CHINA
Landslide kills nine in north
A landslide in Shanxi Province yesterday morning trapped and killed nine people. More than 100 firefighters, rescue workers and medical staff were sent to the scene, the Luliang municipal government said on social media. The landslide hit shortly before 5am, the post said. Rescuers with four large machines and five ambulances looked for people who had been trapped, but the search concluded by the early afternoon. There was no immediate word on the cause of the landslide or the identities of the deceased.
JAPAN
Fugitive found after weeks
Police yesterday took a fugitive thief into custody more than three weeks after he fled an open prison, with more than 6,000 officers deployed for the high-profile manhunt. Tatsuma Hirao, 27, a “model” inmate who was serving time for multiple thefts, was arrested on a street near Hiroshima Railway Station, a police spokesman said. Hirao on April 8 gave guards the slip, vanishing from the facility, an “open institution” where inmates can walk around freely. Police detected the fugitive’s fingerprints and several thefts have been reported since his escape. The stolen items included socks, a mobile phone, a wallet, a pair of sandals and a car key, whose owner found a polite note saying: “I’m borrowing your car, but I’ll never damage it.”
PHILIPPINES
Critics blast Kuawit order
A labor group and a senator yesterday accused President Rodrigo Duterte of gambling with the livelihoods of Philippine workers in Kuwait, after he asked them to come home amid a diplomatic dispute over reported labor abuse. Critics said Duterte had no way of guaranteeing that overseas workers would get financial aid and jobs elsewhere, and should not ask those whose income was vital to their families back home to quit their jobs. Senator Risa Hontiveros called Duterte’s request “extremely reckless, shortsighted and uncaring,” while Migrante International doubted the government could provide for returnees.
MYANMAR
UN security officials arrive
Members of a UN Security Council team probing the Rohingya Muslim crisis have arrived in the capital after a visit to Bangladesh, where about 700,000 Rohingya who fled military-led violence live in refugee camps. The delegation on a two-day visit is to meet State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and military commander Senior General Min Aung Hlaing before traveling to northern Rakhine State, the area from which the Rohingya fled.
ISRAEL
Pompeo meets Netanyahu
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday ratcheted up rhetoric against Iran and gave boosts of support to the Israelis and Saudis in their standoffs with Tehran. “We remain deeply concerned about Iran’s dangerous escalation of threats to Israel and the region and Iran’s ambition to dominate the Middle East remains,” Pompeo said after a nearly two-hour meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His host agreed. “Iran must be stopped, its quest for a nuclear bomb must be stopped, its aggression must be stopped and we’re committed to stopping it together,” Netanyahu said. Pompeo yesterday spoke in Amman, urging the Palestinians to return to peace talks with Israel, saying the US is open to a two-state solution, which he termed a “likely outcome.” He declined to criticize Israel for its actions in dealing with mass Palestinian protests along the Gaza border.
‘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
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