CHINA
Swine fever reported
The country on Friday reported its first outbreak of African swine fever and had culled 336 pigs as it tried to prevent the spread of the disease, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) said. Toutbreak in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, began on Wednesday and was ongoing, a notification on the OIE Web site said. The disease is not harmful to humans, but causes hemorrhagic fever in domesticated swine and wild boar that almost always ends in death within a few days. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization in May warned of the risk of the spread of African swine fever from Russia.
UNITED STATES
Officials race to save orca
Officials were weighing all options to save an emaciated endangered orca, including feeding it live salmon at sea dosed with medicine. Biologists are worried about the survival of the four-year-old female orca known as J-50. Experts are taking breath and poop samples, and aerial photographs to assess her health, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries spokesman Michael Milstein said. They are also exploring ways to deliver live fish and oral medication to the orca, he said. Extreme conservation efforts are needed to save the whale, wildlife veterinarian Joe Gaydos with SeaDoc Society said. There are just 75 of the black-and-white orcas that frequent Washington state waters. A calf died shortly after birth, and its mother has spent days keeping it afloat.
DENMARK
Woman fined over ‘niqab’
A 28-year-old woman wearing a niqab on Friday became the first person in the country to be fined for violating a new controversial law banning full-face Islamic veils in public places, local media reported. Police were called to a shopping center in Horsholm, in the northeastern region of Nordsjaelland, where the woman had become involved in a scuffle with another woman who had tried to tear her niqab off, police officer David Borchersen told the Ritzau news agency. “During the fight her niqab came off, but by the time we arrived she had put it back on again,” Borchersen said. The woman was informed she would receive a fine of 1,000 kroner (US$156).
CHINA
Ai Weiwei studio razed
Artist Ai Weiwei (艾未未) said authorities have begun razing his Beijing studio. The frequent government critic said on his Instagram account the demolition began on Friday without prior notice and posted videos of an excavator smashing the windows of his “Zuoyou” studio. The studio in the northeast Beijing suburbs has been Ai’s primary work space since 2006, although his has mostly been based in Europe in the past few years. It is unclear whether the demolition was targeting Ai. Beijing authorities have demolished large swaths of the suburbs in the past year in a building safety campaign, typically giving at least several days’ notice.
UNITED STATES
Goats invade neighborhood
More than 100 goats on Friday burst into a neighborhood in Boise, Idaho, startling residents and captivating spectators on social media as they feasted on lawns, flower bushes and tree leaves. The herd of goats had been at work clearing some land for the county when scores of the inquisitive animals escaped at about 7am and wandered into a West Boise suburb, their owner 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