PAKISTAN
Alleged spy granted access
The government has ordered consular access for Kulbhushan Jadhav, a former Indian naval commander condemned to death for spying, following a decision this week by the International Court of Justice. The UN court on Wednesday in The Hague ruled that Pakistan should undertake an “effective review” of the case, adding that a “continued stay of execution” was needed for that to happen. “As a responsible state, Pakistan will grant consular access to Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav according to Pakistani laws for which modalities are being worked out,” the government said in a statement on Thursday. Jadhav was arrested in March 2016 in Baluchistan Province, the site of a long-running conflict between security forces and separatists. He was convicted of planning espionage and sabotage, and sentenced to death. India says Jadhav is innocent and had asked the UN court to intervene, saying his trial had been unfair and Pakistan had denied him diplomatic assistance.
FRANCE
Man spots own amputation
A man has lodged a complaint after claiming an image of his amputated leg was used as a health warning on tobacco packets across the EU without his permission. The 60-year-old, who lives in Metz, claims a picture displayed on a packet of rolling tobacco alongside the message “smoking clogs your arteries” is of his leg. The tobacco was bought in Luxembourg by his son, who said he recognized in the picture the burns and scars of his father’s leg, according to reports. The European Commission, which is responsible for the graphic images of smoking-induced disease on cigarette packets, rejected the claim, saying any similarity was purely coincidental and that every person depicted in its library of 42 images signed a consent form. “We can confirm that the individual mentioned is not depicted in the library of health warnings,” a commission spokesperson said. Antoine Fittante, a lawyer for the complainant, said: “We will have no trouble to prove that this is my client. My client feels betrayed, wounded in his dignity to see his disability on cigarette packets in tobacco shops.” His client lost his leg in 1997 after an attack in Albania.
UNITED STATES
Hottest June on record
Earth sizzled to its hottest June on record as the climate keeps going to extremes. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Thursday announced that last month averaged 15.9°C, about 0.9°C warmer than the 20th-century average. It beat 2016 for the hottest June in records going back to 1880. Europe shattered its June temperature records by far, while other records were set in Russia, Africa, Asia and South America. France had its hottest month in history, which is unusual because this month is traditionally hotter.
‘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