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.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
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