TAIPEI: Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou yesterday renewed his support for the “One China” policy as the island marked the 20th anniversary of talks with former rival China. Ma, who initiated detente with Beijing when he came to power in 2008 and has seen a marked improvement in relations, pledged to maintain the status quo which he said was to the island’s benefit. Taipei is becoming increasingly reluctant to push for political negotiations with its giant neighbour due to a lack of consensus among its people.
More arrests over Xinjiang violence
BEIJING: China has arrested 11 more suspects over clashes in the ethnically divided region of Xinjiang last week that left 21 people dead, state media said yesterday. China blamed the violence in the western Chinese region on “terrorists”, but rights groups say the charge is used to justify the authorities’ use of force against members of the mostly Muslim Uighur minority.
State-run news agency Xinhua said all 19 suspects had now been arrested after the incident on April 23 in Kashgar’s Bachu County.
Xinhua, citing Xinjiang police, said the suspects were from a “terrorist group” that was founded in September 2012.
Four climbers dead in Japan
TOKYO: Four climbers died over the weekend and two others are missing on mountains including Mount Fuji in central Japan, police and news reports said yesterday. On Sunday police found the body of a 56-year-old woman who had been missing since an avalanche hit a group of climbers on Mount Shirouma in Nagano prefecture the previous day. The department also found the bodies of two men in their 50s on Sunday while they were climbing elsewhere, local media reported. Police in Yamanashi prefecture said the body of a 53-year-old man was found on Mount Fuji on Sunday and news reports said he appeared to have suffered a severe fall.
China reports latest bird flu death
BEIJING: A man in Shanghai died from bird flu yesterday, the latest person to die from the H7N9 strain of the virus first discovered in humans in March that has now killed at least 24 people. The 89-year-old died after 12 days of medical treatment, state news agency Xinhua said, citing Shanghai health authorities. Cases of the virus, confirmed in well over 100 people, have spread to several new provinces in recent days, including Fujian and Hunan.
AFP
