CHINA
AG600 delivery set for 2022
State-owned Aviation Industry Corp of China (AVIC) expects to deliver its domestically developed AG600, the world’s largest amphibious aircraft, to customers by 2022, Xinhua news agency reported late on Sunday. “We are endeavoring to get the airworthiness certification from the civil aviation authorities by 2021, and deliver it to the customers by 2022,” Xinhua quoted AVIC chief designer Huang Lingcai as saying. China developed the AG600 as part of a drive to modernize its military, amid a more muscular approach to territorial disputes in places like the South China Sea that has rattled nerves in the Asia-Pacific region and the US. It made its maiden flight in China in December. Huang also said the aircraft would make more flights this year, including its first takeoff from water.
INDIA
Sleeves cut off for exams
A college has been banned from conducting examinations after it cut off the sleeves of female candidates for nursing tests to prevent cheating, officials said yesterday. Video shown on local TV showed staff at the school using scissors and razor blades to slash the women’s sleeves before allowing them into the exam building on Sunday. Many of the women can be seen carrying the ripped-off sleeves into the exam hall as dozens of police stand guard outside in the Muzaffarpur District of Bihar State. The act sparked protests outside other exam centres and a torrent of complaints on social media. District education officer Lalan Prasad Singh said the sleeves were cut to protect the candidates, but added that a probe has been launched to find who was responsible. “The school has been barred from holding exams,” he told reporters when confronted over the outcry. The eastern state is notorious for exam trickery and reports of mass cheating regularly make headlines.
THAILAND
Oxen predict good times
Palace astrologers yesterday predicted a strong harvest after a pair of sacred oxen munched on grass and drank water and liquor in an annual ritual that tests the omens for the kingdom. Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn presided over the colorful annual “royal plowing ceremony,” which saw Brahmin priests head a procession of the white oxen around a field outside Bangkok’s Grand Palace. Royal soothsayers base their predictions on which foods the animals choose to eat after the plowing, when they are offered bowls of rice, maize, green beans, sesame, liquor, water and grass. “The royal prediction is that rice, fruit and food will be plentiful,” said Thanit Anekwit from the agriculture ministry. The liquor also “means communication and trade with foreign countries will be facilitated well,” he added.
AUSTRALIA
Lotto winner wins again
A stunned Sydney man who was celebrating a lottery windfall could not believe it when he won again less than a week later. The unidentified man, in his 40s and from the suburb of Bondi, on Monday last week picked up A$1,020,487 (US$770,000) and then scooped another A$1,457,834 on Saturday. “I just thought this is too good to be true,” he told NSW Lotteries yesterday after being informed of his good fortune. “The chances of winning twice in such a short period of time must be non-existent. I wish I had some advice to others on how to win the lottery, but I don’t.” Asked what he would do with the cash, he said: “I’m not going to be stupid with it.” He plans to invest in some Sydney real estate, buy a new car and “a holiday to Honolulu goes without saying.”
In months, Lo Yuet-ping would bid farewell to a centuries-old village he has called home in Hong Kong for more than seven decades. The Cha Kwo Ling village in east Kowloon is filled with small houses built from metal sheets and stones, as well as old granite buildings, contrasting sharply with the high-rise structures that dominate much of the Asian financial hub. Lo, 72, has spent his entire life here and is among an estimated 860 households required to move under a government redevelopment plan. He said he would miss the rich history, unique culture and warm interpersonal kindness that defined life in
AERIAL INCURSIONS: The incidents are a reminder that Russia’s aggressive actions go beyond Ukraine’s borders, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said Two NATO members on Sunday said that Russian drones violated their airspace, as one reportedly flew into Romania during nighttime attacks on neighboring Ukraine, while another crashed in eastern Latvia the previous day. A drone entered Romanian territory early on Sunday as Moscow struck “civilian targets and port infrastructure” across the Danube in Ukraine, the Romanian Ministry of National Defense said. It added that Bucharest had deployed F-16 warplanes to monitor its airspace and issued text alerts to residents of two eastern regions. It also said investigations were underway of a potential “impact zone” in an uninhabited area along the Romanian-Ukrainian border. There
The governor of Ohio is to send law enforcement and millions of dollars in healthcare resources to the city of Springfield as it faces a surge in temporary Haitian migrants. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Tuesday said that he does not oppose the Temporary Protected Status program under which about 15,000 Haitians have arrived in the city of about 59,000 people since 2020, but said the federal government must do more to help affected communities. On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost directed his office to research legal avenues — including filing a lawsuit — to stop the federal government from sending
A Zurich city councilor has apologized and reportedly sought police protection against threats after she fired a sport pistol at an auction poster of a 14th-century Madonna and child painting, and posted images of their bullet-ridden faces on social media. Green-Liberal party official Sanija Ameti, 32, put the images on Instagram over the weekend before quickly pulling them down. She later wrote on social media that she had been practicing shots from about 10m and only found the poster as “big enough” for a suitable target. “I apologize to the people who were hurt by my post. I deleted it immediately when I
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