MALAYSIA
Bleaching hits 50% of reefs
More than 50 percent of the coral reefs in the nation’s marine parks have been affected by mass bleaching caused by rising sea temperatures, the Department of Fisheries said in a statement on Sunday, citing a study conducted from April to this month. Severe or prolonged heat stress leads to corals dying off, though there is a possibility for recovery if temperatures drop and other stressors such as overfishing and pollution are reduced. The department urged tour operators to control the number of tourists involved in recreation activities to reduce pressure on reefs. “If bleaching is greater than 80 percent, further management interventions may include temporary access restrictions to protect affected reefs,” it said.
KOREAS
Parasites found in balloons
Parasites from human feces and defaced Western clothing were found in the bags of garbage carried by North Korean balloons into the South, Seoul said yesterday. Pyongyang has sent more than 1,000 trash-carrying balloons into the South in recent weeks, in retaliation for leaflets sent northward by activists opposed to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. An analysis of the contents of some 70 of the balloons found that they contained soil in which “numerous parasites, such as roundworms, whipworms and threadworms” were detected, the Ministry of Unification said in a statement. This is likely because human feces was used in the soil instead of chemical fertilizers, it said, adding that there was “no risk of land pollution [or] infectious diseases” from the balloons, as the volume of soil sent was relatively low.
NETHERLANDS
Man honored for honesty
A homeless man found a wallet containing about 2,000 euros (US$2,140) on an empty train at Amsterdam station and handed it to the police, receiving a gift voucher for his honesty. Hadjer al-Ali, who has been homeless for 18 months, found the wallet at Amsterdam central station while he was “doing his rounds” looking for empty plastic bottles to exchange for cash. Police said the 33-year-old turned in the wallet with “approximately 2,000 euros ... but unfortunately no identity papers or anything that would allow us to contact the owner.” Authorities said that “because we think that honesty should pay, he got a ‘silver thumb’ prize that we sometimes give to citizens and a gift voucher worth 50 euros.” If the money is not claimed within one year, it will go to the finder. “No matter what I find, I always give it back,” al-Ali said in a video posted on local media De Stentor, adding: “Maybe the owner has a business and can give me work, maybe a building I can live it. You never know what can happen.”
AUSTRALIA
‘Bicycle bandit’ gets jail
A bank robber known as the “bicycle bandit” was yesterday sentenced to 35 years in jail — though he reportedly has advanced cancer and is seeking an imminent voluntary assisted death. Kym Allen Parsons, 73, admitted to a string of aggravated robbery charges, documents from the South Australian Supreme Court in Adelaide showed. Parsons earned his moniker for fleeing some of his hold-ups on a bicycle. Justice Sandi McDonald ordered him to serve 35 years, with a minimum period of 28 years before being eligible for parole, court papers showed. Parsons carried out the robberies over a decade until 2014, often brandishing a rifle and wearing a balaclava or motorcycle helmet, public broadcaster ABC said. He reportedly got away with more than A$350,000 (US$233,000).
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
JOINT EFFORTS: The three countries have been strengthening an alliance and pressing efforts to bolster deterrence against Beijing’s assertiveness in the South China Sea The US, Japan and the Philippines on Friday staged joint naval drills to boost crisis readiness off a disputed South China Sea shoal as a Chinese military ship kept watch from a distance. The Chinese frigate attempted to get closer to the waters, where the warships and aircraft from the three allied countries were undertaking maneuvers off the Scarborough Shoal — also known as Huangyan Island (黃岩島) and claimed by Taiwan and China — in an unsettling moment but it was warned by a Philippine frigate by radio and kept away. “There was a time when they attempted to maneuver
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