World briefs

HUMAN RIGHTS Amnesty International says “toxic” fear-mongering by anti-establishment politicians, among them President Donald Trump and the leaders of Turkey, Hungary and the Philippines, is contributing to a global pushback against human rights, according to its 408-page annual report on rights abuses around the world released yesterday. 

CHINA Authorities in far western Xinjiang region are offering rewards of up to USD730,000 for terror-related tips as they ramp up security measures in the restive area.

JAPAN is turning to those hooded samurai-era acrobatic spies known as ninja to woo tourism. The Japan Ninja Council, a government-backed organization of scholars, tourism groups and businesses, said it’s starting a Ninja Academy to train people in the art of ninja, and building a new museum in Tokyo devoted to ninja, set to open in 2018.

PHILIPPINES The Bureau of Immigration said it had arrested a convicted American pedophile wanted by U.S. authorities for a string of crimes. Immigration officials said 38-year-old Cody Dean Turner was arrested Sunday in his house in northern Tuguegarao City on the request of the U.S. Embassy. The American will be deported for being an undocumented and undesirable alien who poses a risk to public safety.

AUSTRALIA A pilot repeatedly yelled out “Mayday” but did not say what the emergency was before his light plane crashed into the roof of an Australian shopping mall, killing himself and four American tourists, an accident investigator says. 

AUSTRALIA-ISRAEL Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praises Australia for being “courageously willing to puncture U.N. hypocrisy” on anti-Israel resolutions. Malcolm Turnbull marked the first visit to Australia by a serving Israeli leader by writing a supporting opinion piece in yesterday’s The Australian newspaper. 

IRAQ The next phase of an ambitious project funded by the wealthy German state of Baden Wuerttemberg brought 1,100 women who had escaped Islamic State captivity, primarily Yazidis, to Germany for psychological treatment.

TONGA The South Pacific island kingdom is mourning the death of its queen mother, who dedicated her time to helping the elderly and those with disabilities. Halaevalu Mata’aho (pictured) died Sunday at the age of 90 in Auckland, New Zealand. She was the mother of two kings: George Tupou V, who died in 2012, and the current monarch, King Tupou VI. Her funeral procession will be held in Tonga on Feb. 28.