new Zealand
Hoiho is bird of the year
The yellow-eyed penguin, or hoiho, has been crowned Bird of the Year, securing 6,328 votes for its second win in the popular annual competition. The hoiho, considered the world’s rarest penguin species by competition organizers Forest and Bird, surpassed the runner-up Chatham Island black robin and the kakapo, earning significant public support in the final week of the contest. The hoiho has an estimated population of between 4,000 and 5,000. Despite its Maori name meaning “noise shouter,” the species is known for its elusive behavior and strong odor. It previously won the title in 2019. Forest and Bird CEO Nicola Toki said the species was in a critical condition. “We’ve lost 78 percent of their mainland population in just 15 years due to predators and climate change,” Toki said.
IRAN
Austrian man released
Authorities have released an Austrian who was jailed in the country’s northeast, the judiciary said yesterday. Austria in October 2022 confirmed that one of its citizens had been arrested on charges “unrelated” to a wave of protests that rocked the nation at the time. “Austrian citizen Christian Weber, imprisoned in West Azerbaijan province, was released from prison in accordance with Islamic mercy,” the judiciary’s Mizan Online Web site said. Weber had been convicted after “committing crimes” in Iran, it said, but did not specify what those crimes were. “After his release, the convict was handed over to the Austrian ambassador for his departure,” it added. Months-long protests shook the nation following the September 2022 death in custody of 22-year-old Iranian-Kurd Mahsa Amini. Amini had been arrested for allegedly violating the nation’s strict dress code for women.
ECUADOR
Droughts bring blackouts
The government yesterday said it is to implement nationwide nighttime blackouts and teleworking in the public sector as the worst drought in decades threatens the nation’s hydroelectric plants. The measures are due “to the worst drought in the last 61 years and aim to responsibly manage the control of our electrical system,” a presidential statement said. A nightly eight-hour power cut from 10pm are to be imposed from Monday to Thursday next week. “The established cut-off time has been chosen with the aim of generating the least possible impact on productive activities and the working day,” the presidency said. Teleworking would also be implemented in the public sector on Thursday and Friday and next week, it added. The government had already announced a general blackout lasting eight hours from 10pm today for “preventive maintenance” on the energy transmission system.
PERU
Illegal shark fins seized
Authorities on Monday said they had seized about 1.2 tonnes of illegally harvested shark fins. The discovery was made at the warehouse of an export company from where they were to have been shipped, without the necessary license, to Asia, the Sunat customs agency said on X. A report published in the journal Science in January said global shark populations were plummeting, despite efforts to curb mass killings for their fins, eaten in soups in some cultures and considered a delicacy. It is also believed in some countries, including China and Japan, to slow aging, improve appetite, aid memory and stimulate sexual desire. The Pew Environment Group said that between 63 million and 273 million sharks are killed every year, mainly for their fins and other parts.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) greetings with what appeared to be restrained rhetoric that comes as Pyongyang moves closer to Russia and depends less on its long-time Asian ally. Kim wished “the Chinese people greater success in building a modern socialist country,” in a reply message to Xi for his congratulations on North Korea’s birthday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported yesterday. The 190-word dispatch had little of the florid language that had been a staple of their correspondence, which has declined significantly this year, an analysis by Seoul-based specialist service NK Pro showed. It said
On an island of windswept tundra in the Bering Sea, hundreds of miles from mainland Alaska, a resident sitting outside their home saw — well, did they see it? They were pretty sure they saw it — a rat. The purported sighting would not have gotten attention in many places around the world, but it caused a stir on Saint Paul Island, which is part of the Pribilof Islands, a birding haven sometimes called the “Galapagos of the north” for its diversity of life. That is because rats that stow away on vessels can quickly populate and overrun remote islands, devastating bird
‘CLOSER TO THE END’: The Ukrainian leader said in an interview that only from a ‘strong position’ can Ukraine push Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘to stop the war’ Decisive actions by the US now could hasten the end of the Russian war against Ukraine next year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday after telling ABC News that his nation was “closer to the end of the war.” “Now, at the end of the year, we have a real opportunity to strengthen cooperation between Ukraine and the United States,” Zelenskiy said in a post on Telegram after meeting with a bipartisan delegation from the US Congress. “Decisive action now could hasten the just end of Russian aggression against Ukraine next year,” he wrote. Zelenskiy is in the US for the UN
A 64-year-old US woman took her own life inside a controversial suicide capsule at a Swiss woodland retreat, with Swiss police on Tuesday saying several people had been arrested. The space-age looking Sarco capsule, which fills with nitrogen and causes death by hypoxia, was used on Monday outside a village near the German border. The portable human-sized pod, self-operated by a button inside, has raised a host of legal and ethical questions in Switzerland. Active euthanasia is banned in the country, but assisted dying has been legal for decades. On the same day it was used, Swiss Department of Home