INDONESIA
Trash to go back to Australia
The Ministry of Environment and Forestry yesterday said the government would send more than 210 tonnes of garbage back to Australia, after authorities found hazardous material and household trash, including plastic bottles and packaging, used diapers, electronic waste and cans in eight containers seized in Surabaya. The Directorate General of Customs and Excise of East Java said the containers should have contained only waste paper.
Photo: AFP
NEPAL
Ex-UN official jailed
Former UN official Peter Dalglish has been jailed for sexually abusing children, officials said yesterday. The 62-year-old Canadian was on Monday sentenced to two terms of nine and six years in two cases after being convicted last month. A district court official said Dalglish was sentenced for nine years for abusing a 12-year-old boy and seven years jail for molesting a 14-year-old. He was also ordered to pay 500,000 Nepal rupees (US$4,550) compensation of to each victim.
CHINA
Dam is ‘safe’ despite shift
The Three Gorges Dam is structurally sound, officials said yesterday, denying rumors on social media it was at risk of collapse. Safety experts with the government-run China Three Gorges Corp said the dam had moved a few millimeters due to temperature and water level changes, but safety indicators remained well within their normal range. Satellite imagery from Google Maps reportedly showed the dam has bent and is at risk of breaking, but the government said the problem was with the satellite imaging, not the dam, the Caixin financial news service reported yesterday.
PHILIPPINES
Manga site manager nabbed
A man who ran an illegal online manga comic library read by around 100 million people each month has been arrested in Manila, authorities said yesterday. Romi Hoshino, 28, managed “Manga Mura” (Manga village), which shut down on its own in April last year as Japan launched a hunt for the Web site’s founder for massive violation of copyright. The Web site made around 60,000 manga available to the public for free immediately after publication. Manga publishers lost about US$2.94 billion in potential revenues over a six-month period to February last year alone, Japan’s Content Overseas Distribution Association said. Hoshino, who holds a Japanese passport, was arrested on Sunday at Ninoy Aquino International Airport after the Japanese embassy in Manila sought help in finding him, Bureau of Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said.
AUSTRALIA
Rush for tax rebates
Nearly 1 million people have lodged their tax statements in little more than a week as they rush to receive rebates that the Reserve Bank of Australia hopes will kick-start the economy. Lawmakers last week approved A$158 billion (US$109.95 billion) worth of tax cuts over the next decade, including a A$1,080 rebate to low and middle-income earners. Despite having four months to submit their tax statements, the Australian Tax Office said it has already received about 800,000 since June 30. The office said it will return rebates by the end of the week.
SWEDEN
Chinese not to be extradited
The Supreme Court has decided not to extradite a former Chinese official wanted by Beijing on suspicion of having embezzled millions of dollars due to the risk that he would face persecution, it said yesterday. China had asked Sweden to extradite Qiao Jianjun (喬建軍), who also goes under the name of Feng Li (李峰), on suspicion of breach of trust and fraud relating to the embezzlement of the equivalent of about 100 million kronor (US$11 million). Qiao was arrested in June last year. Last month, he was released from custody without a ruling on the Chinese request, then rearrested days later on a separate request from the US, where he has been indicted for money laundering and immigration fraud.
TURKEY
Troops facing arrest
Police yesterday began nationwide raids aimed at detaining more than 200 military personnel suspected of ties to the group blamed for a 2016 coup attempt, officials and state media reported. The Istanbul public prosecutor said it issued arrest warrants for 176 active duty military personnel, including a colonel, five majors and 100 lieutenants from the different armed forces over alleged links to US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen’s movement. The Izmir public prosecutor in the Aegean region issued arrest warrants for 35 suspects, including 20 soldiers on active duty and 10 civilians, state news agency Anadolu said. The agency said eight suspects had been detained already.
UNITED STATES
Trump ruling challenged
The Department of Justice on Monday challenged a federal judge’s decision to allow a case accusing President Donald Trump of profiting off the presidency to move forward, asking an appeals court to take up the case instead. Lawyers asked the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to overrule a federal judge and instead allow for a mid-case appeal or to dismiss the case outright, calling the case dealing with a Revolutionary War-era clause “extraordinary.” The lawyers also want the court to suspend legal discovery approved by District Judge Emmet Sullivan, which would force Trump-related entities to turn over tax returns, receipts and other documents.
UNITED STATES
Storm floods White House
A slow-moving rainstorm on Monday washed out roads, stranded drivers and soaked basements, including the White House, during a chaotic morning commute in the capital. Water gushed into the press workspace in the basement near the White House’s West Wing. Flooding led to electrical outages that closed the National Archives Building and Museum. National Weather Service meteorologist Cody Ledbetter said the storm dumped about 8.6cm at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in a two-hour period.
UNITED STATES
Warren raises US$19.1m
Senator Elizabeth Warren raised US$19.1 million in the second quarter, her campaign said on Monday, cementing her status in the top tier of Democratic presidential contenders and surpassing Senator Bernie Sanders, her main liberal rival. The strong showing leaves Warren behind only South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who reported nearly US$25 million, and former vice president Joe Biden, who has tallied US$21.5 million since his candidacy began in late April. The strong showing signals the grip Warren is gaining over the party’s progressive base.
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion