AUSTRALIA
Man deported for ‘depravity’
A Malaysian tourist was yesterday kicked out of the country after videos showing “extreme sexual depravity and horrific violence” were found on his smartphone during a routine baggage check at Perth Airport. The 43-year-old man, who was not named, arrived on a flight from Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, when the shocking material was discovered. He was held in immigration detention and sent home yesterday after his tourist visa was canceled and his smartphone confiscated. Australian Border Force regional commander for Western Australia Mark Wilson said the images were abhorrent and contravened government regulations, without going into details of what was depicted. “Videos depicting extreme sexual depravity and acts of horrific violence are not acceptable in our community and anyone caught engaging in this behavior risks forfeiting their right to be here,” Wilson said.
CHINA
Industrial accident kills 19
A blast in an industrial park in a southwestern province has killed 19 people and injured 12 others, Xinhua news agency said yesterday. The blast occurred at a Yibin Hengda Technology Co chemical plant in an industrial park in the city of Yibin in Sichuan Province at 6:30pm on Thursday, Xinhua said. Xinhua quoted the Jiangan County Government as saying that the fire was put out yesterday morning and the injured were in a stable condition.
INDONESIA
Papuan leaders protest raid
Papua Province leaders have protested a military and police operation against separatists that they said endangered the lives of villagers in the remote easternmost province. Nduga Regent Yairus Gwijangge said security forces on Wednesday fired on Alguru village with helicopter sorties in an attempt to root out independence fighters they believed were based there. “Thank God there was no reports of casualties, but we regret that they did not warn us before launching the attacks,” Gwijangge said. “It caused panic among villagers,” he said, adding that he had complained to the army and police paramilitary forces. “The forces have to be withdrawn,” he added. Yunus Wonda, the head of Papua Province’s parliament, condemned the operation and yesterday called on security forces to leave the occupied village, saying that villagers were “traumatized.” An Amnesty International investigation released earlier this month said the police and military are responsible for at least 95 unlawful killings in Papua and West Papua provinces since 2010, including targeted slayings of activists. No casualties have been reported. Local police chief Yan Pieter Reba said security forces were responding to attacks by gunmen that killed paramilitary police and civilians.
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