MYANMAR
Thousands freed in amnesty
The government yesterday began releasing more than 9,000 prisoners from jails, after President Win Myint announced an amnesty on the first day of the traditional New Year. In a statement posted on Facebook, he said that 9,353 prisoners, including 16 foreigners, had been pardoned “as a gesture of marking the Myanmar New Year, for the peace and pleasure of the people, and taking into consideration humanitarian concerns.” Authorities were continuing to scrutinize remaining prisoners “who should be pardoned,” he said.
JAPAN
Students told to make drugs
A Matsuyama University pharmacology professor could face up to 10 years in jail after allegedly getting his students to produce ecstasy, health officials said yesterday. The 61-year-old allegedly got his pupils to make MDMA — commonly known as ecstasy — in 2013 and another so-called “designer drug” 5F-QUPIC last year. He reportedly told investigators he was aiming to further the “education” of his pharmaceutical sciences students, an official said. By law, a researcher needs a license from regional authorities to manufacture narcotics for academic purposes.
AUSTRALIA
Pet stag kills owner
A Victoria state man was killed yesterday and his wife critically injured when they were attacked by their pet deer on a rural property in Moyhu. The 46-year-old man entered the stag’s enclosure to feed it, and his wife followed after hearing a commotion and was also attacked, police Sergeant Paul Pursell said. Their teenage son reportedly hit the deer with a lump of wood to save his mother. Police shot the deer, a cross between a red deer and an elk, before a paramedic treated the couple, Pursell said.
UNITED KINGDOM
Hammond to attend forum
Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond later this month plans to attend meetings in China to discuss the country’s centerpiece international economic plans, Her Majesty’s Treasury said. Hammond in 2017 attended a Belt and Road Initiative forum to discuss the mammoth project, which envisions rebuilding the old Silk Road to connect China with Asia, Europe and beyond with massive infrastructure spending. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) new Silk Road initiative has been controversial, particularly in Washington, which views it as a way to spread Chinese influence abroad and saddle countries with unsustainable debt. The Treasury said that Hammond would also discuss British-China bilateral economic and financial cooperation.
CANADA
Conservatives win in Alberta
Opposition conservatives on Tuesday won a clear victory in provincial elections in oil-rich Alberta, in a setback for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his environmental policies just six months ahead of national polls. The United Conservative Party won a large majority in the legislature, with Jason Kenney set to become Alberta premier, local media projections showed. Kenney, a minister in the government of Trudeau’s predecessor, Stephen Harper, is to unseat the leftist New Democrats led by Alberta Premier Rachel Notley. “I look forward to working with whomever wins the [Alberta] election,” Trudeau said, but warned: “It is impossible in the 21st century to have a plan for the economy without having a plan for the environment.”
UNITED STATES
Liu’s accuser files lawsuit
A woman who said she that was raped by JD.com founder Richard Liu (劉強東) on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the billionaire and his company, alleging that he and other wealthy Chinese executives coerced her to drink during a dinner in the hours before she was attacked. Liu Jingyao, a student at the University of Minnesota, claims that the tycoon forced himself upon her in his vehicle after the dinner and later raped her at her apartment. The lawsuit seeks damages of more than US$50,000. Richard Liu, founder of the Beijing-based e-commerce site, was arrested on Aug. 31 last year in Minneapolis on suspicion of felony rape and released within hours. Prosecutors in December last year announced that he would face no criminal charges because the case had “profound evidentiary problems” and that it was unlikely they could prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
UNITED STATES
Cats better off indoors: study
Cats are definitely better off staying indoors, scientists reported yesterday. Pet cats allowed outdoors are nearly three times as likely to become infected with pathogens or parasites than those confined to quarters, they reported in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters. Two-legged housemates should also take note, because cats can transmit some of those diseases to humans, the authors said. Intriguingly, the farther domesticated felines are from the equator, the more likely they are to be afflicted by some kind of bug or virus if they spend time outdoors. Lead author Kayleigh Chalkowski, a researcher at the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences at Auburn University, and colleagues combed through nearly two dozen earlier studies in which the prevalence of one or more diseases was compared across interior and exterior environments. The new study looked at 19 different cat pathogens in more than a dozen countries.
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