GREECE
UN urges migrant transfers
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees on Sunday called on the government to urgently transfer young migrants to safe areas after a fatal brawl at the Moria migrant camp on the island of Lesbos. “The Greek government must take urgent measures to ensure that these children are transferred to a safe place,” the agency’s representative in the nation, Philippe Leclerc, said in a statement. Leclerc said he was shocked to hear that a 15-year-old Afghan boy had fatally stabbed a compatriot and injured two others at the Moria camp. The two injured boys were admitted to hospital, where one required life-saving surgery.
SPAIN
Police hand out ‘robbery kits’
Police in Barcelona have handed out more than 100 emergency clothing kits to swimmers who return from a swim to find everything they left on the beach has been stolen by the thieves who plague the city’s shoreline. The “robbery kits,” made up of a T-shirt bearing the city council logo, a pair of shorts, flip-flops and a metro ticket, are particularly appreciated by swimmers on the city’s nudist beaches of Sant Sebastia and Mar Bella whom thieves have left exposed. The kits handed out by officers have saved the blushes of 174 swimmers since this year’s summer season officially began on May 27. The number given out has increased each year since they were introduced in 2016.
UNITED KINGDOM
New scanners set for 2022
Long lines at airport security as passengers put liquid containers in plastic bags and remove laptops from carry-ons could soon be over after the government ordered airports to introduce new 3D scanners by 2022. Announcing the plans, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the scanners would cut down on “hassle” for travelers. “By making journeys through UK airports easier than ever, this new equipment will help boost the vital role our airports play in securing the UK’s position as a global hub for trade, tourism and investment,” he said on Saturday. Heathrow said some of the new-style scanners were already in operation at some of its terminals.
UNITED STATES
Walsh challenges Trump
Joe Walsh, a former Illinois congressman and Tea Party favorite turned radio talk show host, on Sunday announced a challenge to President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination next year, saying the incumbent is unfit for office and must be denied a second term. “He’s nuts. He’s erratic. He’s cruel. He stokes bigotry. He’s incompetent. He doesn’t know what he’s doing,” Walsh told ABC’s This Week. The longshot portrayed himself as a legitimate alternative in the party, where he said many are opposed to Trump, but are “scared to death” of saying so publicly. His campaign slogan is: “Be brave.”
AUSTRIA
Domingo receives ovation
Opera legend Placido Domingo on Sunday received a standing ovation at the Salzburg Festival, his first performance since he was accused of sexually harassing women. “Triumph in Salzburg, standing ovation for Domingo despite the Me Too affair,” a headline in the regional daily Kleine Zeitung said, following his performance in the Giuseppe Verdi opera Luisa Miller at the annual music and drama festival in Austria. Eight singers and a dancer told the Associated Press earlier this month they were sexually harassed by the former member of the much lauded “Three Tenors,” in incidents going back to the 1980s.
LAOS
Rescued cubs recovering
Five Asiatic black bear cubs were rescued from a remote area in Luang Namtha Province and are being nursed back to health, the Free the Bears nongovernmental group said yesterday, calling the one-day rescue the largest in its 24-year history. The cubs were weak and malnourished after being fed on mainly rice porridge, but are now “doing well,” spokesman Rod Mabin said. “For the first day or so they were a bit picky as they adjusted to the milk, but now they are fully adjusted.” They would be in quarantine for a month at a sanctuary near Luang Prabang before being introduced to a nursery enclosure, he said. The owners of the cubs claimed to have purchased them from villagers, but it is now illegal to keep the bears, trade their parts or extract bile.
SOUTH KOREA
Backing words with money
President Moon Jae-in will invest in a local equity fund that bets on companies the government is supporting amid its trade dispute with Japan. Moon is to invest an unspecified amount in the NH-Amundi Victorious Korea Equity Fund, the presidential office said in a statement yesterday. The fund, started on Aug. 14 with about US$24 million, invests in local suppliers that might benefit from Japan’s export curbs on key materials needed for the semiconductor industry.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Direct deposit requested
The government has asked Australia for hundreds of millions of dollars in direct budget support, as it tries to prop up shaky public finances. Prime Minister James Marape yesterday said he would like some of Australia’s existing US$400 million annual aid budget for the nation to be sent straight to government coffers, instead of channeled through Australian firms or other groups. Marape said he was looking for “any element of help” that Australia could give. He said government oversight would ensure the money would not be wasted or find its way into private bank accounts. “I will be accountable [for] every dollar Australia gives,” he said.
DR CONGO
Cabinet finally named
Prime Minister Ilunga Illunkamba yesterday announced a new government, eight months after President Felix Tshisekedi won an election, with around two-thirds of posts going to allies of former president Joseph Kabila. The Cabinet list consisted mostly of people with little or no government experience. Former director-general of taxes Sele Yalaghuli was named finance minister, while Ngoy Mukena, a close Kabila ally, was made defense minister.
KENYA
Hope for white rhinos
Seven ova from the world’s last two remaining northern white rhinoceroses have been successfully fertilized artificially, reviving hopes of saving the endangered animals, scientists said yesterday. The world’s last male northern white rhino, a 45-year-old named Sudan, died last year. The only survivors, Najin and Fatu, are Sudan’s daughter and granddaughter. Scientists harvested 10 eggs from Najin and Fatu and seven successfully matured and were artificially inseminated on Sunday. The frozen sperm came from two bulls of the same species.
China’s military news agency yesterday warned that Japanese militarism is infiltrating society through series such as Pokemon and Detective Conan, after recent controversies involving events at sensitive sites. In recent days, anime conventions throughout China have reportedly banned participants from dressing as characters from Pokemon or Detective Conan and prohibited sales of related products. China Military Online yesterday posted an article titled “Their schemes — beware the infiltration of Japanese militarism in culture and sports.” The article referenced recent controversies around the popular anime series Pokemon, Detective Conan and My Hero Academia, saying that “the evil influence of Japanese militarism lives on in
DIPLOMATIC THAW: The Canadian prime minister’s China visit and improved Beijing-Ottawa ties raised lawyer Zhang Dongshuo’s hopes for a positive outcome in the retrial China has overturned the death sentence of Canadian Robert Schellenberg, a Canadian official said on Friday, in a possible sign of a diplomatic thaw as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney seeks to boost trade ties with Beijing. Schellenberg’s lawyer, Zhang Dongshuo (張東碩), yesterday confirmed China’s Supreme People’s Court struck down the sentence. Schellenberg was detained on drug charges in 2014 before China-Canada ties nosedived following the 2018 arrest in Vancouver of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou (孟晚舟). That arrest infuriated Beijing, which detained two Canadians — Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig — on espionage charges that Ottawa condemned as retaliatory. In January
A sign hanging from a rusty ice-green shipping container installed by Thai forces on what they say is the border with Cambodia reads: “Cambodian citizens are strictly prohibited from entering this area.” On opposite sides of the makeshift barricade, fronted by coils of barbed wire, Cambodians lamented their lost homes and livelihoods as Thailand’s military showed off its gains. Thai forces took control of several patches of disputed land along the border during fighting last year, which could amount to several square kilometers in total. Cambodian Kim Ren said her house in Chouk Chey used to stand on what is now the Thai
NEW RULES: There would be fewer school days, four-day workweeks, and a reduction in transportation services as the country battles a crisis exacerbated by US pressure The Cuban government on Friday announced emergency measures to address a crippling energy crisis worsened by US sanctions, including the adoption of a four-day work week for state-owned companies and fuel sale restrictions. Cuban Deputy Prime Minister Oscar Perez-Oliva Fraga blamed Washington for the crisis, telling Cuban television the government would “implement a series of decisions, first and foremost to guarantee the vitality of our country and essential services, without giving up on development.” “Fuel will be used to protect essential services for the population and indispensable economic activities,” he said. Among the new measures are the reduction of the working week in
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