HONG KONG
Democracy advocate bailed
The High Court yesterday granted bail to a fifth democracy advocate and former lawmaker, but revoked bail for another. They are part of a group of 47 advocates and former lawmakers who were arrested over their involvement in an unofficial primary election last year. The court granted bail to former Legislative Council member Helena Wong (黃碧雲), who was one of the candidates in the primaries. Her bail conditions include surrendering all travel documents and observing a curfew. The court revoked bail granted to district councilor Ng Kin-wai (伍健偉). Ng is to be remanded in custody.
INDONESIA
Sinabung spouts hot ash
A volcano on Sumatra unleashed an avalanche of searing clouds of gas and ash flowing down its slopes during an eruption yesterday. No casualties were reported. Mount Sinabung in North Sumatra was shooting smoke and ash as high as 1,000m and hot ash clouds traveled up to 3km southeast, the Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center said. The eruption caused no casualties, Sinabung monitoring post official Armen Putra said, adding that villagers were advised to stay 5km from the crater and watch out for lava.
MYANMAR
Leader’s kids sanctioned
The US sanctioned the adult children of coup leader Burmese Army Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and their business holdings, saying that they “have directly benefited from their father’s position and malign influence.” The US Department of the Treasury put the children — Aung Pyae Sone, 36, and Khin Thiri Thet Mon, 39 — on a list that prohibits US citizens from doing business with them or their six businesses. Their operations include a restaurant, gyms, a gallery and a media production business. “Treasury took these actions in response to the Burmese military’s coup against the democratically elected civilian government,” the department said.
HONG KONG
Facebook halts cable plan
Facebook has decided to halt its efforts to build a trans-Pacific undersea cable that would have connected California and Hong Kong, due to tensions between the US and China. “Due to ongoing concerns from the US government about direct communication links between the United States and Hong Kong, we have decided to withdraw our FCC [US Federal Communications Commission] application,” a Facebook spokesperson said on Wednesday. The social media platform and several telecoms filed their first construction permit in 2018 to connect two sites in California to Hong Kong and Taiwan. The FCC in April last year gave Google permission to operate the link between North America and Taiwan.
IVORY COAST
Prime minister dies at 56
Prime Minister Hamed Bakayoko has died, less than a year after being appointed to the position following the death of his predecessor. Bakayoko was 56. he succumbed to cancer on Wednesday in Germany, where he was receiving treatment, President Alassane Ouattara wrote on Twitter. Bakayoko had been evacuated from Ivory Coast to Paris on Feb. 18, before being moved for further treatment. “I pay tribute to the prime minister, Hamed Bakayoko, my son and close collaborator, taken too soon,” Ouattara said. “Bakayoko served Ivory Coast with devotion and selflessness.”
JAN. 1 CLAUSE: As military service is voluntary, applications for permission to stay abroad for over three months for men up to age 45 must, in principle, be granted A little-noticed clause in sweeping changes to Germany’s military service policy has triggered an uproar after it emerged that the law requires men aged up to 45 to get permission from the armed forces before any significant stay abroad, even in peacetime. The legislation, which went into effect on Jan. 1 aims to bolster the military and demands all 18-year-old men fill out a questionnaire to gauge their suitability to serve in the armed forces, but stops short of conscription. If the “modernized” model fails to pull in enough recruits, parliament will be compelled to discuss the reintroduction of compulsory service, German
For two decades, researchers observed members of the Ngogo chimpanzee group of Kibale National Park in Uganda spend their days eating fruits and leaves, resting, traveling and grooming in their tropical rainforest abode, but this stable community then fractured and descended into years of deadly violence. The researchers are now describing the first clearly documented example of a group of wild chimpanzees splitting into two separate factions, with one launching a series of coordinated attacks against the other. Adult males and infants were targeted, with 28 deaths. “Biting, pounding the victim with their hands, dragging them, kicking them — mostly adult males,
Filipino farmers like Romeo Wagayan have been left with little choice but to let their vegetables rot in the field rather than sell them at a loss, as rising oil prices linked to the Iran war drive up the cost of harvesting, labor and transport. “There’s nothing we can do,” said Wagayan, a 57-year old vegetable farmer in the northern Philippine province of Benguet. “If we harvest it, our losses only increase because of labor, transportation and packing costs. We don’t earn anything from it. That’s why we decided not to harvest at all,” he said. Soaring costs caused by the Middle East
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s officially declared wealth is fairly modest: some savings and a jointly owned villa in Budapest. However, voters in what Transparency International deems the EU’s most corrupt country believe otherwise — and they might make Orban pay in a general election this Sunday that could spell an end to his 16-year rule. The wealth amassed by Orban’s inner circle is fueling the increasingly palpable frustration of a population grappling with sluggish growth, high inflation and worsening public services. “The government’s communication machine worked well as long as our economic situation remained relatively good,” said Zoltan Ranschburg, a political analyst
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