HONG KONG
Canada’s move condemned
Senior officials yesterday said they were “very disappointed” at Canada’s decision to suspend its extradition treaty with the territory and again slammed Washington for “interfering” in its affairs. Beijing imposed new national security legislation on the territory, despite protests from residents and Western nations, setting the territory on a more authoritarian track. “The Canadian government needs to explain to the rule of law, and explain to the world, why it allows fugitives not to bear their legal responsibilities,” Secretary for Security John Lee (李家超) told a radio program. Lee said he was very disappointed and that he strongly opposed Canada’s move, as it let politics override the rule of law. The comments followed Canada’s statement on Friday that it was suspending the treaty with the territory in the wake of the new legislation and could boost immigration from the territory.
CHINA
New donation rules mulled
The government is planning changes in its organ donation rules to tackle a shortage of donors and curb illicit harvesting after it stopped taking tissue from executed prisoners five years ago. The draft rules published on Wednesday by the National Health Commission allow people to donate the organs of relatives who have died. They also make it illegal to take organs from living minors as the country tries to stamp out child trafficking for harvesting. The draft law is available for public comment until the end of the month and no timeline has been set for debate or adoption by the legislature.
TURKEY
Factory blast kills four
Four people were killed and about 100 injured in an explosion that rocked a fireworks factory in the country’s northwest on Friday, Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca said. The government’s disaster agency called the explosion an “industrial accident” in Sakarya Province. “As of right now, four people have died ... and 97 people injured were taken to hospital,” Koca said. Sixteen of them were swiftly discharged from hospital, he added. Minister of the Interior Suleyman Soylu said three factory workers were still missing, adding that the resultant fire had been brought under control.
ETHIOPIA
Prime minister alleges plot
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Friday said that the killing of a popular singer and subsequent violence that has left nearly 100 dead this week represented “coordinated attempts” to destabilize the country. “Those external and internal forces who were not successful with the Great Ethiopia Renaissance Dam issue have tried their utmost efforts to create chaos at this time,” he said, alluding to tensions with Egypt over the construction of a large hydropower dam. Singer Hachalu Hundessa, a member of the Oromo ethnic group, the country’s largest, was shot dead in the capital, Addis Ababa, on Monday night.
SOMALIA
Explosions rock two cities
Explosions yesterday rocked two of the country’s largest cities as a suicide car bomb detonated near the port in the capital, Mogadishu, and a land mine exploded in a restaurant on the outskirts of Baidoa, killing four people. Ali Abdullahi, an official with the southwestern regional state, told reporters that the mine was detonated by remote control as people were dining during the morning rush. Several others were wounded, he said.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia