FIJI
Cyclone warning issued
The government yesterday warned residents to brace for destructive winds as Tropical Cyclone Ula bore down on the nation. Meteorologists reported the category three storm had maintained its intensity after forcing hundreds of people to flee their homes on Saturday in Tonga. It was tracking southwest toward eastern Lau Island packing winds of 150kph at its center, the Fiji Meteorological Centre said. “Initially it showed that it was going to weaken, however, it has slowed down and maintained its intensity over the last 12 to 24 hours,” Fiji director of meteorology Ravind Kumar told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. The cyclone was expected to pass within 65km of the island of Ono-i-Lau late yesterday.
THAILAND
Two tourists drown
A Chinese and an Australian tourist on Saturday died in separate swimming accidents off Koh Samui. Police Lieutenant Colonel Apichart Jansamret said the drownings occured off Chaweng Beach during high tide. Two other people were injured. He said there were “no swimming” signs and red flags in place. Apichart said that the sea at the beach looks misleadingly calm as a pond, but that it is easy to fall into deep water. “The tourists must have thought they could manage it and that it’s similar to their country, but that’s the problem,” he said.
HONG KONG
Tax increase likely: Chan
The territory is likely to need to raise taxes and introduce new levies, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury K. C. Chan (陳家強) said yesterday. “Facing a fiscal gap brought by an aging population, raising taxes is inevitable,” he said in his blog. The government last month started a public consultation period to identify ways to enhance retirement protection.
UNITED STATES
‘Winter’ not coming yet
Game of Thrones fans were let down on Saturday, when author George R.R. Martin admitted he had missed Thursday’s deadline to complete the latest installment in the fantasy series. “The Winds of Winter is not finished,” Martin announced in a lengthy blog post shortly after midnight. “You’re disappointed, and you’re not alone. My editors and publishers are disappointed, HBO is disappointed, my agents and foreign publishers and translators are disappointed ... but no one could possibly be more disappointed than me.” Martin had hoped to submit the manuscript to his publishers by late last year so The Winds of Winter, the sixth volume of the series A Song of Ice and Fire, could be published early this year. The author also missed a previous deadline, at Halloween, on the last day of October. With the latest delay, Martin warned, The Winds of Winter would “most certainly” not be published before the sixth season of Games of Thrones begins to air on HBO in April.
UNITED STATES
Lover becomes organ donor
A New Hampshire man found his perfect match in more ways than one when he first met his girlfriend on a golf course last summer. Forty-nine-year-old Jack Simard of Manchester is slated for his second kidney transplant around Valentine’s Day and the donor is his girlfriend, Michelle LaBranche. WMUR-TV reported that the two avid golfers met at Stonebridge Country Club in Goffstown and fell in love. When LaBranche found out Simard was seeking a kidney donor, she tested to see if she was eligible without telling him. Doctors were surprised that her kidneys turned out to be compatible. Simard’s first kidney transplant was 19 years ago. His sister was the donor.
UNITED STATES
Twins born in different years
Twins in San Diego, California, are getting some attention because, though born just minutes apart, one has a birthday last year and one this year. Jaelyn Valenica was born on New Year’s Eve at 11:59pm Her twin brother, Luis Valencia Jr, arrived at 12:01am on New Year’s Day. KGTV-TV reported that the babies were due at the end of this month, but doctors at San Diego Kaiser Permanente Zion Medical Center called the mother in, because one was in a breech position.
PANAMA
Consortium urged to hurry
President Juan Carlos Varela on Saturday urged the Spanish-led consortium expanding the Panama Canal to leave legal disputes to the “competent authorities” and focus instead on completing its work on the waterway. The appeal came after the Dispute Adjudication Board hearing a budget overrun dispute for the project ordered the Panama Canal Authority to pay the consortium US$17 million for extra labor costs and for a strike called by workers. “With respect, I am calling on the contractors for the expansion project to hold dialogue with the Panama Canal Authority, to allow work to be completed, to leave legal disputes in the hands of the competent authorities and to avoid mediatized differences that in no way help the image of the contractors, the Canal Authority and the Republic of Panama,” Varela said. The appeal was made as part of Varela’s address to the Central American country as the congress began its legislative sessions for this year. Grupo Unidos por el Canal de Panama consortium’s expansion work on the canal, started in 2007, is running well behind schedule.
FIJI
Cyclone warning issued
The government yesterday warned residents to brace for destructive winds as Tropical Cyclone Ula bore down on the nation. Meteorologists reported the category three storm had maintained its intensity after forcing hundreds of people to flee their homes on Saturday in Tonga. It was tracking southwest toward eastern Lau Island packing winds of 150kph at its center, the Fiji Meteorological Centre said. “Initially it showed that it was going to weaken, however, it has slowed down and maintained its intensity over the last 12 to 24 hours,” Fiji director of meteorology Ravind Kumar told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. The cyclone was expected to pass within 65km of the island of Ono-i-Lau late yesterday.
THAILAND
Two tourists drown
A Chinese and an Australian tourist on Saturday died in separate swimming accidents off Koh Samui. Police Lieutenant Colonel Apichart Jansamret said the drownings occured off Chaweng Beach during high tide. Two other people were injured. He said there were “no swimming” signs and red flags in place. Apichart said that the sea at the beach looks misleadingly calm as a pond, but that it is easy to fall into deep water. “The tourists must have thought they could manage it and that it’s similar to their country, but that’s the problem,” he said.
HONG KONG
Tax increase likely: Chan
The territory is likely to need to raise taxes and introduce new levies, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury K. C. Chan (陳家強) said yesterday. “Facing a fiscal gap brought by an aging population, raising taxes is inevitable,” he said in his blog. The government last month started a public consultation period to identify ways to enhance retirement protection.
‘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