DENMARK
Uproar over giraffe’s death
The Copenhagen Zoo on Sunday sparked outrage when it put down a young giraffe, then chopped it up and fed it to lions as visitors, including young children, looked on. The fate of 18-month-old Marius shocked animal lovers around the world, with thousands signing an online petition to save him and a billionaire offering to buy him and keep him in her Beverly Hills garden. The zoo said the action was necessary to prevent inbreeding and Marius was put down with a bolt gun after being anesthetized. A crowd looked on as an autopsy was carried out and the animal skinned and chopped up. Some grimaced while others took photographs. “It was put down at 9:20. It went as planned. It’s always the people’s right to protest. But of course we have been surprised,” zoo spokesman Tobias Stenbaek Bro said. He said some zoo staff had received death threats, including its scientific director. Under European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) rules, inbreeding between giraffes is to be avoided, the zoo said on its Web site. Although Marius was healthy, his genes were already well represented in Europe and he could not be taken in by the 300 other EAZA-affiliated zoos because that would cause inbreeding, the zoo said. The feeding of Marius’ remains to the lions proved popular at the zoo. Stenbaek Bro said it allowed parents to decide whether their children should watch what the zoo regards as an important display of scientific knowledge about animals.
Photo: AFP
CHINA
Fourth Antarctic station opens
The country’s fourth Antarctic research station — the flying saucer-shaped Taishan — has officially opened, in another step for its exploration ambitions in both earth and space. A fifth station is also being planned, reports said. China is a relative latecomer to Antarctic exploration, sending its first exploration team to the remote continent in 1984 and establishing its first research base a year later. About 30 nations operate permanent research stations in Antarctica.
CHINA
Crackdown on ‘sin city’
Authorities have carried out a rare crackdown on the sex trade in the “sin city” of Dongguan following a candid report by the state broadcaster on the underground industry. The country outlawed prostitution after the communist revolution in 1949, but it returned with a vengeance following landmark economic reforms three decades ago, and has helped fuel a rise in HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases. Media said 67 people were arrested and 12 venues were shut down in a sting operation involving thousands of police in the Dongguan region at the heart of the Pearl River Delta industrial hub in the southern province of Guangdong. Two city police chiefs were suspended.
CHINA
US man tried for mob crimes
A US businessman is standing trial in the country for allegedly heading a violent mob that kidnapped rivals and operated illegal casinos, charges he says he was tortured into confessing. The trial of Vincent Wu (胡煒升) and 31 of his associates opened yesterday in Guangzhou. Wu’s lawyer Li Zhuang (李莊) says Wu’s defense team told the judge that Wu is a US citizen and should be treated as such. Authorities refuse to acknowledge Wu’s US citizenship because he last entered mainland China on his Hong Kong residence pass. Wu has been denied US consular access since his June 2012 detention. Wu’s case underscores the risks faced by individuals working in China who have travel documents from more than one country because Beijing does not recognize dual nationalities.
MARSHALL ISLANDS
Castaway set to fly home
Castaway Jose Salvador Alvarenga was yesterday set to depart the country for his homeland of El Salvador after medics cleared him to travel, a source familiar with the situation said. The fisherman, who says he survived 13 months adrift on the Pacific Ocean, needed a green light from doctors after suffering from ill-health in the wake of his ordeal, which ended when he washed up on a remote atoll 12 days ago. Officials have imposed a media blackout around the exhausted survivor since he conducted a flurry of interviews soon after arriving in Majuro, but a source said he was expected to leave last night on a flight bound for Hawaii. From there, he will travel to El Salvador, most likely via the US West Coast, to be reunited with the family who had long thought he was dead.
CHINA
Ivory smuggler arrested
Xinhua news agency says a suspected Chinese ivory smuggler has been apprehended in Kenya and extradited to the country. Xinhua says the countries worked together and that it is the first time the country has arrested a wildlife crime suspect overseas. Xinhua reported yesterday that Kenyan authorities caught the suspect with the surname Xue in Nairobi on Jan. 17. Xinhua said Xue is accused of having led an ivory trafficking group in Kenya and hiring couriers to smuggle ivory into the country.
MALI
MUJWA blamed for deaths
The Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJWA) was responsible for killing 31 Tuaregs in an attack on Friday last week near the northern town of Tamkoutat, Minister for Interior Security General Sada Samaka said on Sunday. He told national television that the killings took place about 2pm on Friday. “The travelers aboard two vehicles fell into an ambush laid by the terrorists of the MUJWA,” the minister said, including a young girl and a woman. Initial reports had attributed the killings to the settling of scores between Peul and Tuareg groups. The MUJWA has not claimed responsibility for the attack.
MEXICO
Canadian couple murdered
An elderly Canadian couple were beaten and knifed to death when their home in Jalisco state was raided by thieves, Chapala chief of police Ernesto Robles said on Sunday. He identified the victims as a 72-year-old woman and an 84-year-old man from Ontario. No names were released. The couple arrived in Ajijic about six months ago, Robles said. “The gardener arrived in the morning and found the door to the home open,” Robles said. “He went inside, and in the living room he found two bodies with various lesions. The home had been looted.”
MEXICO
Drug suspect nabbed
Authorities on Sunday detained a suspected drug trafficker sought by the US, the National Security Commission said. The US Department of State has offered a US$5 million reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Tirso Martinez Sanchez, who allegedly moved 76 tonnes of cocaine into the US between 2000 and 2003. He was arrested in Guanajuato state, officials said.
‘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
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
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in