■ Japan
Space agencies streamlined
Japan merged its three space agencies yesterday to save money, just as China counts down the weeks to a milestone its wealthy neighbor has yet to reach -- its first manned space launch. The govern-ment aims to save ?10 billion (US$89.8 million) a year by unifying Japan's space-related activities, ranging from fundamental research to satellite development and rocket launches, under the management of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
■ Japan
Cow disease traced
Japan has traced the country's mad-cow disease outbreak
of two years ago to either Italian cattle feed or British cows, but is still unsure exactly how the disease spread to domestic herds, according to a government panel report. The report concluded an 11-month investigation into the cause of the fatal bovine disease in Japan, where it was dis-covered in September 2001. Screening of all cattle bred for human consumption began a month later, but the source of the outbreak has perplexed scientists and concerns remain among ordinary Japanese about more possible cases. The outbreak likely stemmed from 14 British cows imported between 1982 and 1987, during the peak of infections there, or about 650 tonnes of meat-and-bone meal made from ground-up infected animals from Italy before 1991, the report said.
■ India
Durga festival begins
Over 100 million people in eastern India began a five-day festival yesterday for a 10-armed, demon-slaying Hindu goddess who triumphed over evil -- but is also associated with disasters, like the deadly floods that have recently ravaged the country. The five-day Durga Puja festivities honor Durga, a young woman chosen and empowered by the gods to kill a vicious demon king who rampaged through heaven and earth in ancient times, terrorizing mortals and gods alike. Hindus link natural events, like flood and drought, to Durga's annual arrival on earth.
■ Australia
Animal exports to continue
Australia will not halt its lucrative live animal exports despite concern over the plight of thousands of sheep that have been stranded at sea on a cargo ship for eight weeks, the government said yesterday. Australia exports A$195 million (US$125 million) worth of live animals each year, mostly to Islamic countries that require halal meat products -- that is, meat from an animal that has been killed by a Muslim who slits its jugular vein and drains all blood from the carcass. Australia also provides pre-packed halal meat to Islamic countries, but the demand is higher for livestock as many customers cannot afford the packaged product or do not have refrigeration to keep it fresh.
■ China
Soldiers give all for country
Chinese soldiers have entered a new line of production as sewage from six military units in Beijing is being recycled and turned into water clean enough for washing cars and watering flowers, state media said on Tuesday. Chinese soldiers have a proud tradition of supplying their labor to civilian society, and with the opening Monday of a military-designed sewage treatment system, they have an opportunity to contribute even more, the Xinhua news agency reported. The sewage system, the largest in Chinese history, is capable of processing and "rendering harmless" 5,000 tonnes of sewage a day, the agency reported.
■ Russia
Nuclear material in garage
A deputy director of a company that operates and repairs Russia's nuclear-powered icebreakers has been arrested for hoarding in his garage 2kg of highly radioactive material. Alexander Tyuliakov, 50, was seized as he tried to sell undercover investigators a suitcase containing the material, which is thought to include a small amount of uranium 235, capable of being used to make a "dirty" bomb. It was unclear on Tuesday whether he had got it from his employer, Atomflot, which refuels the Arctic icebreakers at its Murmansk shipyard, or from his contacts in the nuclear industry.
■ United States
Huffington out of recall race
A week before the election, independent Arianna Huffington dropped out of the California recall race to focus on torpedoing Arnold Schwarzenegger's run for governor as a new poll showed strong support for ousting Governor Gray Davis and the actor leading rivals to replace him. The Los Angeles Times poll showed the recall succeeding by a 56 percent to 42 percent margin. That was a dramatic shift from a Sept. 12 Times poll that showed support for the recall stalling, with 50 percent of voters supporting it and 47 percent in opposition. Schwarzenegger had support from 40 percent of likely voters in Tuesday's poll.
■ Israel
Pilots mutinous, MPs say
Israeli members of parliament called yesterday for 28 air force pilots to be sacked and tried for mutiny for refusing to attack Palestinian towns. The defense minister, Shaul Mofaz, told the knesset that the pilots were aiding "terrorists" when they signed a letter last week saying they would not carry out "illegal and immoral orders to attack, of the type Israel carries out in the [occupied] territories." These included targeted assassinations in Palestinian urban areas which, the pilots said, endangered civilian lives. Mofaz called the pilots pretentious, sanctimonious and arrogant. "The refuseniks' letter gives moral encouragement to the lawless members of the terrorist organizations," he said.
■ United States
Baby survives on ketchup
A two-year-old girl survived on ketchup, mustard and dried pasta for nearly three weeks after she was left home alone while her mother served time in jail. The child was recovering from malnutrition on Tuesday and was listed in good condition at Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida. The child's father, Ogden Lee, who is separated from the child's 22-year-old mother, Dakeysha Telita Lee, said he had been trying to contact the mother for two weeks and did not learn until Sunday that she was in jail. When a manager let him into the apartment on Monday, the girl was lying in a baby's bathtub, covered with a towel and was watching cartoons.
■ Ecuador
It's never too late ...
Ecuadorans were reminded to set their watches on Tuesday, in a war against an evil as costly as theft or corruption: lateness. "He who is late steals time from another," said Cesar Montufar, the retired colonel in charge of ending lateness. The campaign begins Wednesday precisely at noon, or so. President Lucio Gutierrez will kick off events by signing a commitment to be on time. In Ecuador, where the national pastime is being past time, Montufar has a huge task, by his own accounting. He said lateness costs Ecuador, a tropical country for sure, 3.4 percent of its gross national product.
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion