CHINA
Graft push punishes 8,123
China has punished 8,123 people for committing fiscal violations after an audit of how the government’s central budget from last year was spent revealed several problems, Xinhua reported. Auditor General Hu Zejun (胡澤君) announced the infringements while briefing lawmakers yesterday, Xinhua said. Hu said that of the offenders, 970 were punished for misusing funds earmarked for a poverty relief campaign intended to lift everyone in rural areas out of poverty by 2020. Another 1,363 were punished for irregularities in the use of funds meant to provide affordable housing, she said.
INDIA
Bus drives off bridge, kills 20
At least 20 people were killed yesterday after a passenger bus veered off a bridge and plunged into a river in the western Rajasthan State. Government official K.L. Katara said another 10 passengers were injured in the crash in Sawai Madhopur District. The bus reportedly broke through the bridge wall. It was not immediately clear what caused the driver to lose control of the bus. A rescue operation was under way.
IRAQ
Protests continue to fifth day
Demonstrators irate at the authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan on Friday took to the streets for a fifth day, demanding the release of more than 200 protesters detained over violent rallies. Furious locals have torched the offices of the autonomous region’s main political parties in a string of towns since Monday, as ire boiled over at the fallout from an independence referendum. September’s overwhelming vote in favor of breaking away drew stinging reprisals from the central government that have battered Iraqi Kurdistan’s already flagging economy and fired anger over official graft. “Down with the government of the corrupt, no to corruption!” protesters in the town of Shamshamal chanted. Protesters gathered in the town of Rania to demand that the “killers” be brought to justice after five demonstrators were shot dead there by security forces on Tuesday.
AUSTRALIA
Refugee charged with attack
An Afghan refugee accused of plowing his car into pedestrians in Melbourne was yesterday charged with 18 counts of attempted murder, as police vowed a boosted presence over the Christmas period. Saeed Noori, who has a history of drug abuse and mental problems, on Thursday allegedly drove his car through a busy downtown intersection, careering into tourists and shoppers. His motive is not clear, although police allege he made “utterances” to them about voices, dreams and the “poor treatment of Muslims” after his arrest. No link to any terrorist group has been found.
SAUDI ARABIA
Nation rejects cholera claims
The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen on Friday said that an announcement by the International Committee of the Red Cross that cholera cases in the nation had reached 1 million suspected cases was exaggerated. “It is nearly impossible to accurately determine whether the suspected cases are cholera or simple diarrhea,” a statement by a coalition spokesperson said. Yemen is embroiled in a proxy war between the Houthi-armed movement, aligned with Iran, and a US-backed military coalition headed by Saudi Arabia. Cholera flared up in April and spread rapidly, killing 2,227 people, but the death rate has since fallen dramatically. A new wave of cholera is expected in March or April.
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
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