■HONG KONG
Pollution at record level
Air pollution has returned to a record high registered in 2000, triggering a warning for people with heart or respiratory illnesses, the Environmental Protection Department said yesterday. A pall of smog hung over the city, restricting views across Victoria Harbour as pollutants built up because of a lack of wind. Roadside air pollution readings reached a “very high” reading of 174 overnight in Central district, a record high last reached nine years ago. When the index exceeds 101, “persons with existing heart or respiratory illnesses are advised to reduce physical exertion and outdoor activities,” the department said. Air pollution levels were forecast to remain very high yesterday. Emissions from factories in southern China combined with emissions from local power plants and transport generate a thick haze over the city for large parts of last year.
■JAPAN
Wine study backs fish rule
It’s not just culinary etiquette to pair red wine with red meat and not fish: A research team says there is a scientific explanation. Researcher Takayuki Tamura and colleagues from the product development research laboratory of wine producer Mercian Corp found that wine connoisseurs established the rule of thumb because of the flavor clash between red wine and fish. Tamura and his team found that an unpleasant, fishy aftertaste noticeable after drinking red wine with fish resulted from naturally occurring iron in red wine, with some wines having more iron than others. Their study, published in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, found that low-iron red wines might be a good match with seafood.
■HONG KONG
Giant crocodile trapped
It took five men and a tranquilizer dart to remove a monster 5m saltwater crocodile from a trap in the tropical north, park officials said on Friday. The giant reptile was snared near a popular swimming area on the outskirts of Darwin that was closed because of high levels of bacteria in the water, senior ranger Tom Nichols said. “This is the largest crocodile we’ve removed from the area in the last four years,” Nichols said. The reptile was in good condition and was taken by truck to the city’s crocodile farm. The Northern Territory has suffered two fatal crocodile attacks this year. The Northern Territory has suffered two fatal crocodile attacks this year and is estimated to have the country’s largest population of the animals — approximately 80,000.
■MALAYSIA
Mom, baby get free flights
A woman who gave premature birth to a boy on board an airplane minutes before it landed will get free flights for life along with her child, an airline official said on Friday. Liew Siaw Hsia, 31, gave birth on budget carrier AirAsia’s flight from Penang to Kuching on Wednesday. AirAsia spokesman Nazatul Mokhtar said the flight was diverted to nearby Kuala Lumpur for an emergency landing when Liew started labor pains. He said Liew was 27 weeks pregnant, 11 weeks short of the full term. A doctor on the flight helped the woman deliver while the plane was still 600m in the air in its final approach to land. Mother and son were rushed to a nearby hospital after the plane landed, an airline statement said. Nazatul said they were both in good shape and would get free flights on the airline for life.
■UNITED STATES
Police issue unusual tickets
A Texas police chief apologized on Friday after at least 39 people received traffic tickets because they couldn’t speak English. “I apologize to the Spanish speaking, Hispanic community.” Dallas police chief David Kunkle said at a press conference. The situation came to light after a woman went to court to challenge a ticket issued by an officer which cited her for being a “non-English speaking driver.” Kunkle said his department reviewed its records and found that 38 similar tickets had been written in the past three years by six different officers. All fees will be refunded and the police will ask for all convictions to be reversed, he said. The department is also considering dereliction of duty charges against the officers involved and the sergeants who reviewed the citations. Kunkle said the misunderstanding of state law could have stemmed from an effort to shift to an electronic citation system. Lists of citations were distributed which included a federal statute which requires drivers of commercial vehicles to have sufficient proficiency in English to operate the vehicle safely.
■UNITED STATES
Diva causes dining ruckus
An Argentine diva has been charged with creating a ruckus at a Manhattan restaurant. The case against Gabriela Pochinki was adjourned on Friday on contemplation of dismissal. That means the misdemeanor disorderly conduct, criminal trespass and obstructing-government charges will be tossed if she stays out of trouble for six months. A criminal complaint says Pochinki irked fellow patrons by yelling into her cellphone, then screamed at a manager and refused to leave when asked by the manager and a police officer. Pochinki has appeared in leading roles worldwide.
■UNITED STATES
‘War hero’ sentenced to jail
A Marine sergeant has been sentenced to 18 months in prison by a Virginia court martial for pretending to be a war hero who had been seriously injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sergeant David Budwah, 34, pled guilty before the court martial at the Quantico military base to having sought an exemption on the basis of post-traumatic stress disorder, which he did not actually have, court documents showed. He was also found guilty of having worn medals and ribbons he had not earned and obtaining seats at concerts, dinners and sporting events that were intended for wounded US military personnel. He acknowledged having lied during an interview with a journalist from the Herald-Mail newspaper, in which he claimed to have been injured “by a hand grenade filled with glass, nails and other debris. I dove on a buddy to shield him from the blast, and the blast damaged half my face,” he told the reporter. Between 2000 and 2006 Budwah was stationed in Okinawa, Japan.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Prince defends big bonuses
Prince Andrew defended big bonuses yesterday, saying they were “minute” in the grand scheme of things but were an easy target for people angry at the financial crisis. “I don’t want to demonize the banking and financial sector,” the Duke of York, Queen Elizabeth II’s second son and Britain’s special representative for international trade and investment, told the Daily Telegraph newspaper. “Bonuses, in the scheme of things, are minute. They are easy to target. A number [of people] will have abused their privilege of a bonus, so get rid of the excesses, but don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.”
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was