32 2GM Friday March 6 2020 | the times
Wo r l d
Easter Island tourist
smashes stone head
Chile The mayor of Easter Island
called for restrictions on vehicles
after a 4x4 hit one of the famed
stone heads and destroyed it. The
Chilean driver was charged with
damaging a national monument.
There are about 1,000 of the
stone heads, carved by the Rapa
Nui people roughly 500 years
ago, on the island, which is visited
by 12,000 tourists a month.
“Everyone decided against
establishing traffic rules when it
came to vehicles on sacred sites
but we, as a council, knew very
well what the rise in tourist and
resident numbers could mean,”
Pedro Edmunds Paoa told El
Mercurio. “They didn’t listen to us
and this is the result.”Water turns into wine
flowing in village taps
Italy Residents of a small village
near Modena, in the north,
turned on their taps and found
wine flowing instead of water. A
nearby winery had pumped its
stock into the water supply after a
valve malfunction. The pink
liquid smelled unmistakably like
Lambrusco Grasparossa, the
sparkling red produced locally,
and it was good enough for some
of the residents to start bottling it.Ivory Coast president
will not seek re-election
Ivory Coast President Ouattara,
78, has said that he will stand
down this year. He was elected in
a 2010 poll that sparked a civil
war in which 3,000 people died
when Laurent Gbagbo refused to
concede defeat. Tensions are
rising again after an arrest
warrant was issued for Guillaume
Soro, a presidential candidate
whose rebel forces swept Mr
Ouattara to power in 2011. (AFP)Police chief and aides
hurt in helicopter crash
Philippines A helicopter carrying
the national police chief and
seven other people crashed in San
Pedro, south of the capital
Manila, after hitting a power
cable. General Archie Gamboa
was pulled from the wreckage
with an injured shoulder, while
Major-General Mariel Magaway
and Major-General Jovic Ramos
were in a critical condition. The
other passengers were stable. (AP)Russian drinkers toast
warm winter weather
Russia An alcohol policy group
says that a decline in the number
of deaths from drinking is due to
an unusually warm winter. The
National Centre for Alcohol
Policy Development said that 619
people had died from alcohol
consumption in January, a 37 per
cent decline on the previous year.
Russia has had the mildest winter
recorded, with temperatures
generally above freezing. (AP)Weinstein back in jail
after heart surgery
United States Harvey Weinstein,
the disgraced movie mogul and
convicted rapist, has had surgery
to insert a stent in his heart. A
spokesman said that Weinstein,
67, had been complaining of chest
pains. He was moved from
Bellevue Hospital in New York to
the infirmary at Rikers Island jail,
where he awaits sentencing. He
faces up to 29 years in jail for
sexual assault and rape.The International Criminal Court will
open an investigation into war crimes
in Afghanistan, including those com-
mitted by US forces, setting off a
potentially explosive showdown with
the Trump administration.
Judges in the Hague overturned an
earlier ruling that the investigation
“would not serve the interests of jus-
tice” clearing the path for the ICC chief
prosecutor to pursue cases.
The decision marks the first time that
the court will examine actions by
American forces since it was estab-
lished 15 years ago to seek justice for the
victims of war crimes, crimes against
humanity and genocide.
Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of
state, denounced the move as “a truly
Court will examine ‘US war crimes’
breathtaking action by an unaccounta-
ble political institution, masquerading
as a legal body.
“It is all the more reckless for this rul-
ing to come just days after the United
States signed a historic peace deal on
Afghanistan – the best chance for peace
in a generation. Indeed, the Afghan
government itself pleaded with the ICC
to not take this course.”
The US and the Taliban signed an
agreement to end their 18-year conflict
and withdraw foreign forces from
Afghanistan. The pact is teetering after
the swift resumption of hostilities.
The US has never signed up to the
ICC and does not recognise its author-
ity over US citizens, arguing that it pos-
es a threat to national sovereignty. Mr
Pompeo said Washington would take
“all necessary measures to protect our
citizens from this renegade, so-called
court.” Afghanistan is an ICC memberstate. The inquiry will look into alleged
crimes committed by US, Afghan and
Taliban forces since 2003.
Pre-trial judges ruled last year that
the investigation had little chance of
success and should be dropped in fa-
vour of other prosecutions. Prosecutors
argued successfully that the case was
needed to send a message to would-be
perpetrators that their crimes would
have consequences.
The ICC began collecting evidence of
war crimes in 2006, including torture
by the US military and CIA in Afghan-
istan and at so-called black sites in east-
ern Europe. Fatou Bensouda, the chief
prosecutor, said that the court had
sufficient information to prove that US
forces had “committed acts of torture,
cruel treatment, outrages upon person-
al dignity, rape and sexual violence”.
In response, Washington revoked Ms
Bensouda’s visa to the US and said itwould block other ICC prosecutors
from entering the country. Officials
had earlier threatened to arrest ICC
judges if the court pursued the investi-
gation. Washington has argued that it
has its own procedures in place to pun-
ish misconduct.
Mr Trump, however, has sparked
controversy by pardoning several US
servicemen convicted of war crimes,
angering many military leaders and
veterans. The ICC has claimed that
many crimes have gone unrecorded
and unpunished.
The investigation will look into alle-
gations against Afghan government
forces as well as fighters from the Tali-
ban and other groups.
The ruling comes after Taliban mili-
tants killed at least 20 Afghan soldiers
and policemen in a string of overnight
attacks after ending a “reduction in vio-
lence” pact.Afghanistan
Catherine Philp
Diplomatic Correspondent
Painting the town red Hindus in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh marked the Lathmar Holi festival yesterday by smearing themselves in coloured powder and paint
Chinese citizens have revolted against a
proposed law that would grant per-
manent residence to foreigners, citing
concerns that it could undermine
national identity.
The proposal, aimed at attracting
foreign talent and investment, has been
widely interpreted by the Chinese as
making it easier for foreign citizens,
especially those from poorer African
countries, to stay in China.
Under its terms, a foreigner who
holds an advanced degree, invests more
than £1 million, or has been married to
a Chinese citizen for at least five years
can apply for permanent residence,
which grants the right to social benefits
including public training and education
programmes and to buy property.
The backlash has been so over-
whelming that state media are urging
caution. “China is not a country of im-
migration and there’s no need for it to
China
Didi Tang Beijing
Plan to allow foreigners to
stay in China stirs backlash
become an immigrants’ country,” said
Hu Xijin, the influential editor-in-chief
of the Global Times, a party newspaper.
“In the West, an immigrant will bring
relatives upon settlement, which has
led to problems. China is not going to
repeat the same mistakes.”
An editorial by China Daily, the
party’s English-language newspaper,
said: “There is no reason for the country
to accept those immigrants who make
no contribution to its economic devel-
opment and social progress but who
come intending to enjoy its welfare
only. It is natural and understandable
for some Chinese to worry that some
illegal immigrants will take advantage
of the rules to get the legal status of per-
manent residents.”
Nearly a million foreigners live and
work in China. Since the Ministry of
Justice announced the plan last week,
critics have inundated its website with
comments. The ministry has removed
from view the 72,000 comments left on
its Weibo social media account.A rogue brown bear that terrorised live-
stock and broke into homes in northern
Italy last year has awoken from hiber-
nation with a large appetite, raiding bee
hives, attacking donkeys and setting
hunters on its trail.
The bear, nicknamed Papillon after
the 1973 Steve McQueen prison-break
film, was captured last year in the
Alpine province of Trento after killing
13 animals including sheep, donkeys
and cows, only to escape by scaling a
4m (13ft) electric fence.
Maurizio Fugatti, the local governor,
angered animal rights activists last year
by granting officials permission to
shoot Papillon if it threatened humans,
only for the bear to vanish with the
onset of winter.
Its reign of terror has, however, re-
sumed after it awoke from hibernation,
with raids on bee hives, the smashing of
a gate to enter a meadow, and a face-to-Italy
Tom Kington RomeBear that terrorised village
returns with roaring appetite
face meeting with startled locals in the
small village of Molina di Fiemme.
An attempt to ambush a herd of cows
was thwarted when sheep dogs chased
it away, while police interrupted an
attack on a donkey but were unable to
capture the bear before it vanished.
Brown bears were first reintroduced
into the province in 1999 from Slovenia.
There are about 70 in Italy and farmers
have protested against attacks on their
livestock. They are supported by Mr
Fugatti who once held a bear meat
banquet to show where his sympathies
lay.
Arnold Schuler, an official at a local
council, appealed to locals yesterday to
ring a special number if they spotted
Papillon, and warned them to keep pets
indoors at night and not to leave organ-
ic rubbish outdoors.
As hunters close in on the bear, man-
agers at the compound from where it
escaped are preparing for its possible
return by strengthening the external
fencing.MONEY SHARMA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES