JAPAN
Craft to land on asteroid
A spacecraft is approaching the surface of an asteroid about 280 million kilometers from Earth. Hayabusa2 began its approach at 1:15pm, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said yesterday. The start was delayed for about five hours for a safety check, but the uncrewed craft is still due to touch down as scheduled this morning. It is to attempt to collect material from the asteroid that could provide clues about the origin of the solar system and life on Earth. Hayabusa2 is aiming for a 6m-wide strip to avoid obstacles on the asteroid, which is about 900m in diameter.
PHILIPPINES
Maternity leave expanded
President Rodrigo Duterte has expanded leave benefits for working new mothers, a move that could bring more women into the workforce in the nation with the least female participation in Southeast Asia. A new law has increased paid maternity leave to 105 days from 60, of which seven can be given to fathers, Senator Risa Hontiveros said in a statement yesterday. Single mothers would get additional 15 days. Luring and keeping more women in the job market is among government initiatives outlined by National Economic and Development Authority Director-General Ernesto Pernia to boost labor force participation, which dropped last year. The World Bank estimates more than half of Philippine women are not in the labor force.
PAKISTAN
Rain, flooding kills 26
Torrential rains lashed several cities yesterday, triggering flash floods and leaving at least 26 dead, many swept away by the waters or killed when their roofs collapsed before dawn, authorities said. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province Disaster Management Authority said that 14 people, including children, were killed. Emergency workers were trying to rescue people from flooded parts of Lasbella, authority spokesman Imran Zarqoon said. At least nine people were killed in three incidents of roofs collapsing amid the rains, four of them in the city of Multan, police and rescue services said.
CHINA
Genetics firm pulls out
Thermo Fisher Scientific said it would no longer sell or service genetic sequencers in Xinjiang following criticism that they were used for surveillance that enabled human rights abuses, the Wall Street Journal reported. The US company cited its “values, ethics code and policies,” the Journal said. Thermo Fisher faced criticism from human rights groups and US lawmakers for supplying the equipment used to identify individuals in Xinjiang.
SYRIA
Last evacuations expected
The last civilians were expected to be evacuated from the Islamic State (IS) group’s final enclave in the east of the country yesterday, clearing the way for US-backed forces to attack militants holed up inside, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said. The village of Baghouz at the Iraqi border is the last scrap of territory left to IS in the Euphrates valley region. Taking it would nudge the eight-year civil war toward a new phase, with US President Donald Trump’s pledge to withdraw troops leaving a security vacuum that other powers could seek to fill. SDF media office head Mustafa Bali told reporters that the SDF would attack once the civilian evacuation is complete. Bali did not say how much more time was needed to finish off the remaining IS militants, nor did he give a fresh estimate of how many fighters remained.
An endangered baby pygmy hippopotamus that shot to social media stardom in Thailand has become a lucrative source of income for her home zoo, quadrupling its ticket sales, the institution said Thursday. Moo Deng, whose name in Thai means “bouncy pork,” has drawn tens of thousands of visitors to Khao Kheow Open Zoo this month. The two-month-old pygmy hippo went viral on TikTok and Instagram for her cheeky antics, inspiring merchandise, memes and even craft tutorials on how to make crocheted or cake-based Moo Dengs at home. A zoo spokesperson said that ticket sales from the start of September to Wednesday reached almost
‘BARBAROUS ACTS’: The captain of the fishing vessel said that people in checkered clothes beat them with iron bars and that he fell unconscious for about an hour Ten Vietnamese fishers were violently robbed in the South China Sea, state media reported yesterday, with an official saying the attackers came from Chinese-flagged vessels. The men were reportedly beaten with iron bars and robbed of thousands of dollars of fish and equipment on Sunday off the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), which Taiwan claims, as do Vietnam, China, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines. Vietnamese media did not identify the nationalities of the attackers, but Phung Ba Vuong, an official in central Quang Ngai province, told reporters: “They were Chinese, [the boats had] Chinese flags.” Four of the 10-man Vietnamese crew were rushed
CHINESE ICBM: The missile landed near the EEZ of French Polynesia, much to the surprise and concern of the president, who sent a letter of protest to Beijing Fijian President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere called for “respect for our region” and a stop to missile tests in the Pacific Ocean, after China launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In a speech to the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday, Katonivere recalled the Pacific Ocean’s history as a nuclear weapons testing ground, and noted Wednesday’s rare launch by China of an ICBM. “There was a unilateral test firing of a ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean. We urge respect for our region and call for cessation of such action,” he said. The ICBM, carrying a dummy warhead, was launched by the
As violence between Israel and Hezbollah escalates, Iran is walking a tightrope by supporting Hezbollah without being dragged into a full-blown conflict and playing into its enemy’s hands. With a focus on easing its isolation and reviving its battered economy, Iran is aware that war could complicate efforts to secure relief from crippling sanctions. Cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah, sparked by Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7 last year, has intensified, especially after last week’s sabotage on Hezbollah’s communications that killed 39 people. Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon followed, killing hundreds. Hezbollah retaliated with rocket barrages. Despite the surge in
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