HONG KONG
‘Umbrella’ activist jailed
Joshua Wong (黃之鋒), one of the leaders of the 2014 “Umbrella movement,” was sent back to jail yesterday after losing an appeal against a contempt of court sentence. Wong was in January last year sentenced to three months in jail for disobeying a court order and not leaving a protest zone during the pro-democracy rallies. The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction, but reduced his jail sentence to two months. “It is an affront to the court and must be met with a deterrent sentence,” the three judges said in a written summary. “Any suggestion that he is punished because of his status or notoriety as a committed social activist or any other reason, whatever it might be, is entirely baseless and misconceived,” they wrote. As guards led Wong away, he shouted: “Everyone keep going.” Dozens of supporters in the public gallery cheered back in response.
CHINA
Building collapse traps nine
Nine construction workers were trapped after the roof of a car dealership collapsed in Shanghai yesterday while it was being renovated, but rescue personnel managed to pull 11 others to safety, authorities said. The accident occurred at about 11:30am in a central Shanghai neighborhood, the fire rescue bureau of the Ministry of Emergency Management said on its social media account. The posting showed pictures of emergency rescue personnel pulling bloodied and dust-covered construction workers out of piles of rubble, fallen concrete pillars and shattered wooden beams. The low-rise building had been used as a dealership for Mercedes-Benz vehicles, the bureau said. It did not say whether anyone was killed or provide details of any injuries suffered by those who were rescued, and authorities sealed off the area shortly after the accident.
CHINA
Swine fever ‘disastrous’
African swine fever is a national crisis requiring more government funding to quell, China Animal Agriculture Association director Li Xirong (李希榮) said yesterday. The full extent of the damage to the nation’s US$128 billion pork industry is still being fathomed, and any estimate of the economic impact on the industry would be “stunning,” Li told more than 400 people involved in the sector at a meeting in Wuhan. The combined sixth Global Pig Forum and 16th China Swine Industry Development Conference is one of the biggest industry gatherings since the disease was first reported in August last year. Other major international meetings have been canceled on concern that clothing on delegates from affected nations might introduce the virus. African swine fever has become a disastrous issue, Li said. The pig industry must focus on how to stop it spreading further, how to restore pork production and identify alternative sources of meat, he added. A State Council meeting, slated for yesterday, was to discuss ways to maintain pork supply, he said.
SRI LANKA
Alarm over reinstatement
An international rights group yesterday expressed alarm over the army’s decision to reinstate an intelligence officer accused of high-profile attacks against journalists, including the assassination of a senior editor. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said that reinstating Major Prabath Bulathwatte created new threats for the media, which is under a state of emergency following the Easter attacks. Bulathwatte was arrested in 2017 in connection with a string of attacks against journalists during the regime of former president Mahinda Rajapakse and is currently on bail. Army commander Mahesh Senanayake last week told a local TV network that Bulathwatte has been reinstated to boost the battle against local militants following the April 21 bombings.
MYANMAR
General’s Twitter deleted
Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing, who has been accused of masterminding genocide against the Muslim Rohingya, has had his Twitter account suspended, following complaints about him using the platform for hate speech. Min Aung Hlaing, who was also accused of using social media to spread anti-Rohingya propaganda, had his Facebook account deleted in August last year, after the UN called for Burmese military leaders to be prosecuted for genocide. The suspension came after Tun Khin, president of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, met Twitter executives in Silicone Valley last week and questioned them over why the account remained live.
UNITED STATES
Koons’ ‘Rabbit’ sets record
A stainless steel rabbit by artist Jeff Koons fetched US$91 million at Christie’s, establishing an auction record for a living artist. The 0.9m-tall inflatable bunny was bought by art dealer Bob Mnuchin, father of Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin. The 1986 Rabbit was a hit from the start. Media mogul S.I. Newhouse bought it in 1992 for about US$1 million, a large sum at the time, Christie’s chairman of post-war and contemporary art Alex Rotter said. Koons had been the most expensive living artist at auction as recently as November last year, when he was ousted by David Hockney, whose Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) sold for US$90.3 million. Koons’ previous auction high was US$58.4 million for an orange balloon dog.
‘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
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
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in