The US’ top envoy to China yesterday called on the nation to reopen dialogue it halted after US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan almost two months ago. “Our message to the Chinese is: Let’s talk, open these dialogues and let’s move forward,” US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns told the Milken Institute Asia Summit in Singapore via videoconference. The US needs to work with China on issues such as climate change and health, even as they compete on technology, Burns said. Washington views Beijing as trying to change the “status quo” regarding Taiwan, he said, adding: “We’ve warned them that we won’t agree to that — we don’t accept it.” The comments mark an effort by Washington to soothe tensions with Beijing that spiked when Pelosi became the first sitting US House speaker in 25 years to visit Taiwan. China warned Pelosi not to visit, and when she did, it responded with unprecedented military drills and by firing ballistic missiles over Taiwan. It also cut off talks with the US on defense and climate change. At the time, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby called China’s cutting of military talks with the US “an irresponsible act,” but added that “not all channels of communication between our military leaders are shut down.” Kirby also said that China’s ending of climate change talks amounted to “punishing the whole world.” US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry last week said there was still room for progress on climate talks with China even though they had been suspended. “I really hope China will decide sometime in the next days,” he said. “It is worth coming back to this, because we owe it to humankind.” Burns also said that the US was monitoring China’s ties with Russia closely, although it has not seen any sign that Beijing has supported Moscow
‘OPPORTUNITY’: Xi Jinping said in a message that the two countries should work together to build a China-Japan relationship that meets the needs of the new era
Japan yesterday called for “constructive and stable” ties with China as the two sides marked 50 years since the normalization of relations, albeit with little public fanfare. Growing friction over China’s military might and regional saber rattling has left ties between Beijing and Tokyo frosty, and there was no major diplomatic ceremony to mark the anniversary. Instead, messages from Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) were read out at an event in Tokyo backed by the government and the Chinese embassy, and hosted by the Keidanren business lobby. In his message, Kishida, who was not at the event, warned that relations with China, “while possessing various possibilities, face many challenges and issues.” “I would like to build constructive and stable Japan-China relations for the peace and prosperity of not only our two nations, but also the region and the world,” he said. Xi said in his message that ties with Japan were of “great importance,” adding that he was willing to work with Kishida to use the anniversary as an “opportunity.” The countries should “work together to build a China-Japan relationship that meets the requirements of the new era,” he said. The world’s second and third-largest economies are key trading partners and just a few years ago seemed to be poised for a diplomatic blossoming, with plans for a state visit by Xi. Since then, ties have significantly soured as Beijing bolsters its military, projects power regionally and beyond, and takes a harder line on disputed territory. In the past few months, Chinese missiles are believed by Japan to have fallen within its exclusive economic zone, and Tokyo has protested what it calls growing aerial and maritime encroachments. Japan also regularly complains about Chinese activity around the disputed Tokyo-controlled Senkaku Islands, which Beijing claims and calls the Diaoyus. Taiwan also claims the Diaoyutais (釣魚台). The war in
Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday was sentenced to three more years in prison, while Australia’s government rejected a Myanmar court’s sentencing of her former economic adviser. Aung San Suu Kyi was found guilty of contravening the Official Secrets Act, a person familiar with the matter said. A military-controlled court in the capital, Naypidaw, ruled that the 77-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate broke the colonial-era law, which criminalizes the possession or sharing of state information which is “directly or indirectly useful to an enemy,” said the person, who asked not to be named as he is not authorized to speak to the media. Aung San Suu Kyi’s former economic adviser, Australian Sean Turnell, was also sentenced to three years in prison. It is not clear whether the military government would jail Turnell or immediately deport him. Three former Cabinet ministers at the Burmese Ministry of Planning and Finance were also convicted of breaching the secrets act and sentenced to three years in prison each. All of the accused had pleaded not guilty, the source said, adding that they plan to appeal the verdicts. The latest sentencing marks the sixth round of criminal verdicts against Aung San Suu Kyi since the military last year staged a coup that overthrew the civilian government. It takes her total jail term to 23 years. She is awaiting verdicts in seven more corruption charges expected later this year. Turnell is not the first foreigner to have been convicted by the regime since the coup. Last year, American journalist Danny Fenster was sentenced to 11 years in prison after he was found guilty of three charges, including inciting dissent against the military, but was released and deported a few days later. Earlier this month, the junta handed a one-year prison sentence to former British ambassador to Myanmar Vicky Bowman and her husband for contravening the country’s
Vietnam is preparing new rules to limit which social media accounts can post news-related content, three people familiar with the matter said. The rules, expected to be announced by the end of this year and with details yet to be hammered out, would establish a legal basis for controlling news dissemination on platforms such as Facebook and YouTube while placing a significant moderation burden on platform providers, two of the sources said. The sources asked not to be identified, as discussions about the new rules remain confidential. The Vietnamese Ministry of Information and Communications and Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to requests for comment. “The government wants to fix what it sees as the ‘news-lisation’ of social media,” one source familiar with the talks said. “News-lisation,” or “bao hoa,” is a term used by the authorities to describe the misleading of users into thinking that social media accounts are authorized news outlets. Government officials have been holding confidential meetings with popular social media and Internet firms to brief them on which types of accounts would be allowed to post news content under the new rules, the sources said. Authorities would be able to order social media companies to ban accounts that break those rules, they said. The Vietnamese Communist Party already maintains tight media censorship and tolerates little dissent, with one of the world’s most stringent Internet regimes and national guidelines on social media behavior. Two sources with direct knowledge said that more rules on Internet and social media platforms would be introduced around the fourth quarter to early next year. As tech-savvy young Vietnamese increasingly turn to social media for information, those platforms have become a target for government efforts to restrict the flow of news from unauthorized sources. Vietnam is a top-10 market globally for Facebook with 60 million to 70 million users, according to
A Hong Kong court yesterday sentenced pro-democracy figure in exile Ted Hui (許智?) to three-and-a-half years in jail over charges related to the 2019 protest movement. The ruling in Hong Kong’s high court reported by local media is the first time someone has been sentenced in absentia over the protests. Hui, a former legislator who fled to Australia via Europe early last year, was sentenced for contempt of court in cases related to his involvement in the protests, and alleged misconduct in the chamber of the legislature. In June he was convicted in absentia of breaching his bail conditions after prosecutors successfully argued that he had abandoned the right to defend himself. In a statement on Wednesday, Hui dared the judge, Andrew Chan (陳慶偉), to deliver a sentence “the heavier the better.” “Since I am in a free country, no matter how severely Judge Chan sentences me — 10 years or eight years in prison — it won’t harm my personal freedom or reputation, nor my international lobbying work,” he said. “The only objective effect of the heavy code is to exacerbate the degeneration of the rule of law in Hong Kong, and let the world see how the Hong Kong courts are willing to cooperate with tyranny and persecute citizens who are fighting for democracy and freedom.” Hui still faces multiple charges, including over a protest in July 2019, but has previously said that the charges were unfair and often based on fake testimony. The charges relating to contempt of the legislature for two incidents involving scuffles between politicians, and protests against pro-Beijing legislators, were “ridiculous,” he said. He has also been accused of “foreign collusion” under the National Security Law over social media posts seeking international support for Hong Kong. Hui is among a number of pro-democracy figures who have fled overseas as the government cracks down
‘HISTORIC EVENT’: The storm, packing sustained winds of 241kph and generating storm surges of up to 3.7m, would be talked about for many years, a US official said
A weakened, but still formidable Hurricane Ian chugged across Florida toward the Atlantic seaboard yesterday after thrashing the state’s Gulf of Mexico coast with fierce winds, torrential downpours and raging surf that flooded coastal communities. Ian blasted ashore with catastrophic force on Wednesday afternoon as a Category 4 hurricane, packing maximum sustained winds of 241kph, and quickly plunged the region’s flat, low-lying landscape into a scene of devastation. Ian’s winds, making it one of the most intense storms to strike the US mainland in the past few years, diminished significantly after nightfall. Within eight hours of its arrival, Ian was downgraded to Category 1 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, with top sustained winds of 150kph, the US National Hurricane Center reported. However, the sprawling, slow-moving hurricane continued to unleash drenching rains as it crept farther inland, threatening to trigger extensive additional flooding. “This storm is doing a number on the state of Florida,” said Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who asked US President Joe Biden to approve a major federal disaster declaration providing a wide range of US emergency aid to the entire state. There were no official reports of storm-related fatalities or serious injuries. An unspecified number of people were known to be stranded and in need of help in “high-risk” areas after choosing to ride out the storm at home rather than heed evacuation orders, but they were beyond the immediate reach of rescue crews, DeSantis said. More than 2.5 million residents had been told to evacuate. Separately, US border authorities said 20 Cuban migrants were missing after their boat sank off the coast as Ian neared Florida on Wednesday. At 10pm on Wednesday, strong gusts and horizontal rains were still lashing Venice, a city of about 25,000 residents about 50km northwest of where Ian made landfall at the barrier island of Cayo Costa seven hours
Iran on Wednesday launched cross-border missile and drone strikes that killed 13 people in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, after accusing Kurdish armed groups based there of stoking a wave of unrest that has rocked the Islamic republic. The Sept. 16 death of Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, 22, while in the custody of Iran’s morality police, has sparked a major wave of protests and a crackdown that has left dozens of demonstrators dead. The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has accused the Iraq-based Kurdish groups of “attacking and infiltrating Iran ... to sow insecurity and riots, and spread unrest.” After earlier cross-border attacks that caused no casualties, Wednesday’s assault killed “13 people — including a pregnant woman — and wounded 58, most of them civilians, including children,” Iraqi Kurdistan counterterrorism services said in a statement. “More than 70” strikes were carried out using “ballistic missiles” and armed drones, it added. Iranian state television said the guards had “targeted several headquarters of separatist terrorists in northern Iraq with precision missiles and destructive drones.” An Agence France-Presse correspondent reported smoke billowing from locations hit in Zargwez, with ambulances racing to the scene and residents fleeing. Several exiled left-wing Iranian Kurdish parties maintain offices in the area east of the regional capital of Erbil. “The area where we are has been hit by 10 drone strikes,” said Atta Nasser, an official at the exiled Iranian group Komala. “The headquarters of the Kurdistan Freedom Party has been hit by Iranian strikes,” Hussein Yazdan, an official at the party, said about the site in the Sherawa region south of Erbil. The Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran said its bases and headquarters in Koysinjaq, east of Erbil, were also struck by “missiles and drones”. “These cowardly attacks are occurring at a time when the terrorist regime of Iran is unable to crack down on ongoing protests inside
The Swedish Coast Guard earlier this week discovered a fourth gas leak on the damaged Nord Stream pipelines, a spokesperson told the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper late on Wednesday. The EU suspects sabotage was behind the gas leaks on the subsea Russian pipelines to Europe and has promised a “robust” response to any intentional disruption of its energy infrastructure. “Two of these four are in Sweden’s exclusive economic zone,” coast guard spokesperson Jenny Larsson told the paper. The other two breaches are in the Danish exclusive economic zone. The coast guard did not immediately respond to a request for comment yesterday. While neither pipeline was in use at the time of the suspected blasts, they were filled with gas that has been spewing out in the Baltic Sea since Monday’s ruptures. The fourth leak was on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, in close proximity to a larger hole found on the nearby Nord Stream 1, the coast guard said. This week, Danish authorities reported one hole in each of the two pipeline sections in their waters. Moscow on Wednesday questioned whether Washington caused the leaks, in a turn of the tables that US officials bluntly called “ridiculous.” The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said the leaks occurred in a zone controlled by US intelligence services, the RIA Novosti news agency reported. The gas outflows from the pipelines, which Denmark estimates would be equivalent to 32 percent of its annual carbon emissions have sent natural gas prices soaring, exacerbating an energy crunch in Europe as it stands on the threshold of winter and fanning geopolitical tensions. Swedish intelligence announced that it was opening an investigation into the leaks, branding them “aggravated sabotage,” just hours after the EU called the damage “deliberate.” However, the question of who is responsible has prompted high-level finger-pointing, with Moscow charging that the US had said
WELCOMED HOME: The remains of about 64 indigenous people were collected by taxidermist and grave robber Andreas Reischek before 1889
The remains of about 64 indigenous New Zealanders that were stolen in the 19th century are to be officially welcomed home on Sunday following more than 70 years of negotiations, the head of the repatriation team said yesterday. The skeletal remains, which include skulls without mandibles, craniums, loose mandibles and maxilla fragments, were handed over in an official ceremony in Vienna on Tuesday, where there was a panel and presentation. “This panel and presentation highlighted the decades-long journey for the return of these Maori and Moriori ancestors to Aotearoa,” said Te Arikirangi Mamaku-Ironside, the New Zealand national museum’s acting head of repatriation, using the Maori name for the nation. The Maori and Moriori ancestral remains were largely collected by Austrian taxidermist and grave robber Andreas Reischek from 1877 to 1889. Katrin Vohland, director-general and scientific director of the Natural History Museum in Vienna, said in a statement that she had been impressed by how much the repatriation process was driven by the wish for reconciliation and was happy her museum could contribute to the healing process. Reischek was not the only person to steal skeletal remains, and remains have ended up in museums and institutions around the world. Since 2003 Te Papa, the New Zealand museum, has operated a program to repatriate skeletal remains from institutions. More that 600 ancestral remains have since been returned. In July, London’s Natural History Museum returned skeletal remains for 111 Moriori and two Maori. Amber Aranui, who is a curator at Te Papa and spent many years as a researcher for the repatriation program, said that returning ancestral remains to their homes was incredibly emotional and the job would not be completed until they had been returned to their descendants. “There’s still a lot of work to do,” said Aranui, who estimates there could be upward of 500 ancestral remains still overseas.
UNITED KINGDOM Closer ties with Asia sought London is committed to forming ever closer links with countries in the Indo-Pacific region, including greater economic, security and defense cooperation, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs James Cleverly said in a speech in Singapore yesterday. Cleverly, whose trip to the region also included visits to Japan and South Korea, told the audience of business, finance and academic leaders that Britain is set to have “the broadest, most integrated presence in the Indo-Pacific by 2030.” The government is seeking to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which removes 95 percent of tariffs between its 11 members. “We intend to be the first European country to accede to the CPTPP — which will give the region access to the UK’s world-class financial services sector and the world’s sixth-largest economy,” he said. Taiwan and China are also seeking to become members of the trade bloc. AUSTRALIA Court to get female majority Most judges on the highest court are to be women for the first time in the institution’s 121-year history, the attorney-general said yesterday. Justice Jayne Jagot is to fill a High Court vacancy on its seven-judge bench when Justice Patrick Keane retires on Oct. 17, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said. Jagot has been a Federal Court judge since 2008. Dreyfus said Jagot’s gender did not figure in his decision to choose her after consultations with leading judges and lawyers. “This was an appointment of the best possible person to the High Court,” Dreyfus told reporters. “Justice Jagot is an eminent jurist and brings tremendous experience and was nominated by very, very many people.” Jargot would be the 56th judge and only the seventh woman to serve on the High Court since it was created in 1901. DENMARK Queen revokes titles Queen Margrethe, Europe’s only
ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER: Most of the escaped gas is methane, the second biggest contributor to climate change and a ‘potent greenhouse gas,’ an oceanographer said
Denmark on Tuesday said it believed “deliberate actions” by unknown perpetrators were behind big leaks — which seismologists said followed powerful explosions — in two natural gas pipelines running under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany. European leaders and experts pointed to possible sabotage amid the energy standoff with Russia provoked by the war in Ukraine. Although filled with gas, neither pipeline is currently supplying it to Europe. “It is the authorities’ clear assessment that these are deliberate actions — not accidents,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said. However, she added that “there is no information indicating who could be behind it.” Frederiksen also rejected the suggestion that the incident was an attack on Denmark, saying the leaks occurred in international waters. The incident overshadowed the inauguration of a long-awaited pipeline that would take Norwegian gas to Poland to bolster the continent’s energy independence from Moscow. The first explosion was recorded early on Monday southeast of the Danish island of Bornholm, Swedish National Seismic Network director Bjorn Lund said. A second, stronger blast northeast of the island that night was equivalent to a magnitude 2.3 earthquake. Seismic stations in Denmark, Norway and Finland also registered the explosions. “There’s no doubt, this is not an earthquake,” Lund said. Danish Minister of Defense Morten Bodskov was yesterday to travel to Brussels to discuss the leaks with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. He said it could take up to two weeks to inspect the pipelines due to the pressure inside the pipes. Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeppe Kofod said nearby Sweden, Germany and Poland have been kept informed, and “we will inform and reach out to Russia in this case.” He said Denmark’s foreign intelligence service did not see any increased military threat against Denmark after the three leaks on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines. They created a foamy white area on the
ROOM TO MOVE: Afghanistan needs ‘political space’ on issues such as women’s rights, while the threat of economic collapse cannot be ignored, a minister said
Pakistan’s foreign minister wants the world to engage the Taliban, warning of dangerous consequences if Afghanistan’s rulers are again isolated. In an interview with Agence France-Presse in Washington on Tuesday, Pakistani Minister of Foreign Affairs Bilawal Bhutto Zardari cautioned against creating “parallel governance” after the US, distrustful of the Taliban, put Afghanistan’s frozen assets in a professional fund in Switzerland. “We’ve learned from the past that when we wash our hands and turn our backs, we end up creating unintended consequences and more problems for ourselves,” Bhutto Zardari said. “I believe that our concerns of an economic collapse, of an exodus of refugees, of a threat of new recruits for organizations such as ISIS-K [Islamic State – Khorasan Province] and others, outweigh concerns that there may be about their financial institutions,” he said. The Taliban returned to power last year after the US ended a two-decade war. Relations had soured with Pakistan, whose powerful military and intelligence apparatus was accused in Washington of quietly nurturing the Islamist militants despite providing logistical access to US forces. In contrast to some previous Pakistani officials, the foreign minister — whose mother, former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated in 2007 — offered no warm words for the Taliban. He said the militants needed “political space” on concerns such as women’s rights, which have been sharply curtailed. “Throughout history, theocratic, autocratic regimes haven’t exactly tended to expand rights at times of economic strife,” he said. “In fact, they tend to hold on to cultural issues and other issues to engage their population.” The US came away unpersuaded from a series of talks with the Taliban and last month said the militants had contravened promises by welcoming al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who was found at a house in Kabul and killed in a US strike. Bhutto Zardari, the University of Oxford-educated 34-year-old scion
Ukraine can count on the support of Italy’s new government, Giorgia Meloni said in a message to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. “You know that you can count on our loyal support for the cause of freedom of Ukrainian people. Stay strong and keep your faith steadfast!” Meloni wrote in English on Twitter late on Tuesday. She was responding to a message sent by Zelenskiy congratulating her on her Brothers of Italy party’s historic victory in general elections on Sunday. “We appreciate Italy’s constant support for Ukraine in the fight against Russian aggression. We are counting on a productive partnership with the new Italian government,” he had wrote in Italian. Outgoing Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has been one of the strongest backers of EU sanctions against Russia over Ukraine, despite his country’s reliance on Russian gas. Rome has also sent weapons to help Kyiv fight off Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces. Meloni has backed Draghi’s line on Ukraine — even if her government allies, Northern League leader Matteo Salvini and former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, have had warm ties with Moscow. Meloni, who is likely to become prime minister, also responded to congratulations sent by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. “Let’s defend together our common values and European security,” she wrote. In response to congratulations from British Prime Minister Liz Truss, Meloni said that she was “ready to cooperate with you and your government for freedom, democracy, security and prosperity of our nations.”
Sri Lanka yesterday ordered civil servants not to express opinions on social media after some officials claimed schoolchildren were fainting from a lack of food due to the country’s dire economic crisis. In a fresh order to 1.5 million state employees, the Sri Lankan Ministry of Public Administration and Management said a long-established ban on speaking to reporters now extends to social media posts. “Expressing opinions on social media by a public officer ... shall constitute an offense that leads to taking disciplinary action,” the order said. It followed claims from provincial health officials and teachers that dozens of students were fainting in schools because of a lack of food. Since late last year, Sri Lanka’s 22 million people have been enduring the country’s worst-ever economic crisis after the government ran out of dollars to import many essentials. This triggered huge shortages and unofficial inflation rates second only to Zimbabwe, as well as protests that led to the ouster of former Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa in July. Sri Lankan Minister of Health Keheliya Rambukwella dismissed claims of malnutrition among young children. He said that “politically motivated” public health workers were exaggerating the situation. However, the World Food Programme said in its latest report that 6 million Sri Lankans — nearly one-third of the island country’s population — are “food insecure and require humanitarian assistance.” Rajapaksa’s successor, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, has cracked down on anti-government protesters and banned demonstrations in much of the capital. This month, his government struck a conditional agreement with the IMF on a US$2.9 billion bailout. The lifeline is dependent on Colombo reaching a deal with creditors to restructure its external debt mountain of about US$51 billion. Its biggest creditor China has so far not publicly shifted from its offer of issuing more loans instead of taking a cut on outstanding ones.
Typhoon Noru yesterday tore roofs from homes and caused power outages across central Vietnam, with hundreds of thousands of people taking refuge after the storm claimed at least 10 lives in the Philippines. In Danang, Vietnam’s third-largest city, high-rise buildings shook as the typhoon made landfall in yesterday’s early hours, bringing winds of up to about 120kph, the Vietnamese National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting said. More than 300,000 people hunkered down in shelters overnight, after forecasters predicted the storm would be one of the biggest to ever hit the country. Wind speeds were lower than initially feared, but forecasters said heavy rain would continue into the day, and warned of landslides and serious flooding. The Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense has mobilized about 40,000 soldiers and 200,000 militia members, equipped with armored vehicles and boats in preparation for rescue and relief operations, state media said. In the popular tourist city of Hoi An, the Hoai River was close to bursting its banks, while the ground was littered with metal roof sheeting and fallen trees which had damaged vehicles and blocked roads. “The typhoon was terrible last night. I could not sleep as the wind was so strong and loud,” resident Nguyen Thi Hien said. About 300 houses in the coastal province of Quang Tri had their roofs blown off late on Tuesday as the wind began picking up speed. “I heard the sound of fallen trees and signboards outside. I was scared, but we were prepared so luckily the losses were not that bad,” Nguyen said. Residents rushed to clean up the debris early yesterday, with some shops already open and tourists walking the streets. Almost half of Vietnam’s airports have been closed since midday on Tuesday, with schools and offices across several central provinces also shut, while Danang banned the public from going out on the streets. The central section
A former top graft buster at the Chinese Ministry of State Security was yesterday indicted on bribery charges, just weeks before a major congress of the ruling Chinese Communist Party whose leader, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), has made fighting corruption a signature issue. The indictment of Liu Yanping (劉彥平), who was secretary of the ministry’s Central Discipline Inspection Committee from May 2015 until March, was a further reminder of Xi’s vow to attack corruption “amongst both the flies and tigers.” On Friday, former Chinese minister of justice Fu Zhenghua (傅政華) was given a death sentence with a two-year reprieve on charges of manipulating the stock market, taking bribes and other offenses. The case involved at least two former Cabinet officials. State media said Liu had accepted “huge” amounts of property from others in return for favors. Those often included derailing investigations or offering promotions for cash. He was expelled from the party earlier this month in a sign he would be indicted, tried and almost certainly handed a lengthy prison term. In that initial investigation, it was found that Liu had “lost his ideals and convictions,” and was “downright corrupt politically.” He “traded political power for interests and distorted his power into a tool to seek political capital, personal benefits and wealth,” the reports said. Liu was found to have “engaged in superstitious activities” and accepted invitations to golf games, banquets, tours and medical services from private businesspeople “that may compromise his impartiality in the performance of official duties,” the reports said. In Sun’s case, a former justice minister and a former ruling party official who were accused of colluding with him received similar penalties. Sun was convicted of collecting 646 million yuan (US$89.14 million) in bribes and charged with using his official position in 2018 to manipulate stock trading to help a trader avoid losses. He
EVACUATION ORDERS: Strong winds were affecting the Florida Keys, while the state’s governor had issued an order that 2.5 million people were to be evacuated
Hurricane Ian on Tuesday left a trail of destruction and caused a widespread blackout in Cuba, while Florida residents braced for a direct hit from the “extremely dangerous” storm that was already pummeling the US state with high winds. Ian hit Cuba’s western regions for more than five hours early on Tuesday morning before moving over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the Insmet meteorological institute said. The storm damaged Cuba’s power network and plunged the nation into darkness, leaving it “without electrical service,” state electricity company Union Electrica wrote on Twitter. Only the few people who have gasoline-powered generators had access to electricity. Others had to make do with flashlights or candles at home, and lit their way with cell phones as they walked the streets. In Pinar del Rio, footage showed downed power lines, flooded streets and a scattering of damaged rooftops. “Desolation and destruction. These are terrifying hours. Nothing is left here,” a 70-year-old resident of the city was quoted as saying in a social media post by his journalist son, Lazaro Manuel Alonso. About 40,000 people were evacuated across Pinar del Rio Province, which bore the brunt of the storm, local authorities said. The US National Hurricane Center said it expected Ian to gain strength before hitting the west coast of Florida yesterday as an “extremely dangerous” major hurricane. Calls to heed evacuation warnings were echoed from local Florida officials to US President Joe Biden, who said Ian “could be a very severe hurricane, life-threatening and devastating in its impact.” In its latest bulletin, the hurricane center said to be prepared for “life-threatening storm surge, catastrophic winds and flooding” in the Florida Peninsula. Winds that were tropical-storm force were already battering the Florida Keys, the chain of islands off the southern tip of the state’s mainland, it said. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that 2.5
HOUSING APPEAL: The complaint says that the city presents itself as a caring municipality with a plan to address homelessness, but has thousands using tents
Homeless people and their advocates on Tuesday sued the city of San Francisco, demanding that it stop harassing and destroying the belongings of people living on the streets, with the goal of forcing the city to spend billions of dollars on affordable homes. The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area and others filed the lawsuit in federal court on behalf of the Coalition on Homelessness and seven individuals who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. Defendants include the city, several city departments and San Francisco Mayor London Breed. The complaint says that San Francisco “presents the image of a caring municipality” with a plan to address homelessness, but decades of inaction on affordable housing has left thousands forced to use tents and vehicles as shelter. An annual homelessness survey this year found that there were 7,754 homeless people in the city, with nearly 60 percent living unsheltered. Not only has the city failed to construct affordable housing, it uses heavy-handed tactics to get homeless people to move, threatening to arrest or actually arresting people, and taking people’s belongings in morning encampment sweeps in which shelter is not offered, as required by law, the lawsuit says. In addition to stopping illegal practices, “we need to change the conversation around what is causing homelessness here and get to proven solutions,” said Zal Shroff, senior attorney with the lawyers’ committee. San Francisco is among many cities on the US west coast where street homelessness has come increasingly under criticism from politicians and homeowners in the state. California Governor Gavin Newsom, a former mayor of San Francisco, has embraced clearing tent encampments, saying it is neither compassionate nor safe to allow people to live outdoors. However, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 2018 ruled that it is unconstitutional to cite or arrest
A plant that was to be commissioned in Oregon yesterday that combines solar power, wind power and massive batteries to store the energy generated there is the first utility-scale plant of its kind in North America. The Wheatridge Renewable Energy Facility, which is rated to generate enough electricity to power a small city at maximum output, addresses a key challenge facing the utility industry. Wind and solar are clean sources of power, but utilities have been forced to fill in gaps when the wind is not blowing and the sun is not shining with coal or natural gas. At the Oregon plant, massive lithium batteries are to store up to 120 megawatt-hours of power generated by the 300 megawatt wind farms and 50 megawatt solar farm so it can be released to the electric grid on demand. At maximum output, the facility would produce more than half of the power that was generated by Oregon’s last coal plant, which was demolished earlier this month. On-site battery storage is not new, and interest in solar-plus-battery projects in particular has soared in the US in due to tax credits and incentives, and the falling price of batteries. However, the Wheatridge facility is the first in the US to combine integrated wind, solar and battery storage at such a large scale in one location, giving it even more flexibility to generate continuous output. The project is “getting closer and closer to having something with a very stable output profile that we traditionally think of being what’s capable with a fuel-based generation power plant,” said Jason Burwen, vice president of energy storage at the American Clean Power Association, an advocacy group for the clean power industry. “If the solar is chugging along and cloud cover comes over, the battery can kick in and make sure that the output is uninterrupted. As
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