UNITED NATIONS
Rohingya resolution passed
A key committee on Friday overwhelmingly approved a resolution strongly condemning the continuing “gross human rights violations and abuses” against Rohingya Muslims who are treated as outsiders in Myanmar and were victims of a brutal campaign by the nation’s military. The General Assembly’s human rights committee approved the resolution by a vote of 142-10, with 26 abstentions. It is virtually certain to be formally adopted by the world body next month. Among those voting against the resolution were China, Cambodia, Laos and Russia. Bangladesh, which hosts 1.1 million Rohingya refugees, voted in favor. The resolution urgently calls on Myanmar’s government to end discrimination and provide a path to citizenship for the embattled minority.
UNITED STATES
Misconduct change mooted
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos on Friday proposed a major overhaul to the way colleges and universities handle sexual misconduct complaints. Her plan would add protections for students accused of assault and harassment, and narrow which cases schools would be required to investigate. The plan would scale back important rules passed under former president Barack Obama, while adding mandates that could reshape the school disciplinary systems that schools have developed over the past decade. Under the plan, colleges would have to investigate complaints only if the alleged incident occurred on campus or in other areas overseen by the school, and only if it was reported to certain officials.
ARGENTINA
Missing sub found year later
A private company hired by the government has located the submarine ARA San Juan about 800m below the ocean’s surface a year after it went missing with 44 crew members aboard, the navy said yesterday. The sub had a seven-day supply of air when it last reported its position on Nov. 15 last year. The crew had been ordered to return to a naval base at Mar del Plata after reporting that water had entered the vessel through its snorkel. Ocean Infinity was hired by the government following the failure of a massive international operation to find the vessel after it went missing in the South Atlantic. The San Juan was about 430km off Argentina’s Patagonian coast when it sent its last signal.
UNITED STATES
Filing questions Whitaker
An unusual filing asks the Supreme Court to move quickly to say whether President Donald Trump’s appointment of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general is valid. The filing by Washington lawyer Tom Goldstein came on Friday in a case that on its surface has nothing to do with Whitaker: a bid for a hearing from a convicted felon seeking to restore his gun possession rights. Goldstein is asking the court to remove Whitaker’s name as a party in the case and substitute that of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The request contends the Whitaker appointment violates a federal statute and the Constitution. The underlying appeal originally named then-attorney general Jeff Sessions as a party. Goldstein says the court should resolve the Whitaker issue quickly to avert the possibility that thousands of criminal and immigration cases bearing his name could be called into question. Under the schedule proposed by Goldstein, the court could act on the request by early next month.
‘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