JAPAN
First wood satellite built
The world’s first wooden satellite has been completed by researchers who said their tiny cuboid craft would be sent to the International Space Station on a Space Exploration Technologies rocket in September. The experimental satellite developed by scientists at Kyoto University and logging company Sumitomo Forestry is named LignoSat. It is made from magnolia wood and each side measures just 10cm. The creators expect the material to burn up completely when the device re-enters the atmosphere — potentially providing a way to avoid the generation of metal particles when a retired satellite returns to Earth. These metal particles could have a negative impact on the environment and telecommunications, the developers said as they announced the satellite’s completion on Tuesday.
PHILIPPINES
China rules worry Marcos
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday said new rules outlined by the China Coast Guard that could result in the detention of foreigners in the South China Sea were an escalation and “worrisome.” China has issued new rules effective June 15 that would enforce a 2021 coast guard law and allow detention of foreigners suspected of trespassing. China routinely accuses vessels of trespassing in areas of the South China Sea that fall inside the exclusive economic zones of its neighbors. “The new policy of threatening to detain our own citizens, that is different. That is an escalation of the situation,” Marcos told reporters while on a state visit in Brunei. Manila “will use any point of contact with China to stop aggressive actions” and allow Filipino fishers to fish in the South China Sea, Marcos said.
THAILAND
Former PM charged
Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is to be prosecuted for insulting the monarchy, the attorney general’s office said yesterday, over comments he made almost a decade ago. Prayuth Pecharakun, spokesman for the attorney general, said that Thaksin would be summoned to court on June 18 to answer charges under the kingdom’s strict lese-majeste laws. Thaksin’s lawyer, Winyat Chatmontree, said he would fight the charges. “He is ready to prove his innocence in the justice system,” Winyat told reporters.
INDIA
Delhi records record heat
The India Meteorological Department yesterday issued a red alert for several parts of the country’s northwest, warning of a severe heat wave as parts of the capital, Delhi, recorded their highest temperature ever at 50.5°C. A red alert implies a “very high likelihood” of people developing “heat illness and heat stroke,” and calls for “extreme care” for vulnerable people, the department said.
? UNITED STATES
Jurors mull Trump’s fate
Jurors in former US president Donald Trump’s hush money trial were yesterday to begin deliberating on whether to return the first criminal conviction of a former president. After weeks of testimony from more than 20 witnesses, the piercing glare of the legal spotlight now shifts firmly to the anonymous 12-member panel that holds Trump’s fate in its hands. In a full day of closing arguments on Tuesday, his defense team insisted the evidence for a conviction simply did not exist, while the prosecution countered that it was voluminous and inescapable. To return a guilty or not guilty verdict requires the jury to be unanimous — one holdout means a mistrial.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
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
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
‘DISCRIMINATION’: The US Office of Personnel Management ordered that public DEI-focused Web pages be taken down, while training and contracts were canceled US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday moved to end affirmative action in federal contracting and directed that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff be put on paid leave and eventually be laid off. The moves follow an executive order Trump signed on his first day ordering a sweeping dismantling of the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs. Trump has called the programs “discrimination” and called to restore “merit-based” hiring. The executive order on affirmative action revokes an order issued by former US president Lyndon Johnson, and curtails DEI programs by federal contractors and grant recipients. It is using one of the
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