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.
‘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