INDONESIA
Illegal bird trade exposed
Tens of thousands of endangered birds are being sold illegally at markets across the country, a wildlife trade watchdog said yesterday, flouting laws aimed at protecting these species from extinction. Wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC recorded nearly 23,000 birds for sale at five markets in three major cities on the main island of Java. More than two dozen species identified in the survey were fully protected by law, meaning all hunting and trafficking of them is prohibited. These included the critically endangered black-winged myna, native to Java and Bali, and other rare species found across the archipelago. “If this level of trade continues, in the next few years some species of birds could be wiped out completely from the wild,” said Serene Chng, the co-author of TRAFFIC’s new report into the bird trade.
JAPAN
Search on for missing crew
Officials are searching for eight Chinese crew members who went missing when their fishing boat sank after colliding with a Greek cargo vessel near disputed East China Sea islands yesterday, the coast guard said. The coast guard, which dispatched a patrol boat and plane to the site after receiving a signal from the cargo ship, has rescued the six other members of the vessel’s 14-strong crew, a spokeswoman said. “We have put priority on the search and rescue of the missing eight,” she said. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its appreciation for the rescue efforts. The accident comes after Minister of Foreign Affairs Fumio Kishida on Tuesday called in Chinese Ambassador Cheng Yonghua (程永華), following what Tokyo calls “intrusions” by Chinese ships near the disputed islands for five consecutive days.
UNITED STATES
Fighter pilot shortage
The air force is struggling to fill a shortage of 700 fighter pilots by the end of the year, even as the nation battles in three air wars against the Islamic State group in Iraq, Syria and Libya. Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James also told Pentagon reporters on Wednesday that she is planning to pay drone pilots a US$35,000 a year retention bonus to encourage them to stay in the service. The retention bonus would be US$25,000 more than the service has been allowed to provide as a bonus. All drone pilots would be eligible once their service contract is finished.
BRAZIL
Elite officers shot in slum
Three elite police officers protecting Rio de Janiero’s Olympic Games came under fire on Wednesday when they made a wrong turn and entered a slum run by drug gangs, authorities said. “They were three officers with the National Force who accidentally went into the Vila do Joao community. Their car was hit by drug traffickers’ [gunfire],” a police officer told reporters on condition that he not be named. The incident took place in one of the sprawling favelas in the Complexo da Mare area, near the city’s international airport. “One of the police was shot in the head and underwent surgery and is now under observation. Another officer was shot, but not seriously hurt,” a Ministry of Justice statement said.
UNITED STATES
Coins sell for US$869,500
Two rare US$0.01 coins from the earliest days of the US Mint have sold for a pretty penny. The copper coins, both dating to 1792, went for a combined total of US$869,500 at the auction held on Wednesday in Anaheim, California. One of them, known as the “Birch Cent,” sold for US$517,000. The other, known as the “Silver Center Cent,” went for US$352,500. Heritage Auctions spokesman Eric Bradley said that while the sales fell somewhat short of the combined US$1 million the auction house projected they would go for, organizers are still pleased with the result. “We’re looking at two coins that sold for more than 43 million times their face value,” Bradley said, “so you can’t be disappointed in that.”
AUSTRIA
Wedding couples leave cuffed
Two couples looking to get married have left a registry office wearing handcuffs instead of rings. State broadcaster ORF reported that the registrar in the town of Moedling, south of Vienna, became suspicious because neither of the pairs — a Romanian woman with a Nepalese man and a Hungarian woman with a Tunisian man — could understand each other. Police determined that the four were seeking bogus marriages that would have given the men a better chance of settling in the EU through wives who come from EU-member nations.
UNITED STATES
Boy decapitated on Verruckt
The 10-year-old boy killed during a ride on the world’s tallest waterslide was decapitated in the accident, a person familiar with the investigation said on Wednesday. Authorities have yet to explain how it happened. The person was speaking on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly about the death of Caleb Schwab on Sunday on the “Verruckt” raft ride at the Schlitterbahn WaterPark in Kansas City, Kansas. Verruckt — which in German means “insane” — featured multi-person rafts that make a 51m drop at speeds of up to 112kph, followed by a surge up a hump and a 15m descent to a finishing pool.
‘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