THAILAND
Musk apologizes to caver
Tesla Inc founder Elon Musk apologized to British caver Vern Unsworth for comments that he made about him following the rescue of a dozen Thai schoolboys and their soccer coach from a cave in northern Thailand. “His actions against me do not justify my actions against him, and for that I apologize to Mr Unsworth and to the companies I represent as leader,” Musk said in a tweet. “The fault is mine and mine alone.” Unsworth, who played a leading role in the rescue, on Tuesday said he has been approached by British and American lawyers and would seek legal advice after Musk directed abuse at him on Twitter.
CHINA
Air China grounded by vaping
Authorities have cut flag carrier Air China’s 737 flights and revoked the flying licenses of the cockpit crew involved in a mid-air emergency sparked by a copilot’s vape smoke, state media said yesterday. An Air China 737 last week made a rapid emergency descent after the copilot mistakenly turned off air-conditioning systems in a bid to conceal his e-cigarette smoke. The Civil Aviation Administration of China has cut the carrier’s 737 flights by 10 percent and ordered it to undertake a three-month safety overhaul, China Central Television said. Air China shares slipped more than 2 percent in Shanghai on yesterday morning following the punishment.
HONG KONG
UK ‘concerned’ by party ban
Britain yesterday expressed concern after police sought to ban a political party that promotes independence for the territory as Beijing increases pressure on challenges to its territorial sovereignty. “We note with concern the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government plans to prohibit the continued operation of the Hong Kong National Party,” the British Foreign Office said in a statement. “The UK does not support Hong Kong independence, but Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy, and its rights and freedoms, are central to its way of life, and it is important they are fully respected,” the statement added.
UNITED STATES
Clemency calls fail killer
The US state of Texas on Tuesday executed a death row inmate despite a call for clemency from a son of the man he killed. Mitesh Patel, the victim’s son, had campaigned in recent weeks to ask the Texas governor to spare Christopher Young, a father of three. Mitesh Patel visited Christopher Young on Monday and described the meeting as emotionally moving for both of them. The last words of the condemned man were addressed to the family of the victim: “I want to make sure the Patel family knows I love them like they love me.” Texas is the state that executes the most inmates in the nation: Christopher Young is the eighth sentenced to die since the beginning of the year.
UNITED STATES
Jaguar bites cable to escape
A jaguar that killed nine other animals during a weekend escape from its habitat at Audubon Zoo is believed to have bitten through a steel-cable barrier that forms the roof of its habitat, the zoo’s managing director said on Tuesday. The interlocking steel cables that form what looks like a hard net over the habitat meet Association of Zoos and Aquariums guidelines, but zoo officials are now looking for stronger materials, Burks said. “We haven’t determined the final material we’re going to use yet,” he said. Meanwhile, the jaguar exhibit is to remain closed.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
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