AUSTRALIA
Reef bleaching grows worse
The Great Barrier Reef in March suffered its most extensive coral bleaching event, with scientists fearing that the coral recovers less each time after the third bleaching in five years. February was the hottest month on record since records began in 1900, James Cook University ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies director Terry Hughes told reporters. “We saw record-breaking temperatures all along the length of the Great Barrier Reef, there wasn’t a cool portion in the north, or a cool portion in the south this time around,” Hughes said. “The whole Barrier Reef was hot, so the bleaching we have seen this year is the most extensive so far.” Hughes said that he is now almost certain that the reef is not going to recover to what it looked like even five years ago, not to mention 30 years ago. If the global warming trends continue, the reef would be destroyed, he added.
AUSTRALIA
Morrison told to get off grass
A news conference held by Prime Minister Scott Morrison to announce a new stimulus package briefly turned comical yesterday when he and reporters were told by a homeowner to get off a newly reseeded lawn. Morrison traveled to a housing construction site in Googong, 28km south of Canberra, to announce that his government would spend nearly A$700 million (US$483 million) to support the construction sector, which has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, as he spoke about the package supporting the “Australian dream” of home ownership, he was interrupted by a local resident. “Can everyone get off the grass please,” an unnamed local shouted at Morrison and reporters. “Come on, I’ve just reseeded that.” Morrison quickly obliged, giving the man a thumbs-up and an “all good.”
CHINA
Guard attacks kindergarten
A school security guard yesterday morning injured at least 39 people in a knife attack at a kindergarten, state media reported. The motive remains unknown. The local government in eastern Guangxi’s Cangwu County said that 37 students and two adults sustained injuries of varying degrees in the attack. State media identified the attacker as a security guard at the school surnamed Li, who had been detained while an investigation was launched. State broadcaster China Central Television said that 40 had been injured, three seriously, including the head of the school, another security guard and a student. Almost 20 children were killed in school attacks in 2010, prompting a response from top government officials, and leading many schools to add gates and security guards.
JAPAN
Man kills two with crossbow
A student allegedly killed two members of his family with a crossbow and injured at least two others before being arrested, local media reported. Police in western Hyogo Prefecture’s Takarazuka arrested the college student at the scene of the incident in a residential neighborhood, the local Kobe Shimbun said. Two adult women were rushed to a hospital, but were confirmed dead, the newspaper said, adding that the man reportedly confessed, saying: “I killed several members of my family.” The man was arrested on an attempted murder charge, Japan Broadcasting Corp said, adding that at least two people had been injured — a man and a woman who were both hospitalized. Police were alerted when a woman called saying: “My grandchild shot me with an arrow,” the national broadcaster said. Local police declined to comment on the case.
James Watson — the Nobel laureate co-credited with the pivotal discovery of DNA’s double-helix structure, but whose career was later tainted by his repeated racist remarks — has died, his former lab said on Friday. He was 97. The eminent biologist died on Thursday in hospice care on Long Island in New York, announced the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he was based for much of his career. Watson became among the 20th century’s most storied scientists for his 1953 breakthrough discovery of the double helix with researcher partner Francis Crick. Along with Crick and Maurice Wilkins, he shared the
OUTRAGE: The former strongman was accused of corruption and responsibility for the killings of hundreds of thousands of political opponents during his time in office Indonesia yesterday awarded the title of national hero to late president Suharto, provoking outrage from rights groups who said the move was an attempt to whitewash decades of human rights abuses and corruption that took place during his 32 years in power. Suharto was a US ally during the Cold War who presided over decades of authoritarian rule, during which up to 1 million political opponents were killed, until he was toppled by protests in 1998. He was one of 10 people recognized by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in a televised ceremony held at the presidential palace in Jakarta to mark National
US President Donald Trump handed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban a one-year exemption from sanctions for buying Russian oil and gas after the close right-wing allies held a chummy White House meeting on Friday. Trump slapped sanctions on Moscow’s two largest oil companies last month after losing patience with Russian President Vladimir Putin over his refusal to end the nearly four-year-old invasion of Ukraine. However, while Trump has pushed other European countries to stop buying oil that he says funds Moscow’s war machine, Orban used his first trip to the White House since Trump’s return to power to push for
LANDMARK: After first meeting Trump in Riyadh in May, al-Sharaa’s visit to the White House today would be the first by a Syrian leader since the country’s independence Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in the US on Saturday for a landmark official visit, his country’s state news agency SANA reported, a day after Washington removed him from a terrorism blacklist. Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted long-time former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad late last year, is due to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House today. It is the first such visit by a Syrian president since the country’s independence in 1946, according to analysts. The interim leader met Trump for the first time in Riyadh during the US president’s regional tour in May. US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack earlier
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