CHINA
Astronauts head to station
A pair of astronauts have launched into space on a mission to dock with an experimental space station and remain aboard for 30 days. The Shenzhou 11 mission took off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on the edge of the Gobi Desert at 7:30am yesterday aboard a Long March-2F carrier rocket. It is to dock with the Tiangong-2 space station precursor facility within two days, conduct experiments in medicine and various space-related technologies, and test systems and processes in preparation for the launching of the station’s core module in 2018. Following the attachment of two experiment modules, the entire station is designed to begin full operations in 2022 and is to operate for at least a decade.
JAPAN
Abdication panel to meet
Experts on a government-commissioned panel were yesterday to hold their first meeting to study how to accommodate Emperor Akihito’s apparent abdication wish. Modern imperial law does not allow abdication. Allowing Akihito to do so raises legal and logistical questions, ranging from laws subject to change to the emperor’s post-abdication role, his title and residence. The six panel members — five academics and a business organization executive — are to compile a report early next year after interviewing specialists on the constitution, monarchy and history. Akihito, 82, suggested his wish in August, citing concern about his age. The government reportedly wants to allow Akihito’s abdication as an exception and enact a special law to avoid dealing with divisive issues, such as possible female succession and a lack of successors.
JAPAN
Fans celebrate ghost cats
Scores of cat enthusiasts painted their faces and dressed up in elaborate and colorful feline costumes to celebrate an annual festival celebrating bakeneko, ghost cats. Cat lovers on Sunday danced and played music as they paraded through Tokyo’s Kagurazaka neighborhood for the festival, which traditionally precedes Halloween. The neighborhood is the main location in the satirical novel I Am a Cat by popular author Natsume Soseki. “Kagurazaka is a town known for cats and, because Halloween is getting close, we decided to celebrate Halloween, autumn and cats all together in one parade,” said designer Okameya Yuko, who organized the festival.
PAKISTAN
Two buses crash, kill 25
Two passenger buses yesterday collided head-on, killing 25 people and injuring 69, officials said. The accident, which occurred on a dangerous curve in the city of Khanpur in Rahim Yar Khan District, was likely caused by speeding, police official Jamshid Shah said. Several children, college students and women were among the victims, Shah said, adding that police and rescue officials were using cutters to retrieve bodies trapped inside the two buses. Tasleem Kamran, a physician at a government hospital, said the injured were being treated and that several were reported to be in a critical condition. “We have declared an emergency. We desperately need blood,” she said. Local TV footage showed ambulances and rescue officials rushing the injured persons to hospitals. Before the rescuers and police arrived, resident Waqar Ahmad said townspeople, who heard the sound of the crash, arrived at the scene and started pulling the victims out of the wreckage. “We thought some bomb had exploded,” Ahmad said.
‘GROSS NEGLIGENCE?’ Despite a spleen typically being significantly smaller than a liver, the surgeon said he believed Bryan’s spleen was ‘double the size of what is normal’ A Florida surgeon who is facing criminal charges after allegedly removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen has said he is “forever traumatized” by that person’s death. In a deposition from November last year that was recently obtained by NBC, 44-year-old Thomas Shaknovsky described the death of 70-year-old William Bryan as an “incredibly unfortunate event that I regret deeply.” Bryan died after the botched surgery; and last month, a grand jury in Tallahassee indicted Shaknovsky on a charge of manslaughter. “I’m forever traumatized by it and hurt by it,” Shaknovsky added, also saying that wrong-site surgeries can happen “during
Kouri Richins, a Utah mother who published a children’s book about grief after the death of her husband is to serve a life sentence for his murder without the possibility of parole, a judge ruled on Wednesday. Richins was convicted in March of aggravated murder for lacing a cocktail given to her husband, Eric Richins, with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at their home near Park City in 2022. A jury also found her guilty of four other felonies, including insurance fraud, forgery and attempted murder for trying to poison her husband weeks earlier on Feb. 14, 2022, with a
‘PERSONAL MISTAKES’: Eileen Wang has agreed to plead guilty to the felony, which comes with a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison A southern California mayor has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government and has resigned from her city position, officials said on Monday. Eileen Wang (王愛琳), mayor of Arcadia, was charged last month with one count of acting in the US as an illegal agent of a foreign government. She was accused of doing the bidding of Chinese officials, such as sharing articles favorable to Beijing, without prior notification to the US government as required by law. The 58-year-old was elected in November 2022 to a five-person city council, from which the mayor is selected
DELA ROSA CASE: The whereabouts of the senator, who is wanted by the ICC, was unclear, while President Marcos faces a political test over the senate situation Philippine authorities yesterday were seeking confirmation of reports that a top politician wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) had fled, a day after gunfire rang out at the Philippine Senate where he had taken refuge fearing his arrest. Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, the former national police chief and top enforcer of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs,” has been under Senate protection and is wanted for crimes against humanity, the same charges Duterte is accused of. “Several sources confirmed that the senator, Senator Bato, is no longer in the Senate premises, but we are still getting confirmation,” Presidential
RSS