UNITED STATES
Vaccine ID maker caught
The owner of a Northern California bar where authorities have said made-to-order fake COVID-19 vaccination cards were sold to undercover state agents for US$20 each was arrested in what officials called the first such foiled operation they are aware of nationwide. The plainclothes agents from California’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control said they were told at the Old Corner Saloon in Clements to write their names and birth dates on Post-it notes and then watched as employees cut the cards, filled in identifying information and bogus vaccination dates and laminated the finished products. Vaccination cards are being used in some places as a pass for people to attend large gatherings. The EU is considering allowing in tourists who can prove they have been vaccinated.
NETHERLANDS
Bees used in virus testing
Researchers have trained bees, which have an unusually keen sense of smell, to identify samples infected with COVID-19, a finding they said could cut waiting times for test results to just seconds. To train the bees, scientists in the bioveterinary research laboratory at Wageningen University gave them sugary water as a reward after showing them samples infected with COVID-19. They would get no reward after being shown a non-infected sample.
PAKISTAN
Holiday lockdown begins
The country yesterday began a nine-day shutdown affecting travel and tourist hotspots to prevent a surge in COVID-19 cases during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. Already battling a third wave of infections and increasingly nervous about the crisis across the border in India, the government has imposed the most severe restrictions since a one-month lockdown in April last year. “These measures have been necessitated by the extremely dangerous situation which has been created in the region with the spread of virulent mutations of the virus,” Minister of Planning Asad Umar, who has been leading the government response to the outbreak, wrote on Twitter.
FRANCE
Neo-Nazi suspects charged
Three members of a neo-Nazi group arrested in the country’s east on suspicion of planning an attack on a masonic lodge have been charged, a judicial source said yesterday. The suspects, two men aged 29 and 56, and a 53-year-old woman, were indicted on Friday evening by a Paris anti-terrorist judge on suspicion of forming a “terrorist criminal association,” the source added. They were arrested based on their communications, research into explosives and scouting of the potential target.
UNITED STATES
Rare condors invade home
Giant California condors are rare — but not at Cinda Mickols’ home. About 15 to 20 of the giant endangered birds have recently taken a liking to the house in the city of Tehachapi and made quite a mess. Mickols’ daughter, Seana Quintero of San Francisco, began posting photographs of the rowdy guests on Twitter. She told the San Francisco Chronicle that the birds showed up at her mother’s home some time last weekend. The birds have trashed the deck — ruining a spa cover, decorative flags and lawn ornaments. Plants have been knocked over, railings scratched and there is poop everywhere. “She’s definitely frustrated, but also is in awe of this and knows what an unusual experience this is,” Quintero said of her mother.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
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