CHINA
Dissident’s wife, son in US
The wife and son of dissident Guo Quan (郭泉), who is serving a 10-year sentence for “subversion,” have left the country for a new life in the US, a rights group said yesterday. Li Jing (李晶) and 12-year-old Guo Yi arrived in Los Angeles on Monday by plane, the US-based ChinaAid group said in an e-mailed statement. “They will be appealing to the US government and international groups to pay close attention to Guo’s case and for help in winning his release,” the group said, without providing further details. Guo was jailed in October 2009 for “subversion of state power.” He was an outspoken critic of the government and advocated a “multiparty, competitively elected democratic system,” according to the US-based Human Rights in China.
PHILIPPINES
Gunmen kill 15 fishermen
Gunmen opened fire on three boats and killed 15 fishermen in what officials yesterday said was likely an attack by a rival group protecting its lucrative fishing grounds. The fishermen were aboard three small, wooden-hulled vessels off Sibago island in Basilan province when about 10 attackers in speedboats fired on them on Monday morning and then sped away, military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cagangbang said. One of the survivors told police that their group had been warned to stay away from the fishing grounds where the attack took place, ABS-CBN TV reported.
AUSTRALIA
Asylum talks break down
Negotiations have broken down between the ruling Labor Party and the opposition Liberal Party on a compromise policy to deport asylum seekers to another country. While the two parties agree that sending asylum seekers to another country within the Asia-Pacific region would be the best way to curb the increasing number heading from Indonesia and Malaysia by boat, they said yesterday that their politically charged negotiations had broken down. Prime Minister Julia Gillard accused opposition leader Tony Abbott of failing to negotiate in good faith.
NEW ZEALAND
Breastfeed-driving popular
Police yesterday said they were shocked at the number of mothers they found breastfeeding babies while driving along motorways in Auckland. They said they stopped three breastfeeding drivers this month, while carrying out a 10-day operation aimed at ensuring children were properly restrained in vehicles. Inspector Shanan Gray said the practice placed both mother and child “in an extremely dangerous situation.” Gray said police were also stunned at the number of children being transported in car boots [trunks].”
KAZAKHSTAN
Opposition’s offices raided
Authorities on Monday raided the offices and homes of officials of an unregistered political party and said they have charged one person with inciting social unrest. The National Security Committee said the raids against the Alga Party were part of an investigation into last month’s fatal clashes between police and striking oil workers in the town of Zhanaozen, in which at least 16 people were killed. The raids came just days after Prime Minister Karim Masimov vowed greater political liberalization. Alga Party official Aizhangul Amirova was charged earlier this month with inciting unrest, the committee said. The newspaper Respublika also reported on Monday that the editor of independent newspaper Vzglyad, Igor Vinyavsky, was arrested on charges of inciting the overthrow of the government.
A US YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said yesterday. Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted Somali — whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael — in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country. “The court has sentenced him to six months in
Former Lima mayor Rafael Lopez Aliaga, a Peruvian presidential hopeful, gathered hundreds of supporters in Lima on Tuesday and gave authorities 24 hours to annul the first round of the country’s election over allegations of fraud. Lopez Aliaga is locked in a tight three-way race with two other candidates for second place in Sunday’s vote. The election runner-up wins a ticket to June’s presidential run-off against front-runner Keiko Fujimori. “I am giving them 24 hours to declare this electoral fraud null and void,” said Lopez Aliaga, surrounded by a crowd of several hundred supporters. “If it is not declared null and void tomorrow,
PAPAL RETORT: Pope Leo told reporters that he has ‘no fear, neither of the Trump administration nor speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel’ US President Donald Trump has feuded with Pope Leo XIV over the Iran conflict — setting off an unholy row that could have serious political implications for the Republican leader back in the US. Trump has drawn barbs even from some allies over the attacks on the US-born pontiff, who has criticized the Trump administration over its immigration crackdown, the intervention in Venezuela and the Iran war. The president risks alienating the religious right in November’s crucial US midterm elections. So far the unprecedented clash between the leader of the most powerful military on Earth and the head of the world’s 1.4 billion
A 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder and aggravated sexual abuse in Florida in the death of his 18-year-old stepsister on a Carnival Cruise ship, the US Department of Justice said on Monday. Timothy Hudson was initially charged in February and subsequently indicted on March 10, but the breadth of the case was not known until a seal was lifted on Friday last week, weeks after US District Judge Beth Bloom in Miami said that he would be prosecuted as an adult at the request of the government. Anna Kepner had been traveling on the Carnival Horizon ship in November last
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