INDONESIA
‘Militant’ parade defended
Officials are defending a street parade that involved veiled kindergarteners carrying replica weapons, but police said they would arrest the person who uploaded a viral video of the event. The video of children dressed head-to-toe in black and marching with wooden guns has caused a sensation in Indonesia, which in May suffered one of its worst attacks in years when militants used their children as suicide bombers in the second-largest city, Surabaya. The parade was one of thousands held across Indonesia on Friday to mark independence.
INDIA
Flood rescue scaled back
The military is scaling down rescue operations in the southern state of Kerala, where intense floods killed more than 200 people and drove hundreds of thousands from their homes. Decreasing rains and flood waters mean that the navy can cut back on its rescue teams in Kerala, Navy spokesman Captain D.K. Sharma said in a statement on Monday, adding that the navy had rescued nearly 16,000 people in the state. People have begun leaving Kerala’s of relief camps, heading back to their homes. Meteorologists are expecting only light-to-moderate rains in the coming days.
ITALY
Bridge cave-in riles populists
In the aftermath of last week’s disastrous collapse of the Morandi Bridge in Genoa, the populist government has been riding a wave of public anger. Although Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte was first on the scene hours after the disaster, his two deputies, Matteo Salvini of the far-right League and Luigi Di Maio of the populist Five Star Movement, have vied to outdo each other in their responses. Regarding an offer from Autostrade to help rebuild the bridge, Di Maio said the government “does not accept handouts from Autostrade.”One of many tweets posted on Salvini’s account on Monday during a TV interview said: “There’s no desire for revenge in Genoa, but there is a need for JUSTICE.”
VENEZUELA
Businesses pan new currency
New banknotes stripped of five zeros on Monday entered circulation in Venezuela as part of President Nicolas Maduro’s radical plan to curb hyperinflation, but business leaders branded the move as counterproductive. Most shops and businesses closed as Venezuelans reacted nervously to the issuing of the new “sovereign bolivar,” launched to replace the oil-rich, cash-strapped country’s crippled “strong bolivar.” The measure would only “increase economic instability,” business association Fedecamaras president Carlos Larrazabal said, adding that it “could devastate companies’ already debilitated assets.”
UNITED STATES
Texas priest flees allegations
A Texas priest who is accused of molesting young people and stealing from his parish has gone missing. St Cecilia Catholic Church officials believe that the Reverend Edmundo Paredes might have fled to his native Philippines, the Dallas Morning reported. Dallas police have found the sexual abuse allegations to be credible, Bishop Edward Burns said. The church first began investigating Paredes in May last year over allegations that he stole up to US$80,000 in cash from the parish. Paredes admitted to the misconduct and was suspended, Burns said. Church officials then received allegations in February that Paredes molested three teenage boys more than a decade ago. The Catholic Church is hiring private investigators to find Paredes, Burns said.
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