UNITED KINGDOM
Sunak-Xi meeting canceled
A planned G20 meeting between British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has been canceled due to “scheduling issues,” a Downing Street spokesperson said yesterday. The schedule at the summit on the Indonesian island of Bali has been disrupted by an emergency meeting called after a missile killed two people in Poland near its border with Ukraine. Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning (毛寧) said she had no information to offer on the cancelation of the meeting.
UNITED STATES
Thousands of mink escape
Vandalism freed thousands of mink at a rural northwest Ohio farm, leaving an estimated 10,000 of the small carnivorous mammals unaccounted for on Tuesday evening, the local sheriff said. So many minks were killed crossing a nearby road that a plow was brought in to help clear the carcasses away, Van Wert County Sheriff Thomas Riggenbach said. A farm manager told WANE-TV that someone left a spray-painted message of the letters “ALF” and the phrase “We’ll be back.” A group known as the Animal Liberation Front had previously claimed credit for releasing a much smaller number of mink at the farm in a previous incident years ago.
FRANCE
Bullfighting ban mulled
Lawmakers were set to begin debating a ban on bullfighting yesterday, with a vote due later this month that has enraged lovers of the blood sport in the south of the country. The issue has split the ruling coalition of President Emmanuel Macron and the biggest opposition party, the far-right National Rally, which is led by animal-lover Marine Le Pen. Despite having widespread public support, most observers expect the bid to fail, as a majority of lawmakers fear a backlash in rural areas and bullfighting heartlands where the practice is a cherished cultural tradition. A full vote is scheduled for Thursday next week, which would be the first time the national assembly has pondered outlawing the tradition.
MEXICO
Beloved rescue dog dies
A rescue dog that gained international fame sniffing through earthquake rubble in her protective goggles and booties died on Tuesday of age-related illness, prompting an outpouring of tributes. Frida, a Labrador retriever, stole hearts searching for survivors in a school in Mexico City that collapsed after a magnitude 7.1 earthquake in 2017 that killed 370 people. A member of the marines’ canine unit, Frida also took part in emergency response efforts abroad, including earthquakes in Haiti and Ecuador.
ARGENTINA
Jaguar cubs to be released
Two jaguar cubs and their mother were set to be released into an Argentine national park on Tuesday after a successful effort at breeding them in captivity to help protect the feline species from the threat of extinction. Mother Mbarete was returning to Ibera National Park in Argentina’s northeastern Corrientes Province, this time with her cubs following eight months in the El Impenetrable National Park in Chaco, where she mated with their father. The new cubs bring important genetic diversity to the population of 12 jaguars living in the park near Argentina’s borders with Brazil and Paraguay. The continent’s largest cat, only 200 to 250 jaguars live in Argentina today, occupying just 5 percent of the territory they once roamed in.
EMBASSY TRAP? A missionary said that the group had been told they needed to report to the Chinese embassy, but added if they were to walk in, ‘they are gone’ More than 60 members of a Chinese Christian church have been detained in Thailand, supporters said yesterday, raising fears they might be returned to their home country, where they face possible persecution. Deana Brown, one of two American supporters detained along with the church members, said that Thai authorities in the coastal city of Pattaya on Thursday detained the 63 church members, many of whom are children. Thirty-two adult Chinese nationals were charged with overstaying their visas, said Colonel Tawee Kutthalaeng, chief of the Pattaya-area Nong Prue police station. The children were not charged, Kutthalaeng said. The two US citizens were not placed under
China and Brazil have reached a deal to trade in their own currencies, ditching the US dollar as an intermediary, the Brazilian government said on Wednesday, Beijing’s latest salvo against the greenback. The deal would enable China, the top rival to US economic hegemony, and Brazil, the biggest economy in Latin America, to conduct their massive trade and financial transactions directly, exchanging yuan for reals and vice versa instead of going through the US dollar. “The expectation is that this will reduce costs ... promote even greater bilateral trade and facilitate investment,” the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency said in a
India yesterday summoned Canada’s high commissioner in India to “convey strong concern” over Sikh protesters in Canada and how they were allowed to breach the security of India’s diplomatic mission and consulates. Canadian media reported that hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the Indian consulate in Vancouver on Saturday over demands for an independent Sikh state, a simmering issue for decades that was triggered again in the past few weeks. Canada has the highest population of Sikhs outside their home state of Punjab in India. “It is expected that the Canadian government will take all steps which are required to ensure the
The Japanese government has made tackling its falling birthrate a top priority, but with few women involved in official debate on the issue, some are making themselves heard on social media. Japan recorded fewer than 800,000 births last year, the lowest in the nation of 125 million since records began. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has warned the trend threatens “whether we can continue to function as a society,” and fresh focus on the issue has sparked countless articles. However, one in particular, which said Japan has the highest ratio in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development of women aged 50
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