HONG KONG
Beijing expands control
China’s Cabinet-level office overseeing Hong Kong has expanded by creating two departments to oversee propaganda and security affairs, local media reported, signaling Beijing’s growing footprint in the territory. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office’s (HKMAO) new propaganda department is to focus on communicating news, while managing journalists from the two special administrative regions based in the mainland, the agency’s Web site says. The second department is to coordinate matters related to national security. The changes were added to an organization summary on the Beijing-based office’s Web site on Thursday, the South China Morning Post and Sing Tao reported. Zeng Jian (曾健), 52, and Wang Zhenmin (王振民), 55, are to head the propaganda and security departments respectively, the two reports said, citing people familiar with the matter. Both men have significant experience at the HKMAO and the Liaison Office, the central government’s top body in the former British colony, the Post reported.
UNITED STATES
Floyd killer to appeal
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has filed an intent to appeal with the Minnesota state appellate court in his murder conviction for the death of George Floyd. A jury found Chauvin, who is white, guilty in April of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the death of Floyd, a black man. The video of Chauvin kneeling on the neck of the handcuffed Floyd for more than eight minutes during the arrest caused outrage around the world and the largest protest movement seen in the nation in decade. Chauvin was jailed for 22-and-a-half years in June. In documents filed on Thursday, Chauvin raised 14 issues about his prosecution, including the court’s denial of a request for a change of venue, that he believed supported his request for an appeal. The Minnesota District Court could not immediately be reached for comment.
RUSSIA
Five climbers die on Elbrus
Five climbers died after a blizzard on Mount Elbrus, Europe’s highest peak, the Ministry of Emergency Situations said yesterday. Thursday’s incident struck when a group of 19 climbers were at an altitude of more than 5,000m. Elbrus, in North Caucasus, is the highest mountain in Europe at 5,642m. “Unfortunately, five people died,” the ministry said. The remaining 14 were taken down to the Azau Valley below and the rescue was carried out in “the most difficult conditions,” with strong winds, low visibility and sub-zero temperatures, it said. The company which organized the climb said there were four professional guides accompanying the climbers. The guides and some of the participants have been hospitalized with frostbite.
CAMBODIA
‘Festival of the Dead’ halted
The government has canceled the “Festival of the Dead” after a COVID-19 outbreak among monks in the capital. Worshipers around the country visit pagodas during the two-week Pchum Ben festival to offer prayers and food to the spirits of their ancestors. This year’s observance began on Wednesday, but was halted after nearly 50 Buddhist monks tested positive for COVID-19 and authorities locked down their temple in Phnom Penh. The festival cancelation was “necessary to control the spread of COVID-19 ... at the time that Cambodia is reopening schools and is planning to reopen the country,” Prime Minister Hun Sen said in a Thursday night statement.
‘GROSS NEGLIGENCE?’ Despite a spleen typically being significantly smaller than a liver, the surgeon said he believed Bryan’s spleen was ‘double the size of what is normal’ A Florida surgeon who is facing criminal charges after allegedly removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen has said he is “forever traumatized” by that person’s death. In a deposition from November last year that was recently obtained by NBC, 44-year-old Thomas Shaknovsky described the death of 70-year-old William Bryan as an “incredibly unfortunate event that I regret deeply.” Bryan died after the botched surgery; and last month, a grand jury in Tallahassee indicted Shaknovsky on a charge of manslaughter. “I’m forever traumatized by it and hurt by it,” Shaknovsky added, also saying that wrong-site surgeries can happen “during
Former Chinese ministers of national defense Wei Fenghe(魏鳳和) and Li Shangfu (李尚福) were both sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve over graft charges, state news agency Xinhua reported on Thursday, underscoring the severity of the purge in the military. The armed forces have been one of the main targets of a broad corruption crackdown ordered by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) after coming to power in 2012. The purges reached the elite Rocket Force, which oversees nuclear weapons as well as conventional missiles, in 2023. Earlier this year they escalated further, resulting in the removal of the top general in
New Zealand is open to expanding its frigate fleet beyond its current two vessels, with New Zealand Minister of Defence Chris Penk saying “no options are off the table” as the government weighs buying new warships from Japan or the UK. The government yesterday said it is looking to replace its two aging Anzac-class frigates, which were both commissioned almost 30 years ago. The UK’s Type 31 and Japan’s Mogami-class warships are the options under consideration. Speaking in an interview, Penk said there is potential to increase the number of frigates the nation purchases. “We need a certain amount of capability as a
The Philippine Coast Guard yesterday said it deployed aircraft to issue radio warnings to a Chinese research ship in a disputed area of the South China Sea “swarming” with vessels from Beijing’s so-called maritime militia. The research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 33 (向陽紅33), which is capable of supporting submersible craft, was operating near a reef in the contested Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), which Taiwan also claims, the Philippine Coast Guard said. The Chinese ship was deploying a service boat toward the Spratly’s Iroquois Reef on Wednesday when it was spotted by a coast guard plane, “confirming ongoing unauthorized [marine scientific research]
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