JAPAN
Deer-edible bags invented
The deer that roam Nara no longer face discomfort — or far worse — after local firms developed a safe alternative to the plastic packaging discarded by tourists that often ended up in the animals’ stomachs. Last year, several of the 1,300 deer that wander around the ancient capital’s central park were found dead after swallowing plastic bags and food wrappers. Firms collaborated to develop bags that pass safely through the animals’ complex digestive system. The bags are made with recycled pulp from milk cartons and rice bran, one of the main ingredients of the shika senbei savory crackers fed to them by tourists.
HONG KONG
‘Save 12 HK youths’ spreads
A social media campaign calling for the release of 12 Hong Kongers detained in China is gaining ground, with support from international advocates, campaigners and politicians, including Greta Thunberg, sharing the #save12HKyouths hashtag. The campaign hopes to draw international attention to the plight of 12 young people held under tight security in China after they were caught allegedly trying to flee Hong Kong by boat. On Aug. 23, Chinese authorities intercepted a speedboat off the coast of southern Guangdong Province carrying 12 people aged 16 to 30, who were allegedly heading to Taiwan.
CHINA
Air quality grim five years on
Environmental conditions are “grim,” falling short of public expectations even after five years of efforts to improve air quality, boost clean energy and curb greenhouse gas emissions, a senior official said yesterday. “There is still a long way to go,” said Deputy Minister of Ecology and Environment Zhao Yingmin (趙英民), even though China has met a series of targets on smog, water quality and carbon emissions. China remains dependent on heavy industry and coal, and the “grim environmental trends” have not fundamentally changed, he added.
AFGHANISTAN
Visa jostling starts stampede
At least 15 people on Tuesday were killed in a stampede among thousands gathered outside Pakistan’s consulate, as jostling broke out between people applying for visas in Jalalabad, the Nangarhar Provincial Government said. About 3,000 Afghans had congregated, waiting to collect tokens needed to apply, two provincial officials told reporters a day after the tragedy. Eleven of the 15 victims were women, and several senior citizens were among more than a dozen injured, Nangarhar Provincial Councilor Sohrab Qaderi said. “The visa applicants jostled to secure their token from the consulate officials... The crowd got out of control, leading to a stampede,” an official in Jalalabad said.
GUINEA
One killed in poll clashes
At least one person was killed and many others injured in more clashes between supporters of President Alpha Conde and those of opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo, Minister of Security Albert Damantang Camara said on Tuesday. The clashes erupted in Kissidougou, about 700km southeast of the capital Conakry, after Diallo declared on Monday that he had won Sunday’s presidential election, Camara said. “One person was killed, and many, including police officers who intervened, were injured,” he said, adding that a curfew has been declared in the area. Diallo’s victory claim before the official count was completed by the electoral commission raised concerns that it could escalate violence in the tense aftermath of the vote.
GERMANY
Vandalism linked to rumors
Objects including Egyptian sarcophagi, stone sculptures and 19th-century paintings held at the Pergamon Museum, the Alte Nationalgalerie and the Neues Museum sustained visible damage during an attack on Oct. 3, the weekly Die Zeit and broadcaster Deutschlandfunk reported on Tuesday. Media have linked the Museum Island attack to conspiracy theories pushed through social media channels by prominent COVID-19 deniers. One such theory claims that the Pergamon Museum is the center of the “global satanism scene” because it holds a reconstruction of the ancient Greek Pergamon Altar.
FRANCE
Billionaire’s home burgled
Burglars in Paris made off with more than 500,000 euros (US$592,878) in fur coats, jewelry, handbags and other luxury goods after breaking into the home of Russian billionaire Nikolai Sarkisov, a police source said yesterday. Sarkisov, 52, is the cofounder along with his brother of Reso-Guarantee, one of Russia’s biggest insurance companies. His 600m2 duplex is on Avenue Foch, one of the most expensive streets in the French capital, near the Champs-Elysees. The thieves struck in broad daylight last week while the businessman was away in the Mediterranean resort of Saint-Tropez.
UNITED STATES
Study reveals grim figures
Air pollution killed 476,000 newborns last year, with the biggest hotspots in India and Sub-Saharan Africa, according to a new global study that said nearly two-thirds of the deaths came from noxious fumes from cooking fuels. More than 116,000 Indian infants died from air pollution in the first month of life, and the corresponding figure was 236,000 in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to the State of Global Air report. The estimates were produced by the US-based Health Effects Institute, and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation’s Global Burden of Disease project.
UNITED STATES
Report implicates Trump
President Donald Trump spent years cultivating business projects in China, where he maintained a previously unknown bank account, the New York Times reported on Tuesday, as he attempts to portray election rival former vice president Joe Biden as weaker on Beijing. Trump maintained an office in China during his first run for president and partnered with a major government-controlled company, the paper reported. Trump additionally keeps a previously unknown bank account in China, controlled by Trump International Hotels Management, according to an analysis of his tax records by the paper.
UNITED STATES
Saudi crown prince sued
The fiancee of slain Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi and a human rights group that he founded filed a lawsuit on Tuesday with allegations that Saudi Arabia’s crown prince ordered him killed. The civil lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages against Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also named more than 20 other Saudi Arabians as defendants. It coincides with complications in the US-Saudi Arabia relationship over the 2018 slaying of Khashoggi, Riyadh’s human rights record, its role in Yemen’s civil war and other issues. The Saudi Arabian embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit. The crown prince has denied ordering Khashoggi’s murder.
‘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
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
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