HONG KONG
Protest song ban rejected
A judge yesterday denied a government request for an injunction banning Glory to Hong Kong (願榮光歸香港), an anthem that emerged from the territory’s huge pro-democracy protests in 2019. The government last month requested an injunction order so that the song — penned anonymously — would be banned from being disseminated or performed “with the intention of inciting others to commit secession or with a seditious intent.” However, Judge Anthony Chan (陳健強) said in his ruling that banning the song would raise serious freedom of expression issues. “I believe that the intrusion to freedom of expression here, especially to innocent third parties, is what is referred to in public law as ‘chilling effects,’” he wrote. “Whilst I entirely accept that no chilling effect is intended behind the injunction, it is the duty of the court to keep in mind that there is a whole spectrum of Hong Kong people,” he said.
DENMARK
Countries battle bird flu
Norway and Finland face record outbreaks of bird flu this year, which have killed thousands of seagulls and other species, put livestock at risk and restricted travel in some areas, officials said. Avian influenza has circulated throughout Europe in the past few years, leading to a cull in May and last month of millions of birds on French farms alone and affecting the supply of poultry meat and eggs. Officials in the Arctic town of Vadso, part of Norway’s Finnmark County, said they had collected more than 10,000 dead birds in the area and the Norwegian Food Safety Authority on Thursday imposed a travel ban covering three nature reserves. Finland also said wild birds were heavily affected and that the H5N1 strain has now been found in 20 fur farms, up from 12 earlier this week.
MYANMAR
Suu Kyi moved from prison
Civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was ousted in a 2021 military coup, has been moved from prison to a government building on Monday night, an official from her National League for Democracy party said yesterday on condition of anonymity. Aung San Suu Kyi has been seen only once since she was held after the Feb. 1, 2021 putsch — in grainy state media photos from a bare courtroom in Naypyidaw. The party official also confirmed that Aung San Suu Kyi had met lower house Speaker Ti Khun Myat and was likely to meet Chinese special envoy for Asian affairs Deng Xijun (鄧錫軍), who is visiting the country. A source from another political party said she had been moved to a VIP compound in Naypyidaw. There have been concerns about the health of the Nobel laureate, 78, since her detention.
UNITED STATES
Eagles’ Meisner dies at 77
Randy Meisner, a founding member of the Eagles who added high harmonies to such favorites as Take It Easy and The Best of My Love, and stepped out front for the waltz-time ballad Take It to the Limit, has died, the band said on Thursday. Meisner died on Wednesday night in Los Angeles of complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the Eagles said in a statement. He was 77. The bassist had endured numerous afflictions in recent years and personal tragedy in 2016 when his wife, Lana Rae, accidentally shot herself and died. Called “the sweetest man in the music business” by former bandmate Don Felder, the baby-faced Meisner joined Don Henley, Glenn Frey and Bernie Leadon in the early 1970s to form a quintessential Los Angeles band and one of the most popular acts in history.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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