SWEDEN
Chinese activist wins award
Li Wenzu (李文足) on Tuesday was awarded the Edelstam Prize for her outstanding contributions and exceptional courage in standing up for one’s beliefs in defense of human rights. Li is the wife of detained rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang (王全璋), who disappeared during China’s “709 crackdown” in 2015. She has been “instrumental in campaigning for the release of the hundreds of lawyers and activists detained during the crackdown” and supporting the families of the detainees, the Edelstam Foundation said. Since Li is barred from leaving China, her award was received by Yuan Weijing (袁偉靜), a rights activist and wife of exiled lawyer Chen Guangcheng (陳光誠), on her behalf.
UNITED STATES
Senators call for ZTE probe
Senators Chris van Hollen and Marco Rubio on Wednesday asked the White House to investigate whether Chinese telecom ZTE Corp breached US sanctions by helping Venezuela set up a database that monitors the behavior of its citizens. Their letter follows a Reuters investigation of the database and an associated Venezuelan identity card program published on Nov. 14. The company is accused by many Western officials of helping China export surveillance tactics and equipment to authoritarian governments around the world. ZTE has increasingly worked with Venezuela’s government in various projects there, mostly in ventures with Compania Anonima Nacional Telefonos de Venezuela, or Cantv, the state telecom. Reuters found that ZTE had helped Caracas build a database that could track citizens’ behavior through a national ID card that could compile data, including financial and medical histories, usage of social media, political affiliation and whether a person voted. One area of concern for the senators is whether ZTE installed components made by Dell Technologies in the database.
GEORGIA
First woman leader elected
Ruling party candidate Salome Zurabishvili has been elected the nation’s first woman president, results showed yesterday, but the opposition claimed fraud and called for supporters to take to the streets. With 99.9 percent of ballots counted, the French-born former diplomat had taken 59.61 percent of the vote in Wednesday’s second round of the election. Her rival, Grigol Vashadze, from an alliance of 11 opposition parties led by exiled former president Mikheil Saakashvili’s United National Movement, had 40.46 percent. The election was seen as a test of Georgia’s democratic credentials as the nation seeks EU and NATO membership. It was also a trial run for more important parliamentary elections in 2020, when the ruling Georgian Dream party is set to face off against a range of opposition parties.
MAURITIUS
Reggae makes UNESCO list
Reggae music yesterday won a spot on the UN’s list of global cultural treasures. UNESCO added the genre that originated in Jamaica to its collection of “intangible cultural heritage” deemed worthy of protection and promotion. Reggae music’s “contribution to international discourse on issues of injustice, resistance, love and humanity underscores the dynamics of the element as being at once cerebral, sociopolitical, sensual and spiritual,” UNESCO said. Reggae emerged in the late 1960s out of Jamaica’s ska and rocksteady genres, also drawing influence from US jazz and blues. Jamaica applied for reggae’s inclusion on the list this year at a meeting of the UN agency in Mauritius, where 40 proposals were under consideration.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in 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
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