INDIA
Airplane crash kills 10
A small paramilitary airplane carrying 10 people — eight engineers and two pilots — yesterday crashed just outside the main airport in the nation’s capital, New Dehli, killing all on board, an official said. The airplane, belonging to the Indian Border Security Force, crashed into the boundary wall at the airport and landed in a small body of water, Delhi Fire Services director A.K. Sharma said. Part of the plane was submerged under water, he said. The cause of the crash of the Super King aircraft was not immediately known. At least 15 fire engines and scores of police officials were at the crash site, Sharma said. The plane was heading from New Delhi to the eastern city of Ranchi.
UNITED STATES
Wild bees in decline
Wild bees, crucial pollinators for many crops, are on the decline in some of the main agricultural regions of the nation, according to scientists who produced the first national map of bee populations and identified numerous trouble spots. The researchers on Monday cited 139 counties as especially worrisome, with wild bee numbers decreasing, while farmland for crops dependent on such pollinators is increasing. The counties include agricultural regions of California, such as the Central Valley, the Pacific Northwest, the upper Midwest and Great Plains, west Texas and the southern Mississippi River valley. The counties grow crops such as almonds, pumpkins, squashes, blueberries, watermelons, peaches and apples that are highly dependent on pollinators, or have large amounts of less-pollinator-dependent crops, including soybeans, canola and cotton. Taylor Ricketts, director of the University of Vermont’s Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, said the 139 counties represent 39 percent of the pollinator-dependent crop area of the nation and would most likely face inadequate pollination in the future.
AUSTRALIA
Sea snakes discovered
Scientists yesterday hailed the discovery of two sea snake species feared to have become extinct years ago off the nation’s west coast. The short-nose sea snake and the leaf-scaled sea snake had not been seen since disappearing from their only known habitat on Ashmore Reef in the Timor Sea more than 15 years ago, James Cook University researchers wrote in the Biological Conservation journal. However, they have since been “spotted alive and healthy” at Ningaloo Reef and Shark Bay respectively, thousands of kilometers south. “This discovery is really exciting. We get another chance to protect these two endemic western Australian sea snake species,” the study’s lead author Blanche d’Anastasi said in a statement about the two species, listed by authorities as critically endangered.
BRAZIL
Fire destroys museum
A large fire tore through the Museum of the Portuguese Language in Sao Paulo on Monday, partly destroying the historic building, but apparently claiming no victims, authorities said. Flames engulfed the third floor of the museum, which is closed on Mondays, as clouds of smoke poured from the building. Firefighters said there were no immediate reports of victims. The building, built in 1901 in the style of a British railway station, was in 2006 turned into a museum dedicated to this former Portuguese colony’s rich language, which has integrated elements of indigenous and African languages. It features interactive multimedia exhibits and is one of the most popular museums in Brazil. “It is a real tragedy,” museum director Isa Ferraz said.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in 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
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