INDIA
Police hurt in protest clash
Thirty-six police were injured in clashes with protesters in the state of Kerala who were demanding the release of a person arrested during a demonstration against a US$900 million Adani Group port project, officials said. Construction at the Vizhinjam seaport has been halted for more than three months after protesters, mostly from the fishing community, blocked its entrance, blaming the development for coastal erosion and depriving them of their livelihoods. Over the weekend, protesters blocked Adani’s construction vehicles from entering the port, prompting the arrest of many of them. That spurred hundreds more to gather at a police station on Sunday night demanding the release of one of those arrested, leading to clashes with police and damage to some of their vehicles, television news images and a police document showed. “They came with lethal weapons and barged into the station and held the police hostage, threatening that if people in custody were not released they would set the station on fire,” the police said in a case document on the incident.
PAKISTAN
Polio vaccine drive starts
Authorities yesterday launched a new nationwide anti-polio drive amid a spike in new cases among children, health officials said. It is the sixth such campaign this year and is to last for five days, aiming to inoculate children under the age of five in high-risk areas. The newest drive is aimed at Islamabad and in the high-risk districts in eastern Punjab and southwestern Baluchistan Province. A similar campaign is to be launched in the northwest next week. Authorities regularly launch polio campaigns despite attacks on workers and police assigned to inoculation drives. Militants falsely claim that the vaccination campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children. Since April, the country has registered 20 new polio cases.
CHINA
Farmers destroy crops
Strict COVID-19 controls are leaving farmers with no option other than to destroy crops they can no longer sell, triggering concerns about food shortages and stirring outrage on social media. Videos circulating online show farmers dumping healthy crops because they are struggling to sell their harvest. Local and state media also reported that fields of vegetables are being destroyed in major producing regions such as Shandong and Henan provinces to make way for the sowing of the next crop. Trucks and merchants are either unwilling or cannot enter villages to collect agricultural produce because of movement controls and quarantine orders. The Farmers’ Daily reported on the difficulties in getting vegetables to market because of COVID-19 restrictions. “Citizens want food, farmers want income, and farming seasons don’t wait for anyone,” the state-backed publication said.
AUSTRALIA
Terror threat level lowered
The country’s top intelligence agency reduced the threat level for a domestic terrorist attack to “possible” from “probable,” as it sharpens its focus on interference by foreign governments. The first change in the level since 2014 — which then came amid concerns about the Islamic State — was announced yesterday by Australian Security Intelligence Organization Director-General Mike Burgess. He told reporters the threat from “religiously motivated violent extremists” had been reduced and the country’s intelligence capabilities had improved.
FLYBY: The object, appears to be traveling more than 60 kilometers per second, meaning it is not bound by the sun’s orbit, astronomers studying 3I/Atlas said Astronomers on Wednesday confirmed the discovery of an interstellar object racing through the solar system — only the third-ever spotted, although scientists suspect many more might slip past unnoticed. The visitor from the stars, designated 3I/Atlas, is likely the largest yet detected, and has been classified as a comet, or cosmic snowball. “It looks kind of fuzzy,” said Peter Veres, an astronomer with the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center, which was responsible for the official confirmation. “It seems that there is some gas around it, and I think one or two telescopes reported a very short tail.” Originally known as A11pl3Z before
US President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday accused Harvard University of violating the civil rights of its Jewish and Israeli students, and threatened to cut off all federal funding if the university does not take urgent action. Harvard has been at the forefront of Trump’s campaign against top US universities after it defied his calls to submit to oversight of its curriculum, staffing, student recruitment and “viewpoint diversity.” Trump and his allies claim that Harvard and other prestigious universities are unaccountable bastions of liberal, anti-conservative bias and anti-Semitism. In a letter sent to the president of Harvard, a federal task
‘CONTINUE TO SERVE’: The 90-year-old Dalai Lama said he hoped to be able to continue serving ‘sentient beings and the Buddha Dharma’ for decades to come The Dalai Lama yesterday said he dreamed of living for decades more, as the Buddhist spiritual leader prayed with thousands of exiled Tibetans on the eve of his 90th birthday. Thumping drums and deep horns reverberated from the Indian hilltop temple, as a chanting chorus of red-robed monks and nuns offered long-life prayers for Tenzin Gyatso, who followers believe is the 14th reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. Looking in good health, dressed in traditional maroon monk robes and a flowing yellow wrap, he led prayers — days after confirming that the 600-year-old Tibetan Buddhist institution would continue after his death. Many exiled Tibetans
Hundreds of protesters marched through the Mexican capital on Friday denouncing gentrification caused by foreigners, with some vandalizing businesses and shouting “gringos out!” The demonstration in the capital’s central area turned violent when hooded individuals smashed windows, damaged restaurant furniture and looted a clothing store. Mexico City Government Secretary Cesar Cravioto said 15 businesses and public facilities were damaged in what he called “xenophobic expressions” similar to what Mexican migrants have suffered in other countries. “We are a city of open arms... there are always ways to negotiate, to sit at the table,” Cravioto told Milenio television. Neighborhoods like Roma-Condesa
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