HONG KONG
Activists’ sentences quashed
The territory’s top court yesterday quashed the prison terms of three Tiananmen vigil activists, saying that it was a “miscarriage of justice” to jail them for refusing to submit information to national security police. Authorities in 2021 used Beijing’s National Security Law against the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance, which organized vigils to mark Beijing’s 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown before the events were banned. Three group leaders — Chow Hang-tung (鄒幸彤), Tang Ngok-kwan (鄧岳君) and Tsui Hon-kwong (徐漢光) — were jailed, each for four-and-a-half months, after they refused to turn over details on group members and finances. However, five judges at the Court of Final Appeal yesterday sided with the trio and said the prosecution “made it impossible for them to have a fair trial.” Tang, who had finished serving his prison term, said the ruling was a vindication of his group and urged people not to forget the victims of the Tiananmen crackdown.
Photo: AFP
VIETNAM
Provinces to merge
The government is planning to merge provinces and eliminate district-level authorities, it said yesterday, as a streamlining drive aiming to slash billions of dollars from state budgets gathers pace. The cost-cutting measures have already seen the number of government ministries and agencies slashed from 30 to 22, and one in five public-sector jobs would be cut over the next five years. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said in a statement on the government’s Web site that a “key and urgent task” was to complete the rearrangement of “administrative boundaries ... merging some provinces ... and cutting off the district level.”
Photo: AFP
TIBET
Economic progress touted
Lawmakers yesterday hailed recent economic progress and vowed to keep “high pressure” on alleged separatists in the region as they convened in Beijing for China’s annual “Two Sessions” political conclave. The Tibet region’s GDP was up 6.3 percent last year — above average for China — and disposable income per capita rose for urban and rural residents, a government statement said. Local lawmakers added that stability was “improving,” but warned it was necessary to maintain “high pressure” on alleged secessionists. Delegates also hailed “Sinicization” of Tibetan Buddhism.
Photo: AFP
LITHUANIA
Bomb treaty exited
Vilnius yesterday quit an international convention banning cluster bombs, citing security concerns over Russia. The nation has also signaled its intention to leave another international treaty prohibiting the use of anti-personnel land mines. It said it wants to strengthen its defenses following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, fearing it could be next if Moscow succeeds. Parliament voted to leave the cluster munitions convention in July last year, but the country had to wait six months after submitting exit documents to the UN for the decision to take full effect.
Photo: AFP
UNITED STATES
Education order expected
President Donald Trump was expected to sign an executive order instructing his newly confirmed Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to dismantle the department she now leads, US media reported on Wednesday. The Wall Street Journal cited a draft of the order, which directs McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Education Department” based on “the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law.”
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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