SOUTH AFRICA
Court against nuclear deals
The Western Cape High Court yesterday ruled that the government plans to increase the country’s reliance on nuclear power with help from Russia and other countries are unlawful. The ruling followed arguments by non-governmental groups that the public had not been sufficiently consulted about the plans and that the nation could not afford more nuclear facilities. Critics have been concerned that the nuclear deals could be vulnerable to graft at a time when President Jacob Zuma faces calls to resign because of scandals and the dismissal of a finance minister. The nation currently has two nuclear reactors that generate about 5 percent of its electricity.
GERMANY
Ivanka Trump draws groans
Ivanka Trump on Tuesday encountered a rough reception from an audience at a women’s empowerment event in Berlin after calling her father “a tremendous champion of supporting families.” US President Donald Trump’s daughter drew groans as she made the remark during a panel discussion with Chancellor Angela Merkel and IMF managing director Christine Lagarde. The exchange prompted a follow-up question from the moderator about the US president’s attitude to women. “I certainly heard the criticism from the media, and that’s been perpetuated,” Ivanka Trump said. “But … I know from personal experience, and I think the thousands of women who have worked with and for my father for decades when he was in the private sector, are testament to his belief and solid conviction in the potential of women and their ability to do the job as well as any man.”
UAE
Saudi wins literary prize
Saudi novelist Mohammed Hasan Alwan won what is considered to be the region’s top literary award for Arab fiction for a book about the trials and tribulations of a man on a journey of self-revelation through Andalusia in the 12th century. Alwan was awarded the 10th annual International Prize for Arab Fiction in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday evening. He received a US$50,000 cash prize and will get to have his book translated into English under the title A Small Death. His book was selected from more than 180 novels from 19 countries. Alwan, who was born in Riyadh in 1979 and now resides in Toronto, Canada, has published five novels.
UNITED STATES
Cassini ready for rings
Cassini, an unmanned NASA spacecraft was yesterday to make a plunge into the gap between Saturn and its rings, a pioneering journey that could offer an unprecedented view of the sixth planet from the Sun. The first of the spaceship’s 22 deep dives between Saturn and its innermost ring was scheduled to take place at 5am Florida time, NASA said. Communications with the spacecraft will go dark during the dive and for about a day afterward, while it makes observations of the planet.
CHINA
Talks on moon outpost held
China is talking with the European Space Agency about collaborating on a human outpost on the moon. The China National Space Administration Secretary-General Tian Yulong (田玉龍) yesterday disclosed the talks in the state media. Further details on what the collaboration could entail were not revealed. The European agency has described its “`Moon Village” as a potential international launching pad for future missions to Mars.
‘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