UNITED KINGDOM
Online abuse to be punished
Online abuse will be treated as seriously as offline offenses, the Crown Prosecution Service said yesterday in new guidance on handling hate crimes. The rules — which included guidelines on helping disabled and bisexual victims — were meant to encourage more people to come forward and press courts to impose longer sentences, it said. “This is a crime that’s under-reported. Sometimes people feel that they just have to put up with it... That’s absolutely not the case,” Alison Saunders, the director of public prosecutions, told the BBC. The new advice was in response to the growth of social media, the service said.
GERMANY
Merkel warns Turkey
Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday warned Turkey not to “misuse” Interpol to pursue its critics after a Spanish court ordered the conditional release of a Turkish-German writer wanted by Ankara. Dogan Akhanli, who writes about Turkey’s human rights record, was on Saturday arrested while on holiday in Granada, Spain, on an Interpol red notice, similar to an international arrest warrant, from Ankara. “That’s not on,” said Merkel about the latest case of a German citizen being pursued by Turkish President Recep Erdogan’s government, adding that countries “must not misuse international organizations such as Interpol.”
IRAN
New Cabinet approved
President Hassan Rouhani won lawmakers’ approval for all but one of his new Cabinet, in an overwhelming show of support for an agenda criticized by some conservatives. Parliament on Sunday voted to reappoint Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh and Minister of Foreign Affiars Mohammad Javad Zarif, top Rouhani allies during his first term, as well as 14 other ministers. The only candidate to lose a vote of confidence was Ministry of Energy nominee Habibollah Bitaraf. “We need to move forward. This is not the time to have proponents and opponents. We all need to help and act,” Rouhani said.
CANADA
Rival groups clash
Clashes erupted on Sunday between police and dozens of anti-racist campaigners on the sidelines of a pro-immigration rally in Quebec City, while a demonstration organized by extreme-right protesters gained little traction. A few hundred people gathered in Quebec City’s center early afternoon to counter-protest a planned far-right rally, supporters of which spent much of the day stuck in a parking lot. In a bid to keep the two rallies apart, police erected a security cordon, but declared the anti-racist demonstration illegal after sporadic clashes broke out and hooded individuals threw projectiles at police.
CROATIA
Dogs tuck into special treats
Specially brewed beer made of chicken and vegetables, and ice cream made from bananas, peanuts, yogurt and soy milk are top items on the menu in the nation’s only beach bar for dogs. To spice up lazy beach days, the Monty’s Dog Beach Bar organized a competition on Sunday evening in which dogs and their owners competed as teams. Fifteen owners and their dogs took part in the competition, running down the pier and then jumping into the water and swimming 100m or so to the shore. The fastest four-legged athlete of the day won a 7kg bag of dog food and a weekend at a local hotel.
SOUTH KOREA
Annual war drills begin
US and local troops yesterday began their annual war games. The Ulchi Freedom Guardian drills are largely computer-simulated war games held every summer, and always draw a furious response from Pyongyang, which views them as an invasion rehearsal. This year’s 11-day training program involves 17,500 US troops and 50,000 local soldiers, according to the US military command in the nation and Seoul’s Ministry of National Defense.
NORTH KOREA
Last US defector dies
The sons of a former US soldier who defected to Pyongyang more than five decades ago have announced that their father died last year pledging his loyalty to the “great leader Kim Jong-un.” James Joseph Dresnok was among a handful of US servicemen to desert following the Korean War, crossing the fortified Demilitarized Zone in 1962. He went on to appear in propaganda films and was believed to be the last US defector in the country. In a video interview posted on the state-run Uriminzokkiri Web site on Friday, Ted and James Dresnok, dressed in Korean People’s Army uniforms, confirmed that their father suffered a fatal stroke in November last year. “Our father was in the arms of the republic and received only the love and care of the party until his passing at age 74,” said Ted Dresnok, who also goes by the name Hong Soon-chol.
BANGLADESH
Ten sentenced to death
A court has sentenced to death 10 leaders and activists from a banned militant Muslim group for a plot in 2000 to kill Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina by planting bombs at one of her rallies. Judge Mamtaz Begum sentenced the suspects on Sunday in Dhaka and ordered them to be shot to death. Prosecutors said two bombs were found a day before Hasina was scheduled to address a rally at a college campus in Kotalipara. Those convicted belong to the Harkatul Jihad-al-Islami group. Defense attorneys said they would appeal the verdict.
THAILAND
Death sentences appealed
Two Burmese men convicted of killing two British backpackers on Koh Tao in 2014 yesterday submitted their final appeal against the death sentence. They were convicted in December 2015 of the murders of Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24. Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun lost an appeal in March to have their sentence overturned.
NEW ZEALAND
New poll blow for PM
Three weeks ago the conservative National Party appeared to be cruising to a fourth straight election victory in next month’s general election. However, yesterday the National Party and Prime Minister Bill English’s government suffered a blow when United Future leader Peter Dunne resigned, the third party leader to quit in as many weeks. The party supports the government, but Dunne was its only lawmaker, although he also served as minister of interior. English said Dunne’s exit highlighted that the election was becoming a drag race between the two main parties, with the minor parties falling away.
PHILIPPINES
Kidnapped sailor rescued
A Vietnamese sailor kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf has been rescued after nine months in captivity, the military said yesterday. Troops rescued the hostage on Sunday on Basilan Island, authorities said. Another Vietnamese remains a hostage.
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