JAPAN
First wood satellite built
The world’s first wooden satellite has been completed by researchers who said their tiny cuboid craft would be sent to the International Space Station on a Space Exploration Technologies rocket in September. The experimental satellite developed by scientists at Kyoto University and logging company Sumitomo Forestry is named LignoSat. It is made from magnolia wood and each side measures just 10cm. The creators expect the material to burn up completely when the device re-enters the atmosphere — potentially providing a way to avoid the generation of metal particles when a retired satellite returns to Earth. These metal particles could have a negative impact on the environment and telecommunications, the developers said as they announced the satellite’s completion on Tuesday.
PHILIPPINES
China rules worry Marcos
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday said new rules outlined by the China Coast Guard that could result in the detention of foreigners in the South China Sea were an escalation and “worrisome.” China has issued new rules effective June 15 that would enforce a 2021 coast guard law and allow detention of foreigners suspected of trespassing. China routinely accuses vessels of trespassing in areas of the South China Sea that fall inside the exclusive economic zones of its neighbors. “The new policy of threatening to detain our own citizens, that is different. That is an escalation of the situation,” Marcos told reporters while on a state visit in Brunei. Manila “will use any point of contact with China to stop aggressive actions” and allow Filipino fishers to fish in the South China Sea, Marcos said.
THAILAND
Former PM charged
Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is to be prosecuted for insulting the monarchy, the attorney general’s office said yesterday, over comments he made almost a decade ago. Prayuth Pecharakun, spokesman for the attorney general, said that Thaksin would be summoned to court on June 18 to answer charges under the kingdom’s strict lese-majeste laws. Thaksin’s lawyer, Winyat Chatmontree, said he would fight the charges. “He is ready to prove his innocence in the justice system,” Winyat told reporters.
INDIA
Delhi records record heat
The India Meteorological Department yesterday issued a red alert for several parts of the country’s northwest, warning of a severe heat wave as parts of the capital, Delhi, recorded their highest temperature ever at 50.5°C. A red alert implies a “very high likelihood” of people developing “heat illness and heat stroke,” and calls for “extreme care” for vulnerable people, the department said.
? UNITED STATES
Jurors mull Trump’s fate
Jurors in former US president Donald Trump’s hush money trial were yesterday to begin deliberating on whether to return the first criminal conviction of a former president. After weeks of testimony from more than 20 witnesses, the piercing glare of the legal spotlight now shifts firmly to the anonymous 12-member panel that holds Trump’s fate in its hands. In a full day of closing arguments on Tuesday, his defense team insisted the evidence for a conviction simply did not exist, while the prosecution countered that it was voluminous and inescapable. To return a guilty or not guilty verdict requires the jury to be unanimous — one holdout means a mistrial.
A plan by Switzerland’s right-wing People’s Party to cap the population at 10 million has the backing of almost half the country, according to a poll before an expected vote next year. The party, which has long campaigned against immigration, argues that too-fast population growth is overwhelming housing, transport and public services. The level of support comes despite the government urging voters to reject it, warning that strict curbs would damage the economy and prosperity, as Swiss companies depend on foreign workers. The poll by newspaper group Tamedia/20 Minuten and released yesterday showed that 48 percent of the population plan to vote
PARLIAMENT CHAOS: Police forcibly removed Brazilian Deputy Glauber Braga after he called the legislation part of a ‘coup offensive’ and occupied the speaker’s chair Brazil’s lower house of Congress early yesterday approved a bill that could slash former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s prison sentence for plotting a coup, after efforts by a lawmaker to disrupt the proceedings sparked chaos in parliament. Bolsonaro has been serving a 27-year term since last month after his conviction for a scheme to stop Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 election. Lawmakers had been discussing a bill that would significantly reduce sentences for several crimes, including attempting a coup d’etat — opening up the prospect that Bolsonaro, 70, could have his sentence cut to
A powerful magnitude 7.6 earthquake shook Japan’s northeast region late on Monday, prompting tsunami warnings and orders for residents to evacuate. A tsunami as high as three metres (10 feet) could hit Japan’s northeastern coast after an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.6 occurred offshore at 11:15 p.m. (1415 GMT), the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said. Tsunami warnings were issued for the prefectures of Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate, and a tsunami of 40cm had been observed at Aomori’s Mutsu Ogawara and Hokkaido’s Urakawa ports before midnight, JMA said. The epicentre of the quake was 80 km (50 miles) off the coast of
RELAXED: After talks on Ukraine and trade, the French president met with students while his wife visited pandas, after the pair parted ways with their Chinese counterparts French President Emmanuel Macron concluded his fourth state visit to China yesterday in Chengdu, striking a more relaxed note after tough discussions on Ukraine and trade with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) a day earlier. Far from the imposing Great Hall of the People in Beijing where the two leaders held talks, Xi and China’s first lady, Peng Liyuan (彭麗媛), showed Macron and his wife Brigitte around the centuries-old Dujiangyan Dam, a World Heritage Site set against the mountainous landscape of Sichuan Province. Macron was told through an interpreter about the ancient irrigation system, which dates back to the third century
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