MALAYSIA
Firms bid for MH370 search
Three companies have offered to resume the search for flight MH370, but no decision has been reached on whether to take up any of the proposals, Minister of Transportation Liow Tiong Lai said yesterday. US seabed exploration firm Ocean Infinity, Dutch company Fugro and a Malaysian company have made offers, Liow said. The head of the Department of Civil Aviation was negotiating with the companies and the offers would also be discussed with Australia and China, he said. Ocean Infinity, which has made a “no find, no fee” offer, was said to be the favorite.
AUSTRALIA
Six missing off coast
Fears were growing yesterday for six fishermen missing after their ship capsized in wild seas off the northeast coast, with severe weather hampering rescue efforts. Authorities were alerted to the lost men out of “sheer luck” early yesterday, about 12 hours after the trawler overturned, when crew on a passing yacht heard the screams of a seventh crew member and plucked him out of the water. Air and sea rescue efforts off the Bundaberg coast in Queensland have been hampered by heavy rain and rough seas, with up to 4m swells. The rescued man miraculously survived a night in the “treacherous seas” clinging to the hull of the 17m capsized trawler for hours before it sank.
AUSTRALIA
Revenge porn portal opens
The nation has launched an online portal to report “revenge porn” after research showed that women were having intimate images shared without their permission on a “mass scale.” The “world-first” initiative will offer support and advice, while working with Web sites and search engines to help take down offending posts. Only Victoria and South Australia have laws that criminalize the distribution of intimate or invasive images without consent.
SOUTH KOREA
Charges in cannon death
Former Seoul police chief Goo Eun-soo and three other officers were yesterday charged over the death of a protester hit by a water cannon during an anti-government protest two years ago. Baek Nam-ki, a 69-year-old farmer, was knocked over by the jet of water during a huge protest against Seoul’s labor policies in November 2015, and fell into a coma. He died 10 months later. His plight sparked widespread outrage, with police coming under fire for what critics described as excessive force during public rallies.
UNITED NATIONS
Congo gets UN rights seat
The US and human rights groups sharply criticized Monday’s UN election for 15 new members of the Human Rights Council, singling out conflict-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DR Congo) victory despite accusations of serious rights abuses and an investigation by the UN’s top human rights body. DR Congo got the lowest number of votes of four African candidates — 151. The low total shows that President Joseph Kabila’s DR Congo “is fast becoming a pariah state. If there had been competition, it probably would have lost,” Human Rights Watch’s UN director Louis Charbonneau said. UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer singled out three of the winners — Congo, Qatar and Pakistan — saying for the UN to elect them “as a world judge on human rights is like making a pyromaniac into the town fire chief.” The only contested slate was in Asia, where six countries vied for four seats. Nepal topped the vote, followed by Qatar and Pakistan.
UNITED KINGDOM
Crackdown on hate crimest
Courts are passing increasingly harsh sentences for attacks on gay or transgender people amid a wider crackdown on hate crimes, which have a “corrosive effect” on society, the kingdom’s top prosecutor said yesterday. In hate crime cases, prosecutors are allowed to ask the courts for an increased punishment, known as a sentence uplift, to reflect the aggravating circumstances. Nearly 1,470 homophobic or transphobic cases were prosecuted between April last year and April this year, with more than four-fifths resulting in a conviction, the Crown Prosecution Service said. Courts increased sentences in 579 cases — nearly half of successful prosecutions — up from 461 cases the previous year. Ten years ago, sentences were boosted in just six cases, or less than 1 percent of successful prosecutions.
UNITED STATES
Bergdahl pleads guilty
Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who was captured and held by the Taliban for five years after walking away from his post in Afghanistan, on Monday pleaded guilty to desertion and endangering his comrades — charges that could put him behind bars for the rest of his life. “I understand that leaving was against the law,” said Bergdahl, who admitted guilt without striking a deal with prosecutors, meaning his punishment is up to a military judge when he is sentenced later this month. At his sentencing, set to begin on Monday next week, his years in captivity could be factored in, but the hearing is also likely to feature damning testimony from fellow service members.
UNITED STATES
Self-driving cars studied
A new study inspired by Boston’s early experiments with self-driving cars found that the technology could ease congestion, but might also lead to more cars on the road and further encourage urban sprawl. The report, released yesterday by the Boston Consulting Group and the World Economic Forum, is a mostly optimistic take on how autonomous vehicles could change cities. Three companies are now testing self-driving cars in Boston’s Seaport District. One of them, NuTonomy, has also partnered with ride-hailing service Lyft to research how passengers book and route a self-driving car.
UNITED STATES
State of emergency declared
Citing past clashes and protests, Florida Governor Rick Scott on Monday declared a state of emergency in advance of a speech white nationalist Richard Spencer is scheduled to give at the University of Florida. The governor warned in an executive order that a “threat of a potential emergency is imminent” in Alachua County. Spencer is scheduled to speak at the campus tomorrow and his pending appearance has already sparked protests in the university town.
UNITED STATES
Horse stays at motel
A Canadian horse has had the opportunity to watch television for the first time at a pet-friendly Kentucky motel. Lindsey Partridge of Ontario told the Lexington Herald-Leader she stopped to check in Oct. 4 at the Super 8 in Georgetown on her way to compete in the Retired Racehorse Project’s Thoroughbred Makeover competition. Partridge said she received approval when she jokingly inquired of the clerk if the motel’s pet-friendly policy would apply to her horse. Partridge made a video of Blizz watching TV. Partridge says she then took Blizz and her two other horses to Kentucky Horse Park, the local equine motel of choice.
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