PAKISTAN
Bad drugs linked to deaths
Bad drugs are suspected of killing at least 25 heart patients over the last month in Lahore, a government health official said yesterday. Javed Akram said that 100 other heart patients who had taken the same medicine have been admitted to hospitals in the city and 50 of them are in critical condition. Akram is leading a probe into the deaths set up by the Punjab provincial government. He said the suspected drugs were given free to patients by the state-run Punjab Institute of Cardiology. Akram said patients developed red spots on their skin within days of taking the medicine that is suspected of killing them.
NEW ZEALAND
Two killed in plane crash
Authorities said a two-seater Yak aircraft fell into a playing field yesterday in the town of Feilding on North Island. Police spokeswoman Kim Perks said the plane left from an airfield a few kilometers from the crash site and was flying for about 25 minutes before it went down. Perks said witnesses saw the private plane performing acrobatics before the crash, adding that the two men believed to have been aboard were widely known in the region. Authorities have not released their names pending notification of their next of kin.
NEW ZEALAND
Occupy Auckland shut down
Authorities have effectively shut down the Occupy movement in Auckland after more than 100 days of protest. City council officers and police yesterday confiscated cars, tents and camping gear from more than 50 protesters at four sites in the city. The raid came after a local court ruled authorities could remove property from people who were illegally camping. Police arrested three people in Aotea Square during the raids. Auckland Council spokesman Glyn Walters said protesters can return to the sites, but are no longer allowed to camp there. Occupy encampments remain in other New Zealand cities.
NEW ZEALAND
Ninety whales beached
A pod of 90 pilot whales beached themselves at the top of South Island yesterday in the same area where seven whales died in a mass stranding earlier this month, officials said. Regional conservation department manager John Mason said staff and volunteers would attempt to keep the whales cool until the late night high tide when it was hoped they would refloat themselves. The whales came ashore at Golden Bay, near the tourist city of Nelson, where strandings on the tidal flats are common.
MALAYSIA
Pygmy elephant calf saved
Wildlife authorities yesterday said they had rescued a pygmy elephant calf on the island of Borneo and expressed hope a planned sanctuary would provide protection for the endangered animal. The male calf, which is less than a month old, was pulled out of a deep moat surrounding a palm oil plantation in Sabah on Friday, said Sen Nathan, a senior official with the Sabah Wildlife Department. It is the fifth calf rescued by wildlife officials since 2009. Three of those previously saved have died, but a female has recovered and is now at a wildlife park. There are fewer than 2,000 Borneo pygmy elephants left in the wild, authorities said. The latest rescued calf, which weighed about 50kg, was in a serious condition, Nathan said. “He suffered severe dehydration and cuts and abrasions, probably while trying to get out of the moat,”
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
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