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.
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
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was