LAOS
Hundreds missing in deluge
Hundreds of people are missing and an unknown number believed dead after the collapse of a hydropower dam under construction in the country’s southeast, state media reported yesterday. The accident happened at a dam in Attapeu Province late on Monday, releasing 5 billion cubic meters of water that flooded six villages, with “several human lives claimed and several hundreds of people missing,” Laos News Agency said. The dam was being built by Xe Pien-Xe Namnoy Power Co.
VIETNAM
Son Tinh death toll rises
The death toll from floods and landslides triggered by tropical storm Son Tinh yesterday rose to 27, and seven people are still missing, the Disaster Management Authority said. Although Son Tinh weakened to a tropical depression by the time it reached the country last week, the torrential rains it brought caused heavy flooding and landslides in many parts of the country’s north. Some areas in the outskirts of the capital, Hanoi, remain submerged. The remote mountainous province of Yen Bai has suffered the heaviest casualties in the latest floods and landslides, with 13 people reportedly killed, 18 injured and four missing, the agency said in a statement.
THAILAND
Food guide to be expanded
The Michelin guide to the country’s best restaurants is to go beyond Bangkok to the southern tourism hot-spots of Phuket and Phang Nga by the end of this year as part of the country’s efforts to keep attracting visitors. The expanded guide is to be published in November, the local unit of the French tiremaker and publisher said. The review can boost tourism revenue by highlighting the different cuisines available, Tourism Authority Governor Yuthasak Supasorn said in an interview. “Gastronomy is Thailand’s strength,” Yuthasak said, adding that the goal is to cover the whole country by 2021 under a five-year agreement with Michelin.
JAPAN
Firm to fire plaques to space
The sky is no longer the limit for lovers looking for unusual ways to commemorate their nuptials, with a local company offering to blast commemorative wedding plaques into space. Warpspace, a start-up based in Tsukuba City outside Tokyo, is introducing the new service in partnership with a local hotel popular for wedding banquets. For about ¥30,000 (US$270), newlyweds marrying at the hotel would be able to emboss their names and design elements on 16mm by 8mm titanium plates that would be loaded onto a tiny satellite. The satellite would be taken up to the International Space Station on a supply ship, and then released by astronauts.
AUSTRALIA
Sheep yields 30kg fleece
A sheep in the country’s east is leaping about more lightly after being sheared of its massively overgrown fleece. In a social media post that has gone viral, farmer Graeme Bowden shared pictures of the sheep he dubbed “Shriek 2.” He said a friend found the sheep with several years of growth, which he sheared to produce 30kg of wool — more than six times greater than the average fleece. “He cut 30kg of wool, which was 13 inches [33cm] long,” Bowden said in his Facebook post, adding that the fleece was unbelievably clean. “Anyway he’s light-footed now, would be nice at the moment with the price of wool to have about 2,000 of them, gee I’d be able to buy some hay,” Bowden said.
‘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