MACAU
Closed track abandons dogs
Macau authorities have taken in more than 500 greyhounds abandoned following the closure of Asia’s only legal dog-racing track. The former Portuguese territory has been the only place in China where dog racing is legal. However, betting on dog races at Macau’s Canidrome — a tradition of more than 50 years — soured after animal rights groups accused the stadium of mistreating the dogs and euthanizing ones that underperformed on the track. It was ordered closed yesterday. The Macau government says Canidrome faces legal measures under the Animal Protection Act for failing to move the dogs from their shuttered premises. Authorities found 533 greyhounds on the company’s property, including a dozen suffering from skin disease and other conditions, and are now making arrangements for their care.
PAKISTAN
Media constraints decried
An international organization that advocates for the rights of journalists has raised questions about conditions that media face in Pakistan ahead of parliamentary elections. The Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based group, yesterday said in a report that it has documented how journalists critical of the military or government authorities were abducted or attacked. The report also documents how the army’s spokesman has accused journalists of sharing anti-state and anti-military propaganda, and how distribution of two of Pakistan’s largest outlets — Geo TV and Dawn — were arbitrarily restricted. Aliya Iftikhar, a CPJ researcher who authored the report, quoted several Pakistani journalists who said the judiciary’s silence adds a “climate of fear and self-censorship.” The report says objective reporting has been skewed because of media constraints.
SYRIA
France, Russia aid Ghouta
An airplane carrying humanitarian aid was dispatched to the ravaged former Syrian rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta, which was retaken by government forces in April after a five-year siege. A Russian military cargo plane carrying 45 tonnes of medical aid and humanitarian supplies left the airport at the central French city of Chateauroux at 3am, airport head Mark Bottemine said. Undertaken as part of a UN Security Council resolution, “the aim of this project is to enable civilian populations better access to aid,” a joint Franco-Russian statement said. The airplane is heading for Russia’s Hmeimim air base in the west of Syria. It is the first joint humanitarian aid operation between Russia and a Western country. The medical aid is aimed at some 500 people who have been seriously injured and the 15,000 others who have lighter injuries during the fighting in Eastern Ghouta.
SPAIN
Migrant bodies, survivor dock
A Spanish rescue vessel carrying two dead bodies and a survivor from a migrant boat wreck has docked in a Mallorca port after a four-day journey across the Mediterranean Sea. The aid group Proactiva Open Arms had on Tuesday found the bodies of a small boy and a woman and accused Libya’s coast guards of abandoning them after intercepting dozens of Europe-bound migrants. Video posted by the group showing the floating bodies and the rescue of another woman still alive caused outrage across Europe. The rescuers had refused to dock in Italy saying that they did not trust how Italian authorities would handle an investigation into the wreckage. Rome and the EU have trained and financed the Libyan coast guard to halt the flow of migration.
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