THAILAND
Case against ex-PM dropped
The Supreme Court yesterday dismissed a case against former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva for ordering a crackdown on demonstrators protesting against his government in 2010. More than 90 people were killed in the unrest, one of the bloodiest episodes in more than a decade of turmoil stemming from rivalry for power between former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and the conservative establishment. Abhisit and his deputy, Suthep Thaugsuban, were accused of murder and attempted murder in connection with the crackdown on Thaksin’s Red Shirt supporters to end their two-month street protest in Bangkok.
SOUTH KOREA
North threatens reporters
North Korea yesterday vowed to execute reporters from two newspapers, saying they insulted the nation’s dignity while reviewing and interviewing the British authors of a book about life in the country. Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency carried a statement expressing anger over the descriptions of North Korean lives as increasingly capitalist. It also objected to the translated title of the South Korean edition as Capitalist People’s Republic of Korea and the book’s cover, which replaced the red star in the North’s official seal with the US dollar mark. The court also “sentenced to death” the presidents of the newspapers and said the North will “track down to the end and cut off the dirty windpipes” of those responsible for such provocations. The North did not directly threaten the British authors of North Korea Confidential: Private Markets, Fashion Trends, Prison Camps, Dissenters and Defectors, but said the book “viciously defamed and distorted” the country’s realities. The book was written by Daniel Tudor, a former reporter for the Economist, and James Pearson, a Reuters correspondent.
UNITED STATES
Cancer treatment approved
Health officials have approved a breakthrough treatment that genetically engineers patients’ own blood cells into an army of assassins to seek and destroy childhood leukemia. The Food and Drug Administration called the approval “historic,” the first gene therapy to hit the domestic market. Made from scratch for every patient, it is one of a wave of “living drugs” under development to fight additional blood cancers and other tumors, too. Novartis Pharmaceuticals has set the price for its one-time infusion of so-called “CAR-T cells” at US$475,000, but said there would be no charge for those treated with it who did not show a response within a month.
UNITED STATES
Pete Frates honored
The man who inspired the ice bucket challenge has been honored by the Roman Catholic prep school he attended in Massachusetts. St Johns Prep on Wednesday announced Pete Frates as its distinguished alumnus for next year. The headmaster also announced the dedication of the school’s baseball diamond in Frates’ name and the retirement of his No. 3 jersey in football, ice hockey and baseball. Frates called it a “tremendous honor.” He graduated from the all-boys school in Danvers in 2003. Frates inspired the ice bucket challenge that has raised more than US$220 million for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS — also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease — research since 2014. The former Boston College baseball star was diagnosed in 2012 with the disease.
‘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