CHINA
Satellite launched
A new high-resolution remote sensing satellite capable of providing stereoscopic imagery was launched yesterday, China Central Television (CCTV) reported. A rocket lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern China at 11:22am, carrying the Gaofen-7 satellite into its designated orbit, CCTV said, citing the China National Space Administration. The satellite is to be used for land surveys, urban planning and statistical investigation, CCTV said.
SOUTH KOREA
Bodies retrieved after crash
Rescuers early yesterday retrieved two bodies believed to be among four that remained missing after a helicopter crashed into the sea shortly after taking off from islets disputed with Japan, officials said yesterday. The helicopter had just picked an injured fisherman up from Dokdo, which is known as Takeshima in Japan, when it went down on Thursday night. The coast guard said that the two bodies found early yesterday were both male, with one believed to be a fireman. It was still trying to identify them.
PHILIPPINES
Toll from quakes reaches 21
The death toll in two powerful quakes that struck the nation’s south in the past week has risen to 21, authorities said yesterday, as survivors struggled to access food and water. The magnitude 6.6 and 6.5 earthquakes hit the island of Mindanao two days apart, destroying buildings and displacing tens of thousands of residents. Some villagers staying under tents near a highway were begging for help from passing motorists, carrying placards asking for food and water, TV footage showed.
JAPAN
Festival reinstates film
A film festival in Tokyo is to show a documentary on World War II military brothels, organizers said yesterday after coming under fire for dropping the movie. The screening of Shusenjo: The Main Battleground of The Comfort Women Issue” by director Miki Deza was canceled last week over concern for the safety of volunteers and objections from Kawasaki City officials. The decision was reversed after “lots of voices offering cooperation to address our safety concerns,” an organizer said.
SRI LANKA
TV station to be censored
The election commission said it would censor a state-owned TV station after accusing it of bias against a former president’s brother, who is standing in upcoming polls. The surprise move came after the Independent Television Network aired a program alleging that loyalists to the previous regime had thwarted a corruption probe into former president Mahinda Rajapakse’s family. The broadcast had harmed opposition frontrunner Gotabhaya Rajapakse the commission said.
ALGERIA
Five candidates to run
Five candidates, including two former prime ministers, are to run to replace ousted president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the election authority said on Saturday. Twenty-three candidates had submitted their papers to run and five were approved. Former prime ministers Ali Benflis and Abdelmadjid Tebboune are considered front-runners. The other candidates are Azzedine Mihoubi, leader of the Democratic National Rally party, which was part of Bouteflika’s ruling coalition, former minister of tourism Abdelkader Bengrina and Abdelaziz Belaid, head of the Front El-Moustakbel party.
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