CHINA
New crackdown on golf
The government has launched a renewed crackdown on golf, closing 111 courses and telling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members to stay off the links in an effort to conserve water and land. Xinhua news agency on Sunday said the courses were closed for improperly using groundwater, arable land or land in nature reserves. It said authorities have imposed restrictions on 65 more courses. China banned the development of new golf courses in 2004, but the number in operation has more than tripled since.
CHINA
Newborns up by 7.9%
The nation welcomed 17.86 million newborns last year, up 7.9 percent or 1.31 million from 2015, with nearly half of the new births occurring in families which already had one child, National Health and Family Planning Commission official Yang Wenzhuang (楊文莊) said on Sunday. The proportion of newborns born to parents who already had a first child rose from about 30 percent in 2013 to 45 percent last year, Yang said, following the easing of family planning policies in 2015 to allow more families a second child.
CHINA
Xi heads new commission
President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to head a new commission overseeing joint military and civilian development, Xinhua news agency said late on Sunday after the CCP’s politburo meeting. “The commission will be the central agency tasked with decision-making, deliberation and coordination of major issues regarding integrated military and civilian development,” it said, without elaborating. Xi already oversees the People’s Liberation Army as head of the powerful Central Military Commission, and in April was appointed commander-in-chief of a new joint command headquarters for the military.
FRANCE
Hamon wins first round
Left-wing outsider Benoit Hamon is to fight former prime minister Manuel Valls for the Socialist presidential nomination on Sunday after winning the first round of the party’s primary. Hamon was not considered a serious contender when the campaign began last month, but the 49-year-old former minister of education put himself in the driving seat with what he called a “message of hope and renewal.” Hamon scored more than 36 percent with Valls trailing on 31 percent, according to results from about 80 percent of polling stations. Maverick former minister of industrial renewal Arnaud Montebourg was eliminated with 17 percent and immediately threw his support behind Hamon.
TURKEY
State fund chief dismissed
The government yesterday dismissed a deputy head of the state fund that runs seized companies and shut down two local TV stations in the latest decrees issued under emergency rule, imposed in the wake of July last year’s failed coup attempt. The Official Gazette said Zulfukar Sukru Kanberoglu of the TMSF fund was one of 367 people dismissed from state institutions under the latest four decrees, which also reinstated 124 civil servants. It said the people were dismissed for being members of, or having links to, terror groups or groups which act against national security.
EGYPT
Italy joins probe into death
The government on Sunday said it has agreed to Italy’s request to send experts to try and retrieve footage from security cameras at a Cairo metro station that a murdered Italian student used the day he disappeared about a year ago. A statement by the chief prosecutor said the Italian experts would be accompanied by others from a “specialized” German company. Together, they are to analyze the material in the hope of finding who is behind the disappearance of Giulio Regeni. Regeni is known to have gone to the Dokki station on his way to visit a friend in Cairo on Jan. 25 last year, the fifth anniversary of the uprising that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Thousands of security forces are routinely deployed in Cairo on the uprising’s anniversary and that week police had been aggressively rounding up activists to head off protests. That has led to speculation, denied by Cairo, that security forces were behind his abduction and death.
VENEZEUALA
Central bank chief named
President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday named a lawmaker as the country’s new central bank chief, after reportedly pushing out the former head. Speaking on his weekly TV program, Maduro announced he was nominating Ricardo Sanguino to take over from Nelson Merentes, who had handed in his resignation. Merentes had been under intense pressure after the central bank bungled the recent release of bigger denomination banknotes. key posts.
MEXICO
Protesters seize crossings
Protesters on Sunday took control of vehicle lanes at one of the busiest crossings on the US border to oppose local gasoline price hikes, waving through motorists into the nation after authorities abandoned their posts. Motorists headed into the country zipped by about 50 demonstrators at the Otay Mesa port of entry connecting San Diego, California, and Tijuana, many of them honking to show support. The demonstrators waved signs to protest gas hikes and air other grievances against the government.
AUSTRALIA
Rampage driver charged
A man who authorities say drove into a crowd of pedestrians, killing five and injuring more than 20 in the center of Melbourne, has been charged with five counts of murder, police said yesterday. Police alleged the 26-year-old acted deliberately and said he had been remanded to appear in court in August and faced additional charges. The police rammed his car and the driver was shot in the arm before being dragged from the vehicle. Taken to hospital for treatment, he was released to appear before a judge yesterday. Thousands yesterday gathered at Melbourne’s Federation Square to pay tribute to the victims.
CHINA
Ex-CPPCC official jailed
A court yesterday jailed for life for corruption a former vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the latest top official to fall afoul of an anti-corruption campaign. Su Rong (蘇榮) had been one of the 23 vice chairmen of the largely ceremonial, but high-profile group until authorities began an investigation into him in 2014. He had previously served as Chinese Communist Party boss for Jiangxi and Gansu provinces. A court in Jinan said Su was guilty of bribery, abuse of power and being unable to explain the source of a “massive amount” of assets. He took bribes worth 116 million yuan (US$16.92 million) between 2002 and 2014, the court said. Su said he accepted the verdict and would not appeal, the court added.
CHINA
Ministry bans VPNs
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has announced a 14-month campaign to root out services that allow people in the country to circumvent the government’s Internet censorship. The ministry said it has forbidden the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) or leased lines that allow users and businesses to access blocked overseas Web sites without permission. It also said on Sunday that it would inspect and “clean up” the market of Internet service providers.
SOUTH KOREA
US eggs enter market
US white-shelled eggs yesterday landed on supermarket shelves beside local brown-shelled eggs as the nation scrambled to boost imports to relieve a shortage amid its worst-ever bird flu outbreak. About 6 million eggs, mainly from the US, are set to hit the shelves this week as the government launched emergency import measures after egg prices shot up 70 percent ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday. The country’s egg production is expected to decline 12.7 percent to 559,000 tonnes this year from a year earlier, according to the state-run Korea Rural Economics Institute. “US-origin eggs are good, but I prefer to use Korean eggs because the Lunar New Year holiday is a Korean traditional holiday. Even if local eggs are more expensive, I would buy them,” said Park Hee-kil, a 64-year-old lady who was shopping at a Lotte Mart store in Seoul.
JAPAN
Lion injures two handlers
A lion attacked and severely injured two handlers working for a company that provides animals for the entertainment industry, media reported yesterday. The 10-year-old male lion was chained in a cage, being groomed for a scheduled shoot in Chiba Prefecture when it suddenly turned aggressive, police said. A 55-year-old woman and a 28-year-old man suffered bites to their heads and legs. It was not clear what provoked the animal and the company did not immediately respond to telephone calls seeking comment.
The pledge by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to “work, work, work, work and work” for her country has been named the catchphrase of the year, recognizing the effort Japan’s first female leader had to make to reach the top. Takaichi uttered the phrase in October when she was elected as head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Many were initially as worried about her work ethic as supportive of her enthusiasm. In a country notorious for long working hours, especially for working women who are also burdened with homemaking and caregiving, overwork is a sensitive topic. The recognition triggered a
A plan by Switzerland’s right-wing People’s Party to cap the population at 10 million has the backing of almost half the country, according to a poll before an expected vote next year. The party, which has long campaigned against immigration, argues that too-fast population growth is overwhelming housing, transport and public services. The level of support comes despite the government urging voters to reject it, warning that strict curbs would damage the economy and prosperity, as Swiss companies depend on foreign workers. The poll by newspaper group Tamedia/20 Minuten and released yesterday showed that 48 percent of the population plan to vote
‘HEART IS ACHING’: Lee appeared to baffle many when he said he had never heard of six South Koreans being held in North Korea, drawing criticism from the families South Korean President Lee Jae-myung yesterday said he was weighing a possible apology to North Korea over suspicions that his ousted conservative predecessor intentionally sought to raise military tensions between the war-divided rivals in the buildup to his brief martial law declaration in December last year. Speaking to reporters on the first anniversary of imprisoned former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol’s ill-fated power grab, Lee — a liberal who won a snap presidential election following Yoon’s removal from office in April — stressed his desire to repair ties with Pyongyang. A special prosecutor last month indicted Yoon and two of his top
A powerful magnitude 7.6 earthquake shook Japan’s northeast region late on Monday, prompting tsunami warnings and orders for residents to evacuate. A tsunami as high as three metres (10 feet) could hit Japan’s northeastern coast after an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.6 occurred offshore at 11:15 p.m. (1415 GMT), the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said. Tsunami warnings were issued for the prefectures of Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate, and a tsunami of 40cm had been observed at Aomori’s Mutsu Ogawara and Hokkaido’s Urakawa ports before midnight, JMA said. The epicentre of the quake was 80 km (50 miles) off the coast of
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