UNITED STATES
Bees can recognize by touch
The ability to see an object and then identify it by touch based on a mental recollection has been shown to exist in bumblebees, scientists reported on Thursday. Studying the insects’ sesame-sized brains, which contain about 1 million neurons as opposed to the 100 billion in human brains, sheds light on how cross-modal object recognition works, said Queen Mary University of London researcher Cwyn Solvi, lead author of a paper in Science. About 40 bees were tested with objects in a dark and windowless room and then with the lights on, but the bees still went to objects associated with a reward. “The bees have some unified internal representations of objects,” Solvi said.
AUSTRALIA
Two killed as train derails
Two people were killed and 12 injured when an interstate train derailed outside Melbourne on Thursday evening, police said. The train, which was traveling from Sydney, came off the rails about 50km from Melbourne. An unnamed male driver and an unidentified man died in the derailment, police said yesterday. Media carried photographs showing several carriages of the train askew off the tracks, with the locomotive on its side. Ambulance Victoria confirmed that one of the injured had been flown to a Melbourne hospital and another four people had been taken to a second hospital, where they were in stable condition. Transport authorities in New South Wales said that there were about 160 passengers on board.
LESOTHO
PM to be charged with murder
Prime Minister Thomas Thabane is to be charged with the June 2017 killing of his estranged wife, Lipolelo, a top police official said on Thursday, and the prime minister announced that he would be stepping down. The kingdom already has watched, shocked, as Thabane’s present wife, Masesaiah, was charged earlier this month with the murder after briefly fleeing the country. When the 80-year-old leader appeared yesterday at the Maseru Magistrates’ Court, he was also to face an attempted murder charge for the shooting of a person who was with his wife at the time, Deputy Commissioner of Police Paseka Mokete said.
FRANCE
Bed bug offensive begins
The government on Thursday launched a campaign to combat an influx of bed bugs that have settled in homes and hotels. After disappearing from the country in the 1950s, the insects have made a resurgence, the Ministry of Housing said. “We can all be affected,” the government warned on a Web page dedicated to the problem, complete with advice on how to prevent and treat an infestation, and a hotline number to call for expert help.
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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