HONG KONG
Government halts jab order
The government yesterday confirmed that it has asked AstraZeneca to suspend delivery of its COVID-19 vaccine amid fears of severe side effects and concerns over its efficacy against new variants of the virus. Europe’s medicines regulator this week said the vaccine could cause rare blood clots in some recipients, prompting a cascade of countries to pull the plug on giving it to people under a certain age. Hong Kong Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan (陳肇始) said the territory has asked AstraZeneca not to deliver as planned later this year, saying it was not necessary and that Hong Kong wanted “to avoid any waste.”
CHINA
Mine explosion kills 9
Nine workers have been killed during an operation to destroy expired mining explosives, officials said yesterday. The blast in Hebei Province that borders Beijing left another three workers injured on Wednesday, the Chicheng County government said in a notice online. The workers had been part of a crew tasked with destroying the explosives, which can become unstable over time and unsafe to use. They had been stored by a Beijing-based coal mining company, according to media reports. The accident occurred amid a push to improve safety in the industry, one of the world’s deadliest due in part to the mishandling of materials.
SOUTH AFRICA
Gangster baboon killed
A notorious baboon that went on a vicious crime spree was on Thursday euthanized after forming a gang, Cape Town officials said. The alpha-male monkey found himself high on the unwanted list last year after he moved into the scenic suburb of Smitswinkel Bay following a stint along a tourist-magnet road. He reportedly terrorized residents with more than 40 raids for food, sometimes entering homes while people were inside. In the past few weeks, a splinter group of females and juveniles had started following the baboon, placing themselves in danger, and the boss had to be “humanely” euthanized, the city said. The conservation group CapeNature “supported the removal of this baboon [and] issued the permit,” it said in a statement.
BRAZIL
Bolsonaro faces probe
The Senate is to open an inquiry into the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, as President Jair Bolsonaro continues to resist lockdown measures even with deaths at new records. A judge from the Supreme Federal Court on Thursday ordered the Senate to create a commission for the inquiry, after requests from 32 of 81 senators. Bolsonaro has defied expert advice even as cases and deaths soar, criticizing face masks and vaccines, while opposition to lockdown measures.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was