AFGHANISTAN
Taliban exhibit two hostages
An American and an Australian have appeared in a Taliban hostage video, five months after they were kidnapped from Kabul. Gunmen wearing police uniforms abducted the two professors at the American University of Afghanistan in the heart of the capital on Aug. 7 last year. The 13-minute, 35-second video circulated by Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on Wednesday offers the first apparent proof that they were still alive. Australia yesterday said it “has been working closely with other governments to secure the release” of the hostage, but would not elaborate, citing his family’s wishes and safety concerns. The video comes after US Special Operations Forces conducted a failed secret raid in August to rescue them.
AUSTRALIA
Castaways cross Tasman
A New Zealand man and his six-year-old daughter who were missing at sea for more than a month have landed in the nation after sailing their small, damaged yacht across the treacherous 2,000km Tasman Sea. Alan Langdon, 46, and his daughter Que had planned a short journey from Kawhia to the Bay of Islands on New Zealand’s east coast, but after a storm damaged the yacht’s rudder they found themselves drifting out to sea. “Once we were in the position with no rudder, we didn’t have as many options,” Langdon told local media on Wednesday after docking his 6.4m yacht in Ulladulla, a fishing port 230km south of Sydney. “I waited for the fine weather, that didn’t come. At that stage we were getting pushed south and out,” Langdon said, adding he then decided it would be safer to head to Australia across the Tasman Sea.
CHINA
Bird flu hits farm: ministry
The Ministry of Agriculture late on Wednesday said that a bird flu outbreak, the country’s fifth since October last year, hit a goose farm in Hunan Province, killing 1,054 birds. The outbreak in Yuanjiang, a city of more than 700,000 people, was confirmed as a case of influenza A virus subtype H5N6, the ministry said in a statement on its Web site. The local government culled a further 2,067 birds after the outbreak, which the ministry said had been brought under control. The case brings China’s total poultry cull since October to more than 175,000 birds, as South Korea and other neighboring countries battle their own major outbreaks. China has confirmed 106 cases of human H7N9 bird flu infections, and 20 deaths in total last month, the National Health and Family Planning Commission said on Wednesday.
INDIA
Amazon.com pulls doormats
Amazon.com yesterday said it has withdrawn doormats featuring the national flag from sale after New Delhi called them “insulting” and threatened to expel the company’s foreign workers. Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj late on Wednesday said on Twitter that the mats, available only on Amazon’s Canadian Web site, were an “unacceptable” insult to the national flag and demanded an apology. The company yesterday said it had responded by removing them from sale. Swaraj, an avid Twitter user with nearly 7 million followers, issued her ultimatum after a user sent her a screenshot of the doormats on sale. “Amazon must tender unconditional apology. They must withdraw all products insulting our national flag immediately,” she said on Twitter. “If this is not done forthwith, we will not grant Indian Visa to any Amazon official. We will also rescind the Visas issued earlier.”
GUATEMALA
Judge accuses justice
Judge Carlos Ruano on Wednesday accused a Supreme Court Justice Blanca Stalling of intervening improperly in a corruption case involving her son. Ruano said that he had reported Stalling to the special prosecutor against impunity, Ivan Velasquez. “At no time was I going to compromise my work, which has always been transparent,” Ruano said. At a news conference, Attorney General Thelma Aldana and Velasquez said they had asked the Supreme Court to strip Stalling of her immunity. Stalling denied exerting any undue influence. Stalling’s son is among 20 businesspeople and public officials charged in a scheme that solicited bribes for government health contracts. Otto Molina Stalling is charged with taking bribes to award contracts for dialysis to a company. Prosecutors say 15 people died as a result of shoddy treatment. Ruano withdrew from the case.
UNITED STATES
Lincoln photo to be unveiled
A Maine college is to unveil a rare photograph of former president Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration in 1861. The Bowdoin College Museum of Art in Brunswick acquired the photo at auction in October and was to unveil it yesterday. It is the first inauguration to be captured by photographers and took place just six weeks before the start of the Civil War. The image shows a crowd gathered around the Capitol to see Lincoln being sworn in. It is believed to have been taken by Scottish-American photographer Alexander Gardner and is one of only three known copies. The others are in the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution.
UNITED STATES
State plans tuition shake-up
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s proposal to cut tuition at the University of Wisconsin and use taxpayer funds to pay for it is shaking up normal political alliances, with some Democrats supporting it, while skeptical fellow Republicans worry it could put the state on a path toward Senator Bernie Sanders’ free college tuition plan. Republican governors across the nation have criticized universities over higher tuition and some, including Walker, have forced tuition freezes. However, Walker appears to be the first Republican governor to promise taxpayer money to reduce the cost of university. Wisconsin Republican Assembly speaker Robin Vos says it is a step toward the state paying for free tuition. Peter Barca, the Democratic Assembly leader and frequent Walker critic, says he supports the proposal as long as it is paid for.
VENEZUELA
Opposition member detained
Intelligence agents on Wednesday detained Gilber Caro, a substitute legislator for the Popular Will party, accusing him of planning violence. However, Caro said that arms were placed in his car to frame him as part of an ongoing wave of government repression. In a familiar pattern of recent months involving members of the opposition, Caro was arrested on Wednesday at a roadway toll in Miranda state, the government said. “It’s a matter of capturing and breaking up those who persist on the path of violence,” Vice President Tarek El Aissami said. He said Caro was carrying a gun, bullets and explosives, adding that the opposition politician has criminal record, including charges of murder and drug trafficking. Popular Will said Caro was returning from a family trip with his girlfriend when he was stopped and set up. “We demand his freedom,” the party said. “Our fight is for a Venezuela where every person can express himself freely without fear of persecution or jail.”
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
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