CHINA
Rescued seal pups set free
Animal rights groups have cheered the release into the wild of 37 spotted seal pups rescued from traffickers. Humane Society International said the pups were discovered three months ago by police in a shed on a remote farm in the northern city of Dalian, many of them starving and dying. Eight suspects were arrested. The pups had been taken from the wild by traffickers for the aquarium industry and for display in commercial venues such as shops and restaurants, it said. Another 29 pups could not be rescued and died, as they were only about two weeks old when found and not yet weaned from their mothers.
INDONESIA
Scores of inmates escape
More than 100 inmates yesterday escaped from a jail on the island of Sumatra, police said, in the latest breakout to hit the country’s creaking prison system. The prisoners fled the jail in Siak district early in the morning after rioting and a fire broke out at the detention center. Footage on local TV stations showed the facility engulfed in flames. Authorities launched a massive manhunt and 115 prisoners were recaptured by late morning, Riau Province police chief Widodo Eko Prihastopo said. Dozens of detainees from a prison population of about 650 remained at large, he added. The rioting was triggered after guards beat several inmates who were caught using methamphetamine, police said.
NORWAY
Woman dies of rabies
A 24-year-old woman died this week of rabies, after she was bitten by a puppy she rescued while on vacation in the Philippines, her family said. In February, while on holiday with friends, Birgitte Kallestad found a “helpless” puppy on the side of the road during a scooter ride. “Birgitte put the puppy in a basket and brought him home. She cleaned it and cared for it and to her joy it started healing,” the family said in a statement on Thursday. “After a while the puppy started trying to bite them like puppies do,” the statement said. Kallestad started feeling ill after her return to Norway and was put into intensive care at Forde hospital, where she worked and where she died on Monday.
NIGERIA
Child soldiers released
A total of 894 children who were enlisted in a civilian defense militia in the country’s northeast were on Friday officially separated from the group in accordance with a UN accord, authorities said. The children had been part of a group that was helping government forces fight armed Islamic extremists. Efforts to release the children began in September 2017 when the vigilante group pledged to stop recruiting children, UN International Children’s Emergency Fund representative in Nigeria Mohamed Fall said. More than 1,700 children and young people have already been released.
UNITED STATES
Jail for Ice-cream fraudster
A New Jersey man who defrauded Medicare by using the promise of ice cream to lure senior citizens to do genetic testing was on Friday sentenced to more than four years in prison. Seth Rehfuss, 44, had pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud. US District Judge Ann Thompson also ordered Rehfuss to pay restitution of about US$435,000 and forfeit more than US$66,000. Rehfuss would advertise that he was serving free ice cream to lure residents to his presentations, a criminal complaint showed. The seniors were told the tests would help them guard against heart attacks, cancer and other illnesses.
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