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 fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
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