CHINA
Toad reports disappear
Reports about a giant inflatable toad have been deleted from the Internet after social-media users compared the puffed-up animal to former Chinese president Jiang Zemin (江澤民). The 22m-high toad appeared in a Beijing park last weekend, but met with mockery from social-media users who compared its appearance to that of Jiang. The Web site of Xinhua news agency and popular Web portal Sina had deleted their reports on the toad by yesterday. A spokesman for Yuyuantan Park in Beijing said there were no immediate plans to remove the toad.
CHINA
Flights face delays
Flights to and from Shanghai International Airport and 11 other airports in the east are facing major delays until the middle of next month due to military exercises, according to an official microblog. The posting by Beijing’s public securities bureau did not give any details about the “large scale” military exercises. It said flights would be affected from Sunday to Aug. 15.
CHINA
Crackdown on Internet porn
Authorities have tightened already rigorous Internet controls by cracking down on online pornography and what state media called “rumormongers” and “slanderous content.” Xinhua reported yesterday that the country would target pornography on smartphones and punish pornographic app creators. Xinhua said the government would also increase punishments for spreading rumors online. As part of the new campaign, the government has shut down Web sites and punished nearly 40 people it called rumormongers. According to Xinhua, the government issued a statement saying it aims to protect Chinese Internet users’ rights in their life, work and studies.
ENGLAND
Queen’s horse fails test
A horse owned by Queen Elizabeth II that won one of the nation’s most prestigious races has failed a drugs test, Buckingham Palace announced on Tuesday. Estimate, which won the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot last year and came second in this year’s edition, has tested positive for morphine, a banned substance. A statement issued by the queen’s racing adviser said initial indications were the positive test had resulted from the “consumption of a contaminated feed product.” Morphine is banned by the British Horseracing Authority because it can be used to numb pain. Estimate made sporting history for the queen last year when she became the first reigning monarch to own a Gold Cup-winning horse.
RUSSIA
Navy expansion announced
The nation yesterday announced that it had begun expanding and modernizing its Black Sea fleet based in Crimea with new ships and submarines, just months after annexing the peninsula from Ukraine. “Today, we have started forming a powerful Black Sea fleet with an absolutely different level of air service, coastal missile and artillery troops and marines,” Black Sea fleet commander Alexander Vitko said in a message to servicemen. “We are preparing bases and crews to serve on new ships and submarines.” Vitko said the modernization of the fleet “lays the foundation for the future of the fleet, both in the short term and looking far ahead.” President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with the national security council on Tuesday that Russia will bolster its defenses to counter the creeping influence of NATO close to its borders.
UNITED STATES
Vietnam deal approved
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has approved an agreement on civilian nuclear cooperation between the US and Vietnam. The agreement, approved on Tuesday by the committee, would allow US firms into Vietnam’s expanding market for nuclear power. The US and Vietnamese governments reached the agreement in October last year, and it was approved by President Barack Obama in February. It now has to be endorsed by the full Senate. The prospects for passage remain uncertain.
CANADA
Hungarian slavers extradited
Ottawa announced on Tuesday the extradition of 20 Hungarians convicted in what authorities described as the largest human trafficking case in the nation’s history, for forcing eastern European refugee claimants into slavery. Minister of Public Safety Steven Blaney made the announcement in Hamilton, Ontario, where the criminal ring operated. The last of the 20 was expelled in May. Ferenc Domotor pleaded guilty in 2012 to running the gang, which lured men from his native Hungary and coerced them into forced labor at his stucco companies in Hamilton. Domotor and his extended Roma family reportedly forced at least 19 people to claim refugee status when they arrived in Canada from the town of Papa, Hungary, work without pay sometimes as much as 17 hours per day and sleep on mattresses in a locked basement of his house. The people were fed only one meal a day and alarms on the windows and doors kept them from escaping. The scheme was uncovered when police were tipped off by a contractor who was approached by one of the people held captive. Domotor was not among those extradited as he is still serving the remainder of a nine-year prison sentence.
Yemen’s separatist leader has vowed to keep working for an independent state in the country’s south, in his first social media post since he disappeared earlier this month after his group briefly seized swathes of territory. Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces last month captured two Yemeni provinces in an offensive that was rolled back by Saudi strikes and Riyadh’s allied forces on the ground. Al-Zubaidi then disappeared after he failed to board a flight to Riyadh for talks earlier this month, with Saudi Arabia accusing him of fleeing to Abu Dhabi, while supporters insisted he was
‘SHOCK TACTIC’: The dismissal of Yang mirrors past cases such as Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s uncle, who was executed after being accused of plotting to overthrow his nephew North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has fired his vice premier, compared him to a goat and railed against “incompetent” officials, state media reported yesterday, in a rare and very public broadside against apparatchiks at the opening of a critical factory. Vice Premier Yang Sung-ho was sacked “on the spot,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said, in a speech in which Kim attacked “irresponsible, rude and incompetent leading officials.” “Please, comrade vice premier, resign by yourself when you can do it on your own before it is too late,” Kim reportedly said. “He is ineligible for an important duty. Put simply, it was
The Chinese Embassy in Manila yesterday said it has filed a diplomatic protest against a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman over a social media post that included cartoonish images of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela and an embassy official had been trading barbs since last week over issues concerning the disputed South China Sea. The crucial waterway, which Beijing claims historic rights to despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, has been the site of repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels. Tarriela’s Facebook post on Wednesday included a photo of him giving a
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday announced a deal with the chief of Kurdish-led forces that includes a ceasefire, after government troops advanced across Kurdish-held areas of the country’s north and east. Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said he had agreed to the deal to avoid a broader war. He made the decision after deadly clashes in the Syrian city of Raqa on Sunday between Kurdish-led forces and local fighters loyal to Damascus, and fighting this month between the Kurds and government forces. The agreement would also see the Kurdish administration and forces integrate into the state after months of stalled negotiations on
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