NEW ZEALAND
Hiker charged over kauri ban
A hiker has become the first to be charged with walking on closed tracks in the Waitakere Ranges, breaching a ban put in place to stop the spread of kauri dieback, a fungal disease killing kauri trees, which are sacred to local Aborigines. Each breach carries a separate maximum penalty of NZ$20,000 (US$12,852). Auckland Mayor Phil Goff said that the hiker walked on the closed tracks three times in the past five months, so a stern response was needed. Kauri dieback can be spread by as little as a pinhead of soil on the sole of a hiker’s boots or a dog’s paw, the Ministry for Primary Industries said.
BANGLADESH
Cafe attackers sentenced
Seven Islamist extremists have been sentenced to death by a court over a savage 2016 attack that killed 22 people, including 18 foreigners, at a Dhaka cafe popular with Westerners. A special anti-terrorism tribunal delivered the verdict in a crowded courtroom in Dhaka, with judge Mojibur Rahman saying that the attackers wanted “to draw the attention of [the] Islamic State” group. They wanted to “undermine public safety, create anarchy and “establish a Jihad[ist]” state, he said, adding that the seven “will be executed by hanging until they are pronounced dead.” Some of the men shouted: “Allahu Akbar” (“God is greatest”), before they were led to a police van.
IRAN
Banks, official sites burned
About 731 banks and 140 government sites have been torched in unrest, Minister of the Interior Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli was quoted as saying by the official Islamic Republic News Agency yesterday. More than 50 bases used by security forces were attacked and about 70 gas stations were also burned, he said. On Monday, London-based Amnesty International said that it had recorded at least 143 protesters killed in the unrest, the worst anti-government unrest since authorities put down the “Green Revolution” demonstrations against election fraud in 2009.
IRAQ
Deadly blasts hit Baghdad
Six people were killed on Tuesday in near-simultaneous blasts across Baghdad, medics and a security source said, as deadly anti-government protests continue to rock the capital and the Shiite-majority south. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the three explosions, which were caused by a roadside bomb and two explosives-laden motorcycles, and hit three Shiite neighborhoods, the medical and security sources said. About a dozen people were wounded and taken to hospitals already treating scores of demonstrators hurt earlier in the day in protests. The historic districts near al-Ahrar have become arenas for daily street battles. Demonstrators throw rocks at security forces firing tear gas, rubber bullets, live rounds and even machinegun fire. “We won’t leave unless it’s in coffins,” one protester said, while another added: “Either way, I’ve got no job, no money, so whether I stay here or go home, it’s all the same.”
MEXICO
Meeting with US sought
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday said that it would quickly seek a high-level meeting with US Department of State officials after US President Donald Trump said that he would designate drug cartels as terrorist groups. The ministry said in a statement that it would also seek to address how to reduce the illegal flow of arms and money from the US to organized crime in the nation.
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
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
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