CHINA
Digital ID urged to boost trade
Tencent Holdings chairman Ma Huateng (馬化騰) called on the government to introduce an ID system that would link multiple sets of travel documents with a mobile phone as part of a plan to boost regional trade between Hong Kong and the rest of the nation. China’s second-richest man told a news conference in Beijing that new technology systems and laws could let Hong Kong residents make electronic payments and cross the border more easily. “It’s still very complicated and we’d need to make it work with the customs systems, but from a technology point of view we could do it,” Ma said. “We have been talking to the chief executive in Hong Kong for quite some time about a number of these issues, including the electronic ID.”
INDIA
Modi’s party beats Marxists
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party ended 25 years of uninterrupted communist party rule in the northeastern state of Tripura and consolidated its position in two other states in key provincial elections. Saturday’s impressive win is expected to boost the prospects of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) when it seeks a second term in national elections next year. As his supporters beat drums and danced with joy, Modi tweeted that the people were reposing their faith in the positive and development-oriented agenda of his party. With results announced for all 59 seats in Tripura’s state legislature, the BJP had won a big majority to form a government on its own in the state, replacing the Communist Party of India (Marxist). It also looked like it could win a majority with support from other groups in Meghalaya and Nagaland states.
BANGLADESH
Secular writer survives attack
Investigators yesterday said a young man accused of stabbing a celebrated secular writer at a seminar had targeted him as “an enemy of Islam.” Zafar Iqbal, a longstanding champion of free speech and secularism, remains in stable condition in a hospital where he is being treated for stab wounds to his head. Police detained 21-year-old Faizul Hasan, a former Islamic seminary student, and were investigating any ties to radical groups. Colonel Ali Haider Azad Ahmed from the Rapid Action Battalion police unit said Hasan told investigators that it was “his duty as a Muslim to resist those who work against Islam.”
MALAYSIA
MH370 search nearing end
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 by a US company is likely to end in June, an official said, as families of passengers marked the fourth anniversary of the plane’s disappearance with renewed hope that the world’s biggest aviation mystery would be solved. Ocean Infinity started the search on Jan. 22 and has 90 search days to look for the plane. The 90-day term would spread over a few months because the search vessel has to refuel in Australia and bad weather could be a factor, civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said on Saturday, adding that the search is going smoothly and is expected to end by mid-June. “The whole world, including the next of kin, have [renewed] hope of finding the plane for closure,” he told reporters at a remembrance event at a shopping mall near Kuala Lumpur. “For the aviation world, we want to know what exactly happened to the plane.”
UNITED STATES
‘Get Out’ wins at Spirit
Jordan Peele’s satirical horror flick Get Out triumphed on Saturday at the Spirit Awards — the latest in a string of honors the film has picked up. The film — a dark send-up of the African American experience and of suburban white guilt over racial inequality — won Peele the best film and best director awards. The Film Independent Spirit Awards are seen as a strong indicator of movies that could strike Oscars gold. The last four Spirit winners for best film have won best picture at the Oscars. Frances McDormand won best actress for her performance in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Allison Janney won best supporting actress award for I, Tonya, Sam Rockwell won best supporting actor and Timothee Chalamet won best actor.
HONDURAS
Executive held for murder
Authorities said they have arrested an energy company executive allegedly behind the high-profile 2016 murder of prominent environmental activist Berta Caceres. Police detained electrical engineer Roberto David Castillo Mejia “as the intellectual perpetrator” behind Caceres’ murder, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Friday. Castillo was chief executive of Desarrollos Energeticos, which Caceres actively campaigned against over plans to build a hydroelectric dam, at the time of her murder. He was “responsible for providing logistics and other resources to the perpetrators,” the statement said.
SLOVAKIA
Murdered journalist buried
Slain investigative journalist Jan Kuciak was laid to rest on Saturday in home village in his wedding suit as police released seven Italians detained after they were named in his explosive report on alleged high-level corruption linked to Italy’s ’Ndrangheta mafia. Kuciak’s murder has raised fresh concern about media freedom and corruption in his own nation and the rest of Europe. Kuciak’s burial came a day after his fiancee, Martina Kusnirova, was laid to rest in her wedding gown in her hometown. The couple had planned to marry in May. The couple were found dead in their home on Sunday last week.
UNITED KINGDOM
Pubs open late for wedding
Pub are to be allowed to open late for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on May 19, with the doors that day allowed to stay open until 1am instead of the usual 11pm. “The royal wedding is a chance for communities across the country to join together and celebrate this momentous and happy occasion for our royal family and for our nation,” Home Secretary Amber Rudd said. “It’s clear that the public back the idea of having more time to raise a glass to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on a day of national celebration,” she added, after the government led a four-week consultation before approving the move.
UNITED STATES
A win and a proposal
A Florida retiree has won the women’s division in Key West’s annual Conch Shell Blowing Contest — and accepted a marriage proposal from a fellow competitor. Seventy-year-old Mary Lou Smith on Saturday impressed the judges with long blasts on the fluted, pink-lined shell. When 73-year-old Rick Race proposed on stage, she accepted by joining him in a joyous duet. Other winners included Florida Keys resident Vinnie Marturano, who won the men’s division after blowing three-toned blasts and a song fragment. Judges evaluated entrants on the quality, novelty, duration and loudness of their playing.
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