 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
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