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.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
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