MALAYSIA
Myanmar peace plan stalls
Minister of Foreign Affairs Saifuddin Abdullah yesterday called on ASEAN to act more urgently in its efforts to provide humanitarian assistance and spur a peace process in Myanmar. The 10-nation bloc has been pushing the Burmese junta to follow a peace “consensus” they agreed to last year, with some member states expressing disappointment over a lack of progress on the plan. Myanmar has been trapped in a cycle of violence since the military overthrew an elected government last year and launched a bloody crackdown on protests and dissent. Saifuddin said he had written to the ASEAN secretary-general on Saturday to ask for updates on the situation in Myanmar, as he had yet to receive any reports from the bloc’s leadership since the grouping met in Cambodia last month. The ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta did not immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment.
ISRAEL
Palestinian, 19, killed
Israeli forces shot and killed a 19-year-old Palestinian militant in the occupied West Bank in clashes that broke out early yesterday during an Israeli arrest raid, Palestinian officials said. The Israeli military said the young man threw a firebomb at troops from close range. The Islamic Jihad militant group said the man, Taher Zakarneh, was one of its members. The Palestinian health ministry said Zakarneh was shot in the head, the foot and thigh in a town near the West Bank city of Jenin. The Israeli military said it encountered violent protests during its operation in Qabatiya, and responded with live fire to rocks and firebombs thrown at troops, including the one thrown by Zakarneh. The military said 17 Palestinians were arrested overnight in raids throughout the West Bank.
AFGHANISTAN
Two dead in suicide blast
Two employees of the Russian embassy in Kabul were killed yesterday and several people wounded in an attack near the diplomatic mission, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. “At 10:50am Kabul time on Sept. 5, an unidentified militant set off an explosive device in the immediate vicinity of the entrance to the consular section of the Russian embassy in Kabul,” the ministry said in a statement. “As a result of the attack, two employees of the diplomatic mission were killed, and there are also Afghan citizens among the wounded.” Afghan police said the attacker was shot dead by armed guards as he approached the gate. “The suicide attacker before reaching the target, was recognized and shot by Russian embassy [Taliban] guards... There is no information about casualties yet,” said Mawlawi Sabir, head of the police district where the attack took place.
MALAYSIA
Najib asks for royal pardon
Jailed former prime minister Najib Razak has sought a pardon from King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah and is to remain a lawmaker pending his petition, Parliamentary Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun said yesterday. The pardon request was submitted on Saturday, less than two weeks after Najib began a 12-year prison term after losing his final appeal on Aug. 23 in a graft case linked to the looting of the 1MDB state fund, Azhar said, adding that Najib’s parliamentary seat will not be vacated until the king decides on his pardon request. It is unclear how long the process will take. If he is not pardoned before September next year, when general elections are due, Najib cannot run in the polls and will automatically lose his parliamentary seat.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
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
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was