KENYA
Nation braces for cyclone
Kenya was yesterday on alert for a cyclone heading toward its Indian Ocean coastline, threatening to pile on more misery after deadly floods that have ravaged the region. About 210 people have died from flood-related incidents and nearly 100 are missing, while 165,000 have been forced to flee their homes in the past few weeks as torrential rains triggered flooding and landslides engulfed houses, roads and bridges. President William Ruto on Friday described the weather outlook as “dire” and postponed the reopening of schools indefinitely as the nation braced for its first-ever cyclone. Tropical Cyclone Hidaya is projected to make landfall at the weekend on the Kenyan and Tanzanian coasts. “No corner of our country has been spared from this havoc,” Ruto said. “Sadly, we have not seen the last of this perilous period.”
FRANCE
Uighurs criticize Xi meeting
Uighurs in France on Friday said that President Emmanuel Macron welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) next week was tantamount to “slapping” them. Xi is due to make a state visit tomorrow and Tuesday. European Uyghur Institute founder Dilnur Reyhan said she and others were “angry” the Chinese leader was visiting. “For the Uighur people — and in particular for French Uighurs — it’s a slap from our president, Emmanuel Macron,” she told a news conference in Paris, describing the Chinese leader as “the executioner of the Uighur people.” Beijing has been accused of incarcerating more than 1 million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in a network of detention facilities across the Xinjiang region. Gulbahar Haitiwaji, who presented herself as having spent three years in a detention camp, said she was “disappointed” with the meeting. “I am asking the president to bring up the issue of the camps with China and to firmly demand they be shut down,” she said. Human Rights Watch urged Macron to “lay out consequences for the Chinese government’s crimes against humanity and deepening repression.”
UNITED STATES
Mark Hamill visits Biden
Star Wars actor Mark Hamill on Friday visited the White House to meet with President Joe Biden and walked away with a pair of the president’s aviator sunglasses. “I love the merch,” he said, taking off the glasses during a quick appearance at the White House daily news briefing following his visit with Biden. Hamill, 72, famous for playing Luke Skywalker, kidded with reporters that he would take a few questions — as long as they were not about Star Wars. “Well, you know, I called him Mr President,” Hamill said.“He said: ‘You can call me Joe,’and I said: ‘Can I call you Joe-bi Wan Kenobi?’ He liked that.”
UNITED STATES
Women wins lottery twice
A Massachusetts woman has won US$1 million twice on lottery tickets in the past 10 weeks. Christine Wilson, of Attleborough, won the most recent prize on Wednesday playing the “100X Cash” US$10 instant ticket game, the state lottery announced. Wilson decided to receive the winnings in a one-time payment of US$650,000 before taxes, which she plans to put into savings, the lottery said. She claimed her first prize the same way in February. She bought her latest winning ticket at Family Food Mart in Mansfield, Massachusetts.
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
BRICS leaders are to meet in Rio de Janeiro from today, with the bloc depleted by the absence of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), who is skipping the annual summit of emerging economies for the first time in 12 years. The grouping meets as its members face imminent and costly tariff wars with the US. Conceived two decades ago as a forum for fast-growing economies, the BRICS have come to be dominated by Beijing, which grew much faster and larger than the rest. China has not said why Xi would miss the summit, a first since he became president in 2013. “I expect there
RSS