UNITED STATES
Biden to meet Moon
South Korean President Moon Jae-in was to make a last-ditch attempt to bring the US and North Korea together under his watch when he was to meet US President Joe Biden at the White House yesterday, trying to revive dormant nuclear talks in his final year in office. Pyongyang, which has displayed disdain for both leaders, has shown no interest in their diplomacy, raising the stakes for the summit. A key part of Biden’s foreign policy has been turning to allies for support in addressing the security risks posed by the likes of China and North Korea, trying to mend relations strained by his predecessor and placing a greater emphasis on the Indo-Pacific region. Moon on Wednesday left for the five-day visit.
CHINA
Shaky high-rise stays closed
A skyscraper in southern China that earlier this week caused panic when it started to shake is to stay closed for the foreseeable future, the owner of the building said, as the cause of the incident is investigated. The 300m SEG Plaza in Shenzhen began shaking in the early afternoon on Tuesday, prompting people inside and those on the streets below to flee. Emergency management officials quickly ruled out an earthquake as the cause of the wobble. In an internal notice to the tenants and merchants shared by the official Xinhua news agency, the building owner said no one would be allowed to enter until an investigation was finished, without giving a timeframe.
NORWAY
Ambulance hijacker jailed
A man was on Thursday sentenced to 12 years in prison for hijacking an ambulance in 2019 and attempting to run over and kill seven people, including two police officers and twin toddlers. Oslo prosecutors said that Nicolai Kaupang, 33, stole the vehicle at gunpoint from ambulance workers responding to a traffic accident in which he was involved, leading to a high-speed pursuit by police. Kaupang was carrying a significant quantity of illegal drugs, police said. Kaupang pleaded not guilty to all charges brought against him. An eight-month-old girl was injured when the ambulance hit the buggy she was sharing with her twin brother. Her injuries were not life-threatening, and the boy escaped unhurt, prosecutors said. Their mother, the two police officers and two other passers-by managed to get out of the path of the ambulance.
FIJI
Five fishers missing
Authorities yesterday said they feared for the lives of five people who leapt from their fishing boat near Fiji earlier this week after alleged violence on board. A sixth crew member who abandoned the vessel was found alive on an overturned life raft on Thursday, while two more people who had remained aboard were due to be picked up by a military patrol boat. The Fijian military said it was working with police to sort through the incident aboard the Tiro II, a longline tuna boat. The New Zealand military, which helped with the search, said it had been told that the five missing crew had not been wearing life jackets. A Fijian military official said that “the search will be really challenging” amid deteriorating weather. A spokesperson for the New Zealand military said that it had gotten reports of an alleged violent incident on board, without elaborating. A Royal New Zealand Air Force plane located the fishing vessel about 90 nautical miles (167km) west of Fiji and made contact with the two people who remained on board, the spokesperson said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in