NEW ZEALAND
Insect named after Frodo
New Zealand researchers have named an insect after J.R.R. Tolkein’s famous hobbit character Frodo Baggins. Like the famous literary character, the insect is smaller than its relations and is found in New Zealand’s South Island, the location where the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies were filmed. The Psylla frodobagginsi was identified by Francesco Martoni and Karen Armstrong, who examined the psyllid insects during research for Martoni’s doctorate, with the New Zealand’s Bio-Protection Research Centre. During their research, the pair also solved an 87-year-old mystery about why there was so much variation in what is called the kwhai psyllid. There are two distinct varieties of psyllid: the Psylla apicalis and the slightly smaller Psylla frodobagginsi.
INDONESIA
Outrage over proposed laws
A proposed new criminal code that could see state critics and people who have extramarital sex imprisoned is causing uproar in Indonesia. In the past 24 hours more than 300,000 people have signed a petition calling for President Joko Widodo to step in and stop the draft penal code from being passed. The draft — which is expected to be put forward next week — will apply to everyone in Indonesia, including foreigners, although it is not clear how it would be enforced in holiday hotspots such as Bali. Among a series of contentious provisions are articles that would outlaw de facto relationships and extramarital sex — an article activists fear would in effect criminalize same-sex relations — while insulting the president would also be punishable by 3.5 years in prison.
CUBA
Pesticide linked to attacks
Fumigation against mosquitoes in Cuba and not “sonic attacks” might have caused about 40 US and Canadian diplomats and family members in Havana to fall ill, according to a new study commissioned by the Canadian government. The incidents took place from late 2016 through last year, causing US President Donald Trump’s administration to charge that diplomats were attacked by some sort of secret weapon. The study by a team of researchers affiliated with the Brain Repair Centre at Dalhousie University and the Nova Scotia Health Authority studied Canadian victims. The researchers said they had found different levels of brain damage in an area that causes symptoms reported by the diplomats and concluded that cholinesterase, a key enzyme required for the proper functioning of the nervous system, was being blocked there. Some pesticides inhibit cholinesterase, the report said, and during the period when diplomats became ill normal fumigation in Cuba was stepped up due to the Zika epidemic.
‘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
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
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in