SOUTH KOREA
Lawmaker sparks outrage
Lawmaker Jeong Kab-yoon from the conservative opposition Liberty Korea Party yesterday provoked outrage by berating a female economics professor nominated to head the Fair Trade Commission for not “fulfilling her duty to the nation” by having a child. “I’m aware that you are still single and the biggest problem in South Korea is that [women] are not giving birth,” Jeong said at the confirmation hearing for Joh Sung-wook, an unmarried academic in her mid-50s, Yonhap news agency reported. “You have a great resume, but please fulfil your duties to the nation.” While Joh did not react to his remark, social media users were furious. “This is an outright sexual assault and a violation of women’s rights,” one wrote.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Australia contract canned
The Ministry for Immigration and Border Security yesterday took a significant step toward shutting the Manus Island refugee camps that have become synonymous with Australia’s controversial immigration policies, by announcing it was ending a contract with Paladin Holdings, which runs the camps. The ministry said ending the contact to provide security and other services was “the most significant milestone to date in ending regional processing in Manus Province.” The remaining 64 migrants on Manus are to be transferred to Port Moresby or found homes overseas, it said. A local firm would be contracted to provide services in the interim, it added.
CZECH REPUBLIC
PM avoids fraud charges
Prosecutors have decided against charging Prime Minister Andrej Babis in a fraud case, DennikN reports, a major step toward clearing the biggest political risk for the billionaire leader. Authorities investigated the legality of a 50 million koruna (US$2 million) EU subsidy to one of Babis’ former firms more than a decade ago, before he became a politician. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. The Prague prosecutor in charge of the case handed his decision to his supervisors, who will review the case, DennikN reported, citing people with knowledge of the case.
AUSTRALIA
Student pilot lands plane
A Perth man taking his first flying lesson was forced to make an “amazing” solo landing after his instructor blacked out mid-flight. Max Sylvester’s wife and three kids watched from the ground as air traffic control talked him through safely landing the Cessna two-seater at Jandakot airport on Saturday. He had issued a mayday call from an altitude of 1,900m after his instructor slumped onto his shoulder and could not be woken. The instructor was taken to hospital in a stable condition and Sylvester received his first solo flight certificate.
MALDIVES
Journalist killed by militants
A local extremist group linked to al-Qaeda was responsible for the murder of three prominent citizens, including a journalist missing for more than five years, the independent Presidential Commission on Investigation of Murders and Enforced Disappearances said. Ahmed Rilwan Abdulla, a reporter with the independent Minivan News Web site, was abducted on Aug. 8, 2014, and murdered at sea, the commission said. The reporter had received death threats from a group operating under the name Bilad-al-Sham on Facebook, the commission’s head said. The group was also responsible for the assassination of a moderate legislator in 2012 and liberal blogger Yameen Rasheed in 2017.
‘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