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.”
MINERAL DEPOSITS: The Pacific nation is looking for new foreign partners after its agreement with Canada’s Metals Co was terminated ‘mutually’ at the end of last year Pacific nation Kiribati says it is exploring a deep-sea mining partnership with China, dangling access to a vast patch of Pacific Ocean harboring coveted metals and minerals. Beijing has been ramping up efforts to court Pacific nations sitting on lucrative seafloor deposits of cobalt, nickel and copper — recently inking a cooperation deal with Cook Islands. Kiribati opened discussions with Chinese Ambassador Zhou Limin (周立民) after a longstanding agreement with leading deep-sea mining outfit The Metals Co fell through. “The talk provides an exciting opportunity to explore potential collaboration for the sustainable exploration of the deep-ocean resources in Kiribati,” the government said
The head of Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, was sacked yesterday, days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he no longer trusts him, and fallout from a report on the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. “The Government unanimously approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to end ISA Director Ronen Bar’s term of office,” a statement said. He is to leave his post when his successor is appointed by April 10 at the latest, the statement said. Netanyahu on Sunday cited an “ongoing lack of trust” as the reason for moving to dismiss Bar, who joined the agency in 1993. Bar, meant to
Indonesia’s parliament yesterday amended a law to allow members of the military to hold more government roles, despite criticisms that it would expand the armed forces’ role in civilian affairs. The revision to the armed forces law, pushed mainly by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s coalition, was aimed at expanding the military’s role beyond defense in a country long influenced by its armed forces. The amendment has sparked fears of a return to the era of former Indonesian president Suharto, who ex-general Prabowo once served and who used military figures to crack down on dissent. “Now it’s the time for us to ask the
The central Dutch city of Utrecht has installed a “fish doorbell” on a river lock that lets viewers of an online livestream alert authorities to fish being held up as they make their springtime migration to shallow spawning grounds. The idea is simple: An underwater camera at Utrecht’s Weerdsluis lock sends live footage to a Web site. When somebody watching the site sees a fish, they can click a button that sends a screenshot to organizers. When they see enough fish, they alert a water worker who opens the lock to let the fish swim through. Now in its fifth year, the
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