HONG KONG
Wong gets 10 extra months
The District Court yesterday added 10 months to democracy advocate Joshua Wong’s (黃之鋒) jail term after the 24-year-old recently pleaded guilty to taking part in an unauthorized assembly last year, a crime punishable by up to five years in jail. Wong and thousands of others held a vigil on June 4 to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, defying an unprecedented ban on the event that authorities said was necessary due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Wong was already serving a 13-and-a-half-month sentence for leading a protest outside police headquarters in 2019.
CHINA
US embassy post backfires
On Sina Weibo on Wednesday, the visa section of the US embassy asked students what they were waiting for since US President Joe Biden’s administration had eased restrictions. “Spring has come and the flowers are in bloom. Are you like this dog who can’t wait to go out and play?” said the post in Chinese, which was accompanied by a video of an excited puppy trying to climb over a safety gate. However, the post drew an angry backlash from some users, who felt the comparison was inappropriate, and it was later deleted. “Is this American humor? I believe they did it on purpose,” one user wrote. Others quipped that the students’ “master” was calling them back to the US.
MYANMAR
NUG forms ‘defense force’
The National Unity Government (NUG), set up by opponents of military rule, on Wednesday said that it had formed a “people’s defense force” to protect its supporters from military attacks. The NUG said that the new force is the precursor to a Federal Union Army and that it has the responsibility to end decades-old civil wars and deal with “military attacks and violence” by the ruling State Administration Council against its people. The unity government, established last month by an array of groups opposed to the military, among them ethnic minority militias, has pledged to end violence, restore democracy and build a “federal democratic union.”
ROMANIA
Prince ‘shoots largest bear’
The non-governmental organization (NGO) Agent Green and the Austrian NGO VGT have alleged in a statement that Arthur, the country’s largest bear, was shot in March in a protected area of the Carpathian Mountains by Prince Emanuel von und zu Liechtenstein. The NGOs said that the prince had been given authorization by the Ministry of the Environment to shoot a female bear that had been causing damage on farms in Ojdula. “But in reality, the prince did not kill the problem bear, but a male that lived deep in the woods and had never come close to localities,” they said.
KENYA
Oldest human burial found
Archeologists have identified the oldest known human burial in Africa during field work that uncovered the remains of a child laid carefully to rest in a grave nearly 80,000 years ago. The arrangement of the bones shows that the three-year-old — named Mtoto, after the Swahili word for “child” — was placed with legs tucked to chest, and perhaps wrapped in a shroud with their head on a pillow, before being gently covered in soil. Researchers discovered the delicate and degraded bones while excavating the floor beneath a sheltered overhang at the mouth of the Panga ya Saidi cave in the tropical uplands of Kenya’s coastal plains.
FEROCIOUS FISH-EATER Scientists have found a new species of dinosaur from the Cretaceous Period, a ‘hell heron’ that stalked the rivers, deep in the Saharan desert At a remote Sahara desert site in Niger, scientists have unearthed fossils of a new species of Spinosaurus, among the biggest of the meat-eating dinosaurs, notable for its large blade-shaped head crest and jaws bearing interlocking teeth for snaring fish. It prowled a forested inland environment and strode into rivers to catch sizable fish like a modern-day wading bird — a “hell heron,” as one of the researchers put it, considering it was about 12 meters long and weighed 5-7 tons. The dinosaur presented a striking profile on the Cretaceous Period landscape of Africa some 95 million years ago as it hunted
Heavy rain and strong winds yesterday disrupted flights, trains and ferries, forcing the closure of roads across large parts of New Zealand’s North Island, while snapping power links to tens of thousands. Domestic media reported a few flights had resumed operating by afternoon from the airport in Wellington, the capital, although cancelations were still widespread after airport authorities said most morning flights were disrupted. Air New Zealand said it hoped to resume services when conditions ease later yesterday, after it paused operations at Wellington, Napier and Palmerston North airports. Online images showed flooded semi-rural neighborhoods, inundated homes, trees fallen on vehicles and collapsed
‘COST OF DEFECTION’: Duterte’s announcement could be an effort to keep allies in line with the promise of a return to power amid political uncertainty, an analyst said Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte yesterday announced she would run for president of the Southeast Asian nation of 116 million in 2028. Duterte, who is embroiled in a bitter feud with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, was impeached last year only to see the country’s Supreme Court throw the case out over procedural issues. Her announcement comes just days before her father, former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, begins a pretrial hearing at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Netherlands over crimes against humanity allegedly committed as part of a brutal crackdown on drugs. “I offer my life, my strength and my future
NOT YET THERE: While the show was impressive, it failed to demonstrate their ability to move in unstructured environments, such as a factory floor, an expert said Dancing humanoid robots on Monday took center stage during the annual China Media Group’s Spring Festival Gala, China’s most-watched official television broadcast. They lunged and backflipped (landing on their knees), they spun around and jumped. Not one fell over. The display was impressive, but if robots can now dance and perform martial arts, what else can they do? Experts have mixed opinions, with some saying the robots had limitations and that the display should be viewed through a lens of state propaganda. Developed by several Chinese robotics firms, the robots performed a range of intricate stunts, including martial arts, comedy sketches and choreographed
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