UNITED KINGDOM
Scots want independence
Scottish voters would vote for independence from the UK, according to a poll by Michael Ashcroft, the first major published survey to show a lead for independence since March 2017. Asked how they would vote in an independence referendum, 46 percent said they would vote for independence and 43 percent against. Excluding those who said they did not know or would not vote, this amounted to a lead of 52 percent to 48 percent for an independent Scotland. “In the wake of [Prime Minister] Boris Johnson’s visit to Edinburgh last week I polled Scots to measure support for a second independence referendum and to gauge opinion on independence itself,” said Ashcroft, a Conservative who opposed Johnson’s leadership. “I found a small majority in favor of a new vote — and the first lead for an independent Scotland for more than two years,” he said.
EGYPT
Fiery car crash kills 19
At least 19 people were killed when a speeding car driving against traffic crashed into three others, causing a huge explosion in Cairo, the Ministry of Health said yesterday. The crash happened just before midnight on Sunday outside the National Cancer Institute and injured 30 people, the ministry added. Between “three and four [of the injured] are in critical condition in the intensive care unit,” ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed told a news conference, adding that they have “several burns of varying degrees.”Body parts were also retrieved from the scene, he said. The prosecutor general has ordered an investigation to determine the cause of the crash.
INDONESIA
Activist walking backwards
A man is walking backwards from his home in East Java Province to the capital, Jakarta, to raise awareness of deforestation in a country with one of the highest rates in the world. The more than 700km trek would be arduous enough under any circumstances, but Medi Bastoni is drawing attention to his campaign by doing it walking backwards. Bastoni, 43, started on July 18 from his village on Mount Wilis, a 2,500m volcano in East Java that has been affected by deforestation. He hopes to meet President Joko Widodo when he arrives in Jakarta later this month. “I hope the government will start to care about the environment ... so the young generation will care about our environment,” the father of four told Reuters TV. As he passed through the town of Sragen in central Java, residents looked on with amazement. “I think this is crazy and it’s something impossible, to walk such a long distance backwards,” said Ambyar, who uses one name. “But, he has a noble mission ... and we support him. We just hope he will arrive in Jakarta.”
AUSTRIA
No perfume, please: poll
Vienna subway travelers have decided that they do not want their train rides to be scented. The capital’s transport authority tried out four scents, including hints of green tea, grapefruit, sandalwood and melon, in the ventilation systems of four trains on two of the network’s five lines last month. It asked subway users to deliver their verdict online. The authority yesterday said that 21,000 people decided they would prefer to live without scent as they commute, while 16,000 supported extending the project. It said that the air quality in subway cars has already been improved by a ban on eating on trains that was introduced on all lines in January.
‘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
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
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