IRAN
Minister rebukes Saudi royal
The minister of defense has lashed back at Saudi Arabia, slamming the kingdom’s deputy crown prince over comments last week underscoring the deep rivalries between the Sunni and Shiite power. Prince Mohammed bin Salman had said there is no space for dialogue with rival Iran due to its Shiite ambitions “to control the Islamic world.” He said the Saudis would not sit and wait for war, but would “work so that it becomes a battle for them in Iran and not in Saudi Arabia.” Minister of Defense General Hossein Dehghan said that Iran would advise against “such a stupidity” because in that case, nothing would be “left in Saudi Arabia except Mecca and Medina,” the two holy cities.
CHINA
Gas leak kills 18 miners
A gas leak in a coal mine in Hunan Province has killed 18 people, local authorities said yesterday. The leak happened on Sunday morning when miners were working in the shaft of the mine in Youxian County, according to a statement from the propaganda department of Zhuzhou’s Chinese Communist Party Committee, which administers the area. Rescuers managed to bring to safety 37 miners who are receiving hospital treatment, it said. Xinhua news agency said that police had detained unspecified people pending an investigation.
SOUTH SUDAN
Million kids have fled: UN
Two UN agencies yesterday said that more than 1 million children have fled South Sudan’s civil war, contributing to the world’s fastest growing refugee crisis. The UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees and International Children’s Emergency Fund yesterday said in a statement that another 1 million South Sudanese children are displaced within the country, having fled their homes due to the civil war. According to the UN statement, about 62 percent of refugees from South Sudan are children and more than 75,000 children are alone or without their families.
SWEDEN
Man in restricted area held
Security guards detained a man trying to enter a restricted area in Stockholm yesterday, a police spokeswoman said. Security personnel yesterday drew their weapons and wrestled the man to the ground after he tried to enter the Cabinet office building in central Stockholm, tabloid Expressen reported. “Security personnel have detained a man and police have since taken over,” police spokeswoman Eva Nilsson told reporters. “The man is suspected of violence against a security officer and for entering a restricted area.” she 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
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