China passes controversial Hong Kong national security law
Critics say the measure, which criminalises secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, devastates Hong Kong’s autonomy
Critics say the measure, which criminalises secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, devastates Hong Kong’s autonomy
Beijing has passed a sweeping national security law for Hong Kong that critics fear will crush political freedoms and pave the way for China to cement its control over the semi-autonomous territory.
Less than 40 days after Chinese lawmakers first proposed imposing an anti-sedition law on Hong Kong, the standing committee of the National People’s Congress on Tuesday unanimously approved the measure.
According to the official state news agency Xinhua, the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, signed a presidential order enacting the law that criminalises secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces. The committee also voted to list the law in Hong Kong’s basic law, the city’s mini-constitution. Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, said in a statement that the law would come into effect later on Tuesday.
Germany investigating 30,000 potential suspects in pedophile probe
German officials say they are investigating thousands of leads as part of a widening investigation into a pedophile network. Some 70 suspects have so far been identified across Germany.
The cybercrime unit of the German state of North-Rhine Westphalia is investigating some 30,000 leads in a massive online child abuse probe, officials said on Monday.
The state justice ministry said the extent of abuse taking place and being shared online was "deeply disturbing."
"I hadn't reckoned with the extent of child abuse on the internet," said state Justice Minister Peter Beisenbach.
Iran upholds five-year jail sentence for French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah
Iran’s judiciary said on Tuesday that a five-year jail sentence for French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah had been upheld, semi-official news agency ISNA reported.
Adelkhah’s sentence, passed in May over “security charges including conspiring against national security”, was upheld by the appeals court and “she is going to serve five years” including time served since her arrest, judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili told a televised news conference.
A research director at Sciences Po university in Paris, Adelkhah was arrested in June last year and has been in custody ever since.
The language of Black Lives Matter in Japanese
BY ANGELYN LABADAN
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Following the killing of George Floyd in late May, the month of June echoed with marches in support of the ブラック・ライブズ・マター (Burakku Raibuzu Matā, Black Lives Matter) movement here in Japan.
Local media has been following the movement, too. Many use the katakana term ブラック・ライブズ・マター to refer to it, while newspapers have varied in their descriptions: 人種差別抗議デモ (jinshu sabetsu kōgi demo, protests against racial discrimination) was how Tokyo Shimbun put it, while Mainichi Shimbun went with 米黒人差別抗議デモ (bei kokujin sabetsu kōgi demo, protests against discrimination toward Black people in the States).
No matter how you describe it, people here are taking an interest.
Two teenagers shot in Seattle's Chop autonomous zone
A teenager has been killed and another critically wounded in a shooting in Seattle's autonomous zone.
One teenager, 16, was fatally shot and died after being taken to hospital. The other victim, 14, is in intensive care.
The zone, initially known as Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (Chaz) and now called Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (Chop), was set up amid protests over the killing of George Floyd.
As it is part of a protest against police brutality, it is self-policing.
The US has 4% of the world's population but 25% of its coronavirus cases
Updated 1110 GMT (1910 HKT) June 30, 2020
The United States has long prided itself as the world's shining beacon. But its current status is a much darker one: the globe's leader in coronavirus cases.
More than 125,000 people have died from Covid-19 in the US, and more than 2.5 million Americans have been infected.
American life has been irrevocably altered by the worst pandemic in a century. And as the country struggles to reopen, cases of Covid-19 have surged again -- this time in young people and in states that had previously avoided the brunt of the virus.
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