AZERBAIJAN
Protesters seek road access
Thousands rallied yesterday in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, demanding that Baku reopen the enclave’s sole land link with Armenia. About 6,000 people gathered at the central square of Karabakh’s main city, Stepanakert, after Baku closed the road to Armenia. “We ask to ensure unimpeded movement, transportation of people and cargo along the corridor connecting Artsakh with Armenia,” said Gurgen Nersisyan, a state minister in the separatist government said on Thursday, using the Armenian name for the region. “The situation is terrible, in a few days we will have irreversible consequences.”
JAPAN
Rocket engine explodes
A rocket engine exploded during a test yesterday, an official said, in the latest blow to the country’s space agency. The Epsilon S — an improved version of the Epsilon rocket that failed to launch in October last year — blew up “roughly 50 seconds after ignition,” Ministry of Science and Technology official Naoya Takegami told reporters. “So far we have received no reports of injuries” from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, which was investigating the cause of the explosion, Takegami said.
CHINA
Former teacher executed
A former kindergarten teacher was executed in central China this week after killing one child and injuring 24 others by poisoning their porridge with sodium nitrite four years ago, state media reported yesterday. Wang Yun (王雲), 39, had unsuccessfully appealed the sentence, initially handed down in September 2020 by the Jiaozuo City Intermediate People’s Court in Henan Province. On Thursday, the same court verified Wang’s identity, escorted her to the execution ground and carried out the death sentence, a court statement said. In March 2019, Wang purchased sodium nitrite after being involved in a dispute with a fellow teacher. The next morning at the kindergarten she added some of the chemical compound into the children’s “eight treasures porridge,” the court said. In January 2020, one of the children died of multiple organ failure caused by the poisoning.
UNITED STATES
Man catches 6m python
A Florida man caught a nearly 6m Burmese python, believed to be a record for the state. Jake Waleri, 22, nabbed the snake on Monday at Big Cypress National Preserve while out hunting for the invasive species. Waleri is seen in a video grabbing the snake by the tail at the side of a road. The snake then lunges for Waleri and tries to bite him as he grabs it by the neck. They wrestle for a while on the ground, until a friend helps Waleri subdue the creature, which weighed 56.6kg. Waleri took the snake to the Conservancy of Southwest Florida in Naples. The organization measured and weighed the beast, and declared it a record for Florida. The state pays hunters to catch and kill such snakes to protect the local ecosystem.
UNITED STATES
Cocaine case closed
No fingerprints or DNA turned up on a baggie of cocaine found at the White House last week despite a FBI analysis, while surveillance footage of the area did not identify a suspect, a summary of a Secret Service investigation said. There were no leads on who brought the drugs into the building, it said. “Without physical evidence, the investigation will not be able to single out a person of interest from the hundreds of individuals who passed through the vestibule where the cocaine was discovered,” it said.
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
US president-elect Donald Trump is not typically known for his calm or reserve, but in a craftsman’s workshop in rural China he sits in divine contemplation. Cross-legged with his eyes half-closed in a pose evoking the Buddha, this porcelain version of the divisive US leader-in-waiting is the work of designer and sculptor Hong Jinshi (洪金世). The Zen-like figures — which Hong sells for between 999 and 20,000 yuan (US$136 to US$2,728) depending on their size — first went viral in 2021 on the e-commerce platform Taobao, attracting national headlines. Ahead of the real-estate magnate’s inauguration for a second term on Monday next week,
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
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