AUSTRALIA
Wong presses US on Assange
Minister of Foreign Affairs Penny Wong (黃英賢) yesterday said that the long-running case of imprisoned WikiLeaks frontman Julian Assange had gone on too long and needs to be completed. The Australian citizen being held in the UK is battling extradition to the US, where he is wanted on 18 charges over the release of confidential US military records and diplomatic cables in 2010. At a news conference in Brisbane after an Australia-US meeting, Wong said that Canberra had made it clear that “Mr Assange’s case has dragged for too long, and our desire that it be brought to a conclusion.” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he understood the views of Australians on the sensitive issue, but added that the leak had risked “very serious harm to our national security.”
IRAN
Editor banned over protests
Authorities have banned the editor-in-chief of reformist daily Etemad “from any press activity for a year” over coverage of last year’s nationwide protests, the newspaper reported yesterday. Behrooz Behzadi was “accused of publishing false content,” Etemad said, citing a decision by the prosecutor’s office following a complaint by a Tehran branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps. The paper said the complaint was in relation to reports it had published which detailed the “kidnapping” land year of a scientist and “bans and arrests” of artists who backed the protest movement triggered by Mahsa Amini’s death.
SWEDEN
Refugee’s status probed
The Swedish Migration Agency late on Friday said it is re-examining the residency permit of an Iraqi refugee who is behind several Koran desecrations in Stockholm in the past few weeks, which have upset Muslims across the world. The man burnt a copy of the Koran last month outside of Stockholm’s central mosque and also held a demonstration in front of the Iraqi embassy this month where he said he would burn the holy book, but did not. The agency said it received information from authorities that have given it reason to examine whether his status should be revoked.
UNITED STATES
City complains over ‘X’ sign
The city of San Francisco has opened a complaint and launched an investigation into a giant “X” sign that was installed on Friday on top of the downtown building formerly known as Twitter headquarters as owner Elon Musk continues his rebrand of the social media platform. City officials say replacing letters or symbols on buildings, or erecting a sign on top of one, requires a permit for design and safety reasons. The X appeared after police stopped workers on Monday from removing the brand’s iconic bird and logo from the side of the building, saying they had not taped off the sidewalk to keep pedestrians safe if anything fell.
UNITED STATES
Man posts stabbing online
A man allegedly stabbed a woman to death in the San Francisco Bay Area on Wednesday and then posted a video of the slaying to Facebook, authorities said. The footage helped police track down the suspect, who was later identified as 39-year old Mark Mechikoff. He was arrested about 48km south of where the victim was found dead in a San Mateo apartment complex. “While the motive for stabbing the victim is still under investigation, we do know Mechikoff mercilessly filmed the last moments of the victim’s life and posted the video to Facebook, then fled the area,” San Mateo police said in a statement.
‘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