CHINA
Jailed artist released
An artist who could not be reached for more than a week after he painted a politically charged mural in Shenzhen yesterday wrote on Twitter that he has been freed. “I was released a few days ago and we are in my hometown now,” the Twitter account of painter Hu Jiamin (胡嘉岷) read days after Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao reported that Hu and his French wife, Marine Brossard, had been taken away by plainclothes men. Hu said in another post that he would return to France on Saturday. The couple had painted a mural honoring Chinese dissident and Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波), who died in 2010, at the entrance of a public exhibition in Shenzhen on Dec. 15. City authorities covered the wall with a banner the same evening, witnesses said. Their painting depicted an empty blue chair inside a room with red bars, an apparent reference to Liu.
UNITED STATES
Manure sent to Mnuchin
A gift-wrapped package addressed to Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin’s home in a posh Los Angeles neighborhood that was suspected of being a bomb was instead filled with horse manure, police told local media. The package was found on Saturday evening in a next-door neighbor’s driveway in Bel Air, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) told the Los Angeles Times and KNBC television, the NBC affiliate in Los Angeles. The package also included a Christmas card with negative comments about President Donald Trump and the new tax law signed by Trump last week. Reuters could not reach LAPD officials for comment on Sunday. An LAPD bomb squad X-rayed the package before opening it and found the horse manure inside, police told local media. Mnuchin, who KNBC said was not home when the package was discovered, is a former Goldman Sachs Group executive and Hollywood film financier.
EGYPT
Fifteen arrested over attack
Security officials said that 15 people — 12 Muslims and three Christians — have been arrested in connection with an attack on an unlicensed Christian church south of Cairo. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Hundreds of Muslim demonstrators stormed the church after Friday prayers, according to the local diocese, who said they wrecked some of its fittings while chanting anti-Christian slogans and calling for its demolition. Three Christians were wounded by the attackers. Christians constitute about 10 percent of Egypt’s population.
UNITED KINGDOM
Police probe pork attack
Police in Northern Ireland are treating as a hate crime an incident in which pork was forced through the letterbox of an Islamic center on Christmas Eve. Center treasurer Raied al-Wazzan, the treasurer of the center in Belfast, described those responsible as “ignorant people.” A colleague, Anwar Macady, said that it was the first time the center had been attacked in such a way, and it was sad that it had happened on Christmas Eve. “They’re supposed to be celebrating mercy and forgiveness. I think this man is only representing himself, and a handful of people who may support him,” he said. “We know that this person doesn’t represent the wider society of Northern Ireland and we are very thankful for the people who sent us messages to tell us the message of support.” In August an Islamic center in Newtownards, Co Down, was subjected to a racist attack when a pig’s head was left on its doorstep.
BEIJING FORUM: ‘So-called freedom of navigation advocated by certain countries outside the region challenges the norms of international relations,’ the minister said Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun (董軍) yesterday denounced “hegemonic logic and acts of bullying” during remarks at a Beijing forum that were full of thinly veiled references to the US. Organizers said that about 1,800 representatives from 100 countries, including political, military and academic leaders, were in Beijing for the Xiangshan Forum. The three-day event comes as China presents itself as a mediator of fraught global issues including the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Addressing attendees at the opening ceremony, Dong warned of “new threats and challenges” now facing world peace. “While the themes of the times — peace and development —
Decked out with fake crystal chandeliers and velvet sofas, cosmetic surgery clinics in Afghanistan’s capital are a world away from the austerity of Taliban rule, where Botox, lip filler and hair transplants reign. Despite the Taliban authorities’ strict theocratic rule, and prevailing conservatism and poverty in Afghanistan, the 20 or so clinics in Kabul have flourished since the end of decades of war in the country. Foreign doctors, especially from Turkey, travel to Kabul to train Afghans, who equally undertake internships in Istanbul, while equipment is imported from Asia or Europe. In the waiting rooms, the clientele is often well-off and includes men
BRIBERY ALLEGATIONS: A prosecutor said they considered the risk of Hak-ja Han tampering with evidence to be very high, which led them to seek the warrant South Korean prosecutors yesterday requested an arrest warrant for the leader of the Unification Church, Hak-ja Han, on allegations of bribery linked to the country’s former first lady and incitement to destroy evidence. The move came a day after the 82-year-old was questioned over her alleged role in bribing former first lady Kim Keon-hee and a lawmaker. Founded in 1954 by her late husband, Sun Myung Moon, the Unification Church has long been the subject of controversy and criticism, with its teachings centered on Moon’s role as the “second coming” and its mass weddings. Followers are derisively referred to as “Moonies.” However, the church’s
Venezuela on Saturday organized a day of military training for civilians in response to the US deployment in the Caribbean, and amid new threats from US President Donald Trump. About a month ago, Washington deployed warships to international waters off Venezuela’s coast, backed by F-35 jets sent to Puerto Rico in what it calls an anti-drug and anti-terrorism operation. Venezuelan Minister of Defense Vladimir Padrino Lopez has accused Washington of waging “undeclared war” in the Caribbean, after US strikes killed over a dozen alleged drug traffickers off his country’s coast. Caracas also accused the US of seeking regime change, and
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