CHINA
‘Alien signals’ reported
Beijing said its giant Sky Eye telescope might have picked up signs of life beyond Earth, the state-backed Science and Technology Daily said in a report, which it then appeared to have deleted, along with posts about the discovery. The narrow-band electromagnetic signals detected by Sky Eye — the world’s largest radio telescope — differ from previous ones captured and the team is investigating them, the report said, citing Zhang Tongjie (張同傑), chief scientist of an extraterrestrial civilization search team cofounded by Beijing Normal University, the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of California, Berkeley. However, the suspicious signals could also be some kind of radio interference and require further investigation, Zhang added.
IRELAND
Ryanair drops Afrikaans test
Ryanair has dropped a requirement for South Africans to prove their nationality before traveling by completing a test in Afrikaans due to a surge in fake South African passports, chief executive officer Michael O’Leary said. The South African government last week said it was taken aback by the low-cost carrier’s decision to force UK-bound travelers holding the country’s passport to take the test, calling the move a “backward profiling system.” Afrikaans is spoken by just 12 percent of the 58 million people in the country, and is often associated with apartheid and white minority rule. O’Leary described the South African government’s profiling accusation as “rubbish,” but said the test had been dropped. “Our team issued a test in Afrikaans of 12 simple questions like what’s the name of the mountain outside Pretoria? They have no difficulty completing that, but we didn’t think it was appropriate either,” he said.
INDONESIA
President reshuffles Cabinet
President Joko Widodo yesterday announced a Cabinet reshuffle, appointing a new trade minister following controversy over a series of policy flip-flops on palm oil exports. In an official ceremony at the state palace the president inaugurated Zukifli Hasan, chairman of the National Mandate Party and a former forestry minister as the next minister of trade. His predecessor, Muhammad Lutfi, oversaw a flip-flop on policies to contain a surge in domestic cooking oil prices, which included a ban on palm oil shipments from the world’s biggest exporter. The three-week export ban sent shock waves through global markets and led to a series of arrests for alleged corruption before it was lifted on May 23. Widodo also announced changes to the agrarian and spatial planning ministry, appointing former Indonesian National Armed Forces commander Hadi Tjahjanto. He also inaugurated three deputy ministers to the ministries of manpower, spatial planning and home affairs.
SWITZERLAND
Coal walk ends with 25 hurt
Twenty-five people have been treated for burns after walking on hot coals in northern Switzerland, Zurich state police said in a statement. Emergency services were alerted to injuries at a private event on the Au Peninsula on Lake Zurich on Tuesday evening. They said that 25 people were given medical treatment at the scene, and 13 of them were hospitalized with more severe injuries. Investigators secured evidence and started an investigation into the circumstances of the incident. There was no immediate word on why the people walked over hot coals.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing