MALAYSIA
Mega projects scrutinized
The nation is to review the implementation of mega projects such as the high-speed rail line to Singapore, and a US$14 billion rail project connecting its east and west coasts, state news agency Bernama reported yesterday, citing the economic affairs minister. Mohamed Azmin Ali also said the government would ensure projects that are to be implemented in the future are transparent and open, without any direct deals, according to Bernama. Malaysia’s new Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has vowed to review some projects approved by the earlier administration, including the East Coast Rail Line — a 55 billion ringgit (US$13.86 billion) rail project that would link Malaysia’s east coast on the South China Sea to Kuala Lumpur and the strategic shipping routes of the Strait of Malacca in the west.
INDIA
Five die from Nipah virus
A deadly virus carried by fruit bats has killed at least five people in southern India and more than 90 people are in quarantine, a top health official said yesterday. “We can confirm that five people have died from the Nipah virus,” Kerala state health surveillance officer K.J. Reena told reporters. The death toll has risen from three overnight. “We traced 94 people who had come in contact with the ones who died and they have been quarantined as a precaution,” Reena added. Nipah has a mortality rate of 70 percent, according to the WHO, and there is no vaccination.
UNITED STATES
NASA launches water trackers
A pair of identical, sportscar-sized satellites are poised to zoom around the Earth and track changes in water and ice, offering new insights into global warming and sea level rise, NASA said on Monday. Groundwater, oceans, lakes, rivers and ice sheets would be monitored by the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO), a joint mission between the US space agency and German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ). The satellites were launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California yesterday at 12:47pm. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket propelled the satellites to an orbit about 500km above the Earth. The pair are to fly 220km apart, or about the distance from Los Angeles to San Diego. NASA has spent US$430 million on the mission, and Germany has spent about US$91 million. “Water is critical to every aspect of life on Earth — for health, for agriculture, for maintaining our way of living,” said Michael Watkins, GRACE-FO science lead and director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. “You can’t manage it well until you can measure it. GRACE-FO provides a unique way to measure water in many of its phases, allowing us to manage water resources more effectively.”
UNITED STATES
Pence warns Kim Jong-un
US President Donald Trump is willing to walk away from an unprecedented summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un scheduled for next month, US Vice President Mike Pence said on Monday, after North Korea called into question the meeting last week. Pence told Fox News that North Korea should not attempt to seek concessions from the US for promises that it did not intend to keep. “It would be a great mistake for Kim Jong-un to think he could play Donald Trump,” Pence said according to excerpts of an interview made available by Fox. When asked if Trump could still walk away from the summit scheduled for June 12 in Singapore, he replied: “Well, there’s no question.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number