SWITZERLAND
Fundraiser for Rohingya
UN humanitarian officials, high-level government envoys and advocacy group leaders yesterday met at a conference aimed at drumming up funds to help Rohingya refugees who have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh. The one-day Geneva meeting hosted by the EU, the Kuwaiti government and the UN’s migration, refugee and humanitarian aid agencies aims to help meet a UN call for US$434 million in funding through February next year. UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs head Mark Lowcock said the main focus of the event was “mobilizing resources to save lives and protect people.”
SWITZERLAND
WHO drops Mugabe
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom on Sunday reversed his decision to name Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe as a goodwill ambassador following widespread uproar against the appointment. Tedros said in a statement that he had reflected, consulted with the Zimbabwean government and decided to change his mind, calling it in the best interests of the UN agency. Zimbabwean Minister of Foreign Affairs Walter Mzembi said that “the inordinate noise around the designation ... does not assist the cause in the first place... So on the balance, it is wiser to let go, and help WHO focus on its mandate.”
CHINA
Officials say ‘oui’ to Brie
Fans of soft cheeses have reason to celebrate after Beijing reversed a ban on mold-ripened cheeses, allowing imports of Camembert, Brie and Roquefort, EU officials said yesterday. Starting early last month, businesses had been barred from importing cheeses made with certain molds and bacteria. The ban was lifted following meetings last week between European Commission representatives and quarantine and health officials, the EU’s delegation in Beijing said. The National Health and Family Planning Commission issued a note to customs authorities clarifying that bacterial cultures used for the production of these cheeses were not harmful to consumers’ health, thus allowing trade to resume, according to the delegation.”
AUSTRALIA
Security manual lost
A 1,000-page manual containing confidential security measures for Parliament House’s multimillion-dollar security upgrade has been lost by a contractor and was not reported missing for three months. Officials from the Department of Parliamentary Services yesterday defended the document’s loss under questioning from Labor Senator Kimberly Kitching during hearings and said that a private investigator had been hired to find it, but did not succeed. Officials confirmed the manual had been lost by a contractor in November last year, but not reported as being “misplaced” until February. Senate President Stephen Parry said security “has not been compromised,” although he admitted he had no idea of the manual’s whereabouts.
MALAYSIA
Interpol’s help sought
The government has asked Interpol to try to locate financier Low Taek Jho (劉特佐) for questioning over his suspected involvement in a multibillion-dollar scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said yesterday. Low has not been charged with any crime, but US authorities have said they are pursuing a criminal probe into 1MDB-linked transactions. “We are confident Interpol will act professionally, but the police have yet to receive any detailed information [on his whereabouts],” Ahmad said.
SLOVENIA
Comedian covets presidency
President Borut Pahor is to compete against comedian-turned-Kamnik Mayor Marjan Sarec for the presidency in a runoff election, despite winning the first round by a wide margin. Pahor won 47 percent, the election commission said on Sunday. That fell short of the majority needed to clinch re-election in the first round. Sarec was runner-up with 25 percent and the two will face off again on Nov. 12. A former fashion model who has built support via a slick campaign on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, Pahor has connected with voters by hiking 700km across Slovenia. That was not enough for a first-round victory. His opponents said the approach underscored how much he has avoided making tough decisions.
SWITZERLAND
Teen injures people with axe
A teenager armed with an axe on Sunday injured several people in a rampage before being shot and arrested, police said. Police in the canton of St Gallen said the 17-year-old Latvian national carried out the attack at the post office in the northeastern town of Flums. Several people were wounded in the initial attack before the assailant “escaped with a stolen car,” police spokesman Krusi Hanspeter said in a statement. The attacker later injured another person at a gas station, where he was shot by police and apprehended, Hanspeter said.
FRANCE
Suspected rightists charged
Eight people suspected of belonging to a far-right extremist group have been given preliminary terror charges for allegedly plotting attacks against mosques, politicians and migrants. A judicial official said the suspects were charged with criminal terrorist association on Saturday night. Three of the eight charged are minors and seven are in custody. The suspects are allegedly linked to the founder of a newly formed ultra-nationalist group who was arrested in June., the official said. They said that investigators believe the group was planning to extort money from business leaders and use it to buy weapons. Some of its members had trained in shooting and stolen a vehicle for the alleged plot.
UNITED STATES
‘Bugsy’ director accused
Writer and director James Toback, who received an Oscar nomination for writing Bugsy, was on Sunday accused of sexual harassment by 38 women in a report published in the Los Angeles Times. In the report, many of the women allege that Toback approached them on the streets of New York City and promised stardom. His meetings would often end with sexual questions and Toback masturbating in front of them or simulating sexual intercourse with them, according to the accounts. The 72-year-old denied the allegations to the Los Angeles Times, saying he never met any of the women, or if he had it “was for five minutes and [I] have no recollection.”
SLOVENIA
Macron’s dog causes stir
President Emmanuel Macron’s dog, Nemo, has been filmed casually peeing on an ornate fireplace at the Elysee Palace as Macron met with members of his government. Macron’s meeting with three junior ministers was interrupted by the sound of Nemo relieving himself noisily and at length behind them, much to their amusement. “He is doing something quite exceptional,” Macron says in the video recorded by the LCI news channel. “It happens often?” one of the ministers asks. “No,” Macron replies, laughing. “You have triggered a totally unusual behavior in my dog.”
‘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
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
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in