INDONESIA
Trash to go back to Australia
The Ministry of Environment and Forestry yesterday said the government would send more than 210 tonnes of garbage back to Australia, after authorities found hazardous material and household trash, including plastic bottles and packaging, used diapers, electronic waste and cans in eight containers seized in Surabaya. The Directorate General of Customs and Excise of East Java said the containers should have contained only waste paper.
Photo: AFP
NEPAL
Ex-UN official jailed
Former UN official Peter Dalglish has been jailed for sexually abusing children, officials said yesterday. The 62-year-old Canadian was on Monday sentenced to two terms of nine and six years in two cases after being convicted last month. A district court official said Dalglish was sentenced for nine years for abusing a 12-year-old boy and seven years jail for molesting a 14-year-old. He was also ordered to pay 500,000 Nepal rupees (US$4,550) compensation of to each victim.
CHINA
Dam is ‘safe’ despite shift
The Three Gorges Dam is structurally sound, officials said yesterday, denying rumors on social media it was at risk of collapse. Safety experts with the government-run China Three Gorges Corp said the dam had moved a few millimeters due to temperature and water level changes, but safety indicators remained well within their normal range. Satellite imagery from Google Maps reportedly showed the dam has bent and is at risk of breaking, but the government said the problem was with the satellite imaging, not the dam, the Caixin financial news service reported yesterday.
PHILIPPINES
Manga site manager nabbed
A man who ran an illegal online manga comic library read by around 100 million people each month has been arrested in Manila, authorities said yesterday. Romi Hoshino, 28, managed “Manga Mura” (Manga village), which shut down on its own in April last year as Japan launched a hunt for the Web site’s founder for massive violation of copyright. The Web site made around 60,000 manga available to the public for free immediately after publication. Manga publishers lost about US$2.94 billion in potential revenues over a six-month period to February last year alone, Japan’s Content Overseas Distribution Association said. Hoshino, who holds a Japanese passport, was arrested on Sunday at Ninoy Aquino International Airport after the Japanese embassy in Manila sought help in finding him, Bureau of Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said.
AUSTRALIA
Rush for tax rebates
Nearly 1 million people have lodged their tax statements in little more than a week as they rush to receive rebates that the Reserve Bank of Australia hopes will kick-start the economy. Lawmakers last week approved A$158 billion (US$109.95 billion) worth of tax cuts over the next decade, including a A$1,080 rebate to low and middle-income earners. Despite having four months to submit their tax statements, the Australian Tax Office said it has already received about 800,000 since June 30. The office said it will return rebates by the end of the week.
SWEDEN
Chinese not to be extradited
The Supreme Court has decided not to extradite a former Chinese official wanted by Beijing on suspicion of having embezzled millions of dollars due to the risk that he would face persecution, it said yesterday. China had asked Sweden to extradite Qiao Jianjun (喬建軍), who also goes under the name of Feng Li (李峰), on suspicion of breach of trust and fraud relating to the embezzlement of the equivalent of about 100 million kronor (US$11 million). Qiao was arrested in June last year. Last month, he was released from custody without a ruling on the Chinese request, then rearrested days later on a separate request from the US, where he has been indicted for money laundering and immigration fraud.
TURKEY
Troops facing arrest
Police yesterday began nationwide raids aimed at detaining more than 200 military personnel suspected of ties to the group blamed for a 2016 coup attempt, officials and state media reported. The Istanbul public prosecutor said it issued arrest warrants for 176 active duty military personnel, including a colonel, five majors and 100 lieutenants from the different armed forces over alleged links to US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen’s movement. The Izmir public prosecutor in the Aegean region issued arrest warrants for 35 suspects, including 20 soldiers on active duty and 10 civilians, state news agency Anadolu said. The agency said eight suspects had been detained already.
UNITED STATES
Trump ruling challenged
The Department of Justice on Monday challenged a federal judge’s decision to allow a case accusing President Donald Trump of profiting off the presidency to move forward, asking an appeals court to take up the case instead. Lawyers asked the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to overrule a federal judge and instead allow for a mid-case appeal or to dismiss the case outright, calling the case dealing with a Revolutionary War-era clause “extraordinary.” The lawyers also want the court to suspend legal discovery approved by District Judge Emmet Sullivan, which would force Trump-related entities to turn over tax returns, receipts and other documents.
UNITED STATES
Storm floods White House
A slow-moving rainstorm on Monday washed out roads, stranded drivers and soaked basements, including the White House, during a chaotic morning commute in the capital. Water gushed into the press workspace in the basement near the White House’s West Wing. Flooding led to electrical outages that closed the National Archives Building and Museum. National Weather Service meteorologist Cody Ledbetter said the storm dumped about 8.6cm at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in a two-hour period.
UNITED STATES
Warren raises US$19.1m
Senator Elizabeth Warren raised US$19.1 million in the second quarter, her campaign said on Monday, cementing her status in the top tier of Democratic presidential contenders and surpassing Senator Bernie Sanders, her main liberal rival. The strong showing leaves Warren behind only South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who reported nearly US$25 million, and former vice president Joe Biden, who has tallied US$21.5 million since his candidacy began in late April. The strong showing signals the grip Warren is gaining over the party’s progressive base.
Thousands gathered across New Zealand yesterday to celebrate the signing of the country’s founding document and some called for an end to government policies that critics say erode the rights promised to the indigenous Maori population. As the sun rose on the dawn service at Waitangi where the Treaty of Waitangi was first signed between the British Crown and Maori chiefs in 1840, some community leaders called on the government to honor promises made 185 years ago. The call was repeated at peaceful rallies that drew several hundred people later in the day. “This government is attacking tangata whenua [indigenous people] on all
The administration of US President Donald Trump has appointed to serve as the top public diplomacy official a former speech writer for Trump with a history of doubts over US foreign policy toward Taiwan and inflammatory comments on women and minorities, at one point saying that "competent white men must be in charge." Darren Beattie has been named the acting undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, a senior US Department of State official said, a role that determines the tone of the US' public messaging in the world. Beattie requires US Senate confirmation to serve on a permanent basis. "Thanks to
RIGHTS FEARS: A protester said Beijing would use the embassy to catch and send Hong Kongers to China, while a lawmaker said Chinese agents had threatened Britons Hundreds of demonstrators on Saturday protested at a site earmarked for Beijing’s controversial new embassy in London over human rights and security concerns. The new embassy — if approved by the British government — would be the “biggest Chinese embassy in Europe,” one lawmaker said earlier. Protester Iona Boswell, a 40-year-old social worker, said there was “no need for a mega embassy here” and that she believed it would be used to facilitate the “harassment of dissidents.” China has for several years been trying to relocate its embassy, currently in the British capital’s upmarket Marylebone district, to the sprawling historic site in the
UNDAUNTED: Panama would not renew an agreement to participate in Beijing’s Belt and Road project, its president said, proposing technical-level talks with the US US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday threatened action against Panama without immediate changes to reduce Chinese influence on the canal, but the country’s leader insisted he was not afraid of a US invasion and offered talks. On his first trip overseas as the top US diplomat, Rubio took a guided tour of the canal, accompanied by its Panamanian administrator as a South Korean-affiliated oil tanker and Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship passed through the vital link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. However, Rubio was said to have had a firmer message in private, telling Panama that US President Donald Trump