UKRAINE
Banker’s house destroyed
Police on Tuesday were investigating a fire that destroyed the house of a reformist former head of the central bank, who along with the bank called it an act of “terror.” Valeria Gontareva said her country home in a village north of Kiev was burned to the ground after being struck with a Molotov cocktail on Tuesday morning. “The terror continues,” Gontareva told Interfax Ukraine from London, where she now lives. Gontareva, who headed the National Bank of Ukraine for three years until 2017 when she resigned, was struck by a vehicle in Britain last month and had to undergo surgery. Earlier this month, her daughter-in-law’s vehicle was burned in Kiev. Gontareva resigned in 2017 after coming under intense pressure from tycoons and lawmakers who wanted to jail her for devaluating the currency.
NEW ZEALAND
Trademark plan dropped
Air New Zealand yesterday backed down on plans to trademark a logo of the Maori greeting kia ora after it was accused of cultural theft. The carrier justified the application last week saying it wanted to protect the masthead of its in-flight magazine. The magazine’s title is a greeting commonly used by all New Zealanders and the Maori Council said the carrier had no right to trademark it. The council threatened a boycott over the issue, saying the airline was trying to commercialize the Maori language. Air New Zealand said it had reconsidered after talks with Maori groups.
RUSSIA
North Koreans detained
Three coast guards were injured on Tuesday in a clash with North Korean fishing boats in the Sea of Japan, after which 80 fishers were detained, the FSB security service said. The FSB, which controls the border and coast guard, said in a statement that guards observed two fishing vessels and 11 motor boats while on duty in territorial waters. The larger boat’s crew attacked officers who boarded the vessel and three officers “received injuries of varying degrees of severity,” the FSB said. Both vessels were eventually detained. “Two fishing vessels and more than 80 North Korean citizens were detained,” the FSB told TASS news agency. “Activities of North Korean poachers has been thwarted.” The Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the North Korean charge d’affaires over the incident, expressing “serious concern,” it said in a statement.
UNITED STATES
Janitor hailed as hero
A maintenance manager on Tuesday was credited with saving lives by evacuating a building before an explosion that gravely injured him, while investigators began examining the rubble to determine the cause and a firefighter who died was saluted. Larry Lord on Monday emptied the building in Farmington, Maine, of “at least a dozen or so employees” when the odor of propane gas was detected just minutes before a powerful blast destroyed the building and killed a firefighter, Police Chief Jack Peck said. “Without his quick actions, I think it would’ve been a much more horrific tragedy,” Peck told reporters. Lisa Charles, who worked in the building, but was not there at the time of the blast, said that she was grateful Lord got her colleagues to safety. “They got a warning from the maintenance guy,” she said, calling him a hero. Her colleagues told her that they were taken to a safe area, but that Lord went back inside with firefighters before the blast occurred. In addition to the death of Fire Captain Michael Bell, seven other people were injured in the explosion.
‘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