CHINA
Blogger charged for pun
A popular social media figure has been arrested on charges that he made an insulting pun about Chinese soldiers who froze to death during the Korean War. Luo Changping (羅昌平), who has 2 million followers online, referred to soldiers known as the “Ice Sculpture Company” as the “Sand Sculpture Company,” or “Stupid Company” by replacing one Chinese character in a blog post. Luo’s case was handed to prosecutors in his southern hometown of Sanya last month, state TV reported on Saturday. It gave no indication when he might stand trial. The “Ice Sculpture Company” were soldiers who froze to death during a battle with US-led UN forces at Chosin Reservoir in late 1950 amid temperatures as low as minus-40°C.
SOUTH AFRICA
Murder rate continues to rise
The country’s alarming number of murders and rapes kept increasing at the end of last year, Minister of Police Bheki Cele told a news conference on Friday. From October to December, police registered an average of 74 murders and 122 rapes every day, Cele said. The number of murders jumped 8.9 percent compared with the same period in 2020. The 6,859 killings also marked an increase from the previous three months, when 6,163 people were killed. That earlier figure already represented a worrying rise, which Cele at the time blamed on deadly riots in July that left more than 350 dead. “Murder remains worryingly stubborn,” he said on Friday.
UNITED STATES
Rifle for kids introduced
A gun manufacturer has unveiled a semiautomatic rifle for children modeled on the AR-15, which has been used in a number of deadly mass shootings, sparking condemnation from gun safety groups. WEE1 Tactical is marketing the gun, dubbed the JR-15, as “the first in a line of shooting platforms that will safely help adults introduce children to the shooting sports.” The company’s Web site says that the rifle “also looks, feels, and operates just like mom and dad’s gun.” The JR-15 is only 80cm long, weighs less than 1kg and comes with magazines of five or 10 rounds of .22 caliber bullets, with a price tag of US$389. The AR-15 is the civilian version of a military-style weapon and has been used in multiple mass killings, including in schools. Mass shootings are a recurrent scourge of the country, where the right to own weapons is guaranteed by the Constitution. Attempts to regulate gun sales is often blocked in Congress, where the powerful gun lobby — in particular the National Rifle Association — wields great influence.
UNITED STATES
Turtle released after injury
Just in time for sea turtle mating season in the Florida Keys, a rehabilitated male loggerhead turtle was on Friday released off Pigeon Key. Sheldon, named by his coast guard rescuers, was discovered earlier this month near the Old Seven Mile Bridge. The 105kg reptile was rehabilitated at the Keys-based Turtle Hospital after being found entangled in crab trap line. “It’s mating season in the Florida Keys, it’s important to get this massive male turtle back out to sea so that he can begin mating and help preserve the species,” Turtle Hospital general manager Bette Zirkelbach said. Based on Sheldon’s size and the circumference of his head, Zirkelbach estimated that the turtle is at least 50 years old, well into its prime as a sexually reproductive male. Treatment at the turtle rescue facility included injury care, antibiotics and a diet of mixed seafood.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘BODIES EVERYWHERE’: The incident occurred at a Filipino festival celebrating an anti-colonial leader, with the driver described as a ‘lone suspect’ known to police Canadian police arrested a man on Saturday after a car plowed into a street party in the western Canadian city of Vancouver, killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8pm in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election. A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police wrote on X. The driver was a “lone suspect” known to police, a police spokesperson told journalists at the
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition
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