CHINA
CCP expels Gansu’s Wang
The former party boss of Gansu Province has been expelled from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said yesterday, after an investigation showed that he received bribes and was involved in “superstitious activities.” In a statement on its Web site, commission said Wang Sanyun (王三運), who was appointed as Gansu’s party secretary in late 2011, had been “passive” in implementing the party’s key policies, “seriously derelict” in his duties and accepted bribes and gifts in exchange for offering promotions. The case has been referred to prosecutors, it said. Wang, 64, had violated disciplinary regulations by frequenting “private clubs” and had been involved in “superstitious activities” over a prolonged period of time, the statement said, without elaborating. Wang was demoted from his post in Gansu in April to serve on a less prominent special committee of the National People’s Congress, before being detained and placed under investigation in July.
JAPAN
Abe to call election: sources
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will call a general election for Oct. 22, said three people with knowledge of his ruling coalition’s plans, seeking to take advantage of a recovery in support and nip in the bud a challenge from a new opposition party. Heightened tensions with North Korea have helped restore voter approval damaged by a series of scandals and might help Abe retain his coalition’s two-thirds majority in the lower house. His ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) campaign will reportedly focus on a pledge to increase education spending by putting off a target for reining in the budget deficit, as well as a more divisive plan to revise the pacifist constitution. While the main legislative opposition Democratic Party is splintering, Abe faces a wild-card challenge from a new national party being set up by an associate of Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike. The capital’s leader defected from the LDP, then thrashed it in a July election for the metropolitan assembly.
PAKISTAN
Six killed by India: military
At least six villagers were killed and 26 wounded in an overnight cross-border shooting by India in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, the military said yesterday. The incident was first reported on Thursday night. In a statement yesterday, army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor said women and children were among the villagers who were killed or wounded in what he called “unprovoked” Indian shelling across the boundary in the Charwah and Harpal villages on the Pakistani side. Initially, the army on Thursday said that four civilians had died from Indian fire in Kashmir.
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