PHILIPPINES
Meteor lights up Luzon
A small, bright meteor lit up skies over the nation’s north early yesterday as it burned up entering the atmosphere, the European Space Agency (ESA) and witnesses said. The 1m rock, named 2024 RW1, entered the atmosphere shortly after midnight and caused a “harmless,” but “spectacular fireball” over Luzon island, the ESA said. The meteor, discovered through the Catalina Sky Survey, is only the ninth meteor that humans have ever spotted before impact. Businessman Allan Madelar, 28, told reporters that he waited an hour in Gonzaga, a municipality in Luzon, to watch the meteor with a friend. “It was mesmerizing, the color was beautiful. The sky went from black to blue-green to orange and black again,” he said. Video clips posted on Facebook showed an orange-tailed fireball that briefly illuminated the night sky over Luzon. Audie de la Cruz, 65, set up a camera on a bridge in Tuguegarao city to photograph the celestial spectacle, but the fireball died out before he could press the shutter. “It was like a tadpole with a very big head, and its head was very bright,” De la Cruz told reporters. “I might have failed to photograph it, but seeing it was a very unforgettable experience.”
JAPAN
Fukushima work planned
The operator of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant yesterday said that it aims to carry out a trial removal of highly radioactive debris next week, after a previous attempt was suspended. Thirteen years after a tsunami wrecked the plant, about 880 tonnes of extremely hazardous material remain inside. Late last month, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) suspended a removal procedure after a technical problem involving the installation of equipment. “It will take several days for us to prepare for a resumption ... and we will be able to resume next week if all goes well as scheduled,” a TEPCO spokesman told reporters. In three units of the Fukushima plant, fuel and other material melted and solidified into highly radioactive “fuel debris.” The new operation aims to remove a sample of the debris and study it to decide on the next steps. TEPCO deployed two mini-drones and a “snake-shaped robot” inside in February as part of the preparations for removal. The debris has radiation levels so high that it had to develop specialized robots able to function inside.
INDIA
Police seek ‘cow vigilantes’
Police yesterday said that they were compiling lists of Hindu “cow vigilantes” after a young man falsely accused of smuggling beef was shot dead. The killing last month of 19-year-old Aryan Mishra in northern Haryana state has sparked unusual outrage — much of it because the young man was a Hindu. Cows are venerated as sacred by the country’s Hindu majority, and their slaughter is illegal in many Indian states. The authorities are often accused of failing to rein in people who form gangs of “cow vigilantes” to attack people accused of involvement in cattle slaughter — with several deaths reported each year. Many of those accused of transporting or killing cows are from the nation’s 220-million-strong Muslim community, with social media awash with videos boasting of vigilante attacks. Mishra was killed on a highway on Aug. 24 after an armed mob chased his car for 50km, believing he was transporting beef. Five people have been arrested in connection with the killing, and senior Haryana police officer Aman Yadav said the force was preparing a “list of cow vigilantes” to track their movements.
GLORY FACADE: Residents are fighting the church’s plan to build a large flight of steps and a square that would entail destroying up to two blocks of homes Barcelona’s eternally unfinished Basilica de la Sagrada Familia has grown to become the world’s tallest church, but a conflict with residents threatens to delay the finish date for the monument designed more than 140 years ago. Swathed in scaffolding on a platform 54m above the ground, an enormous stone slab is being prepared to complete the cross of the central Jesus Christ tower. A huge yellow crane is to bring it up to the summit, which will stand at 172.5m and has snatched the record as the world’s tallest church from Germany’s Ulm Minster. The basilica’s peak will deliberately fall short of the
FRAYED: Strains between the US-European ties have ruptured allies’ trust in Washington, but with time, that could be rebuilt, the Michigan governor said China is providing crucial support for Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and could end the war with a phone call, US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said. “China could call [Russian President] Vladimir Putin and end this war tomorrow and cut off his dual-purpose technologies that they’re selling,” Whitaker said during a Friday panel at the Munich Security Conference. “China could stop buying Russian oil and gas.” “You know, this war is being completely enabled by China,” the US envoy added. Beijing and Moscow have forged an even tighter partnership since the start of the war, and Russia relies on China for critical parts
Heavy rain and strong winds yesterday disrupted flights, trains and ferries, forcing the closure of roads across large parts of New Zealand’s North Island, while snapping power links to tens of thousands. Domestic media reported a few flights had resumed operating by afternoon from the airport in Wellington, the capital, although cancelations were still widespread after airport authorities said most morning flights were disrupted. Air New Zealand said it hoped to resume services when conditions ease later yesterday, after it paused operations at Wellington, Napier and Palmerston North airports. Online images showed flooded semi-rural neighborhoods, inundated homes, trees fallen on vehicles and collapsed
Two sitting Philippine senators have been identified as “coperpetrators” in former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s crimes against humanity trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC), documents released by prosecutors showed. Philippine senators Ronald Dela Rosa and Christopher Go are among eight current and former officials named in a document dated Feb. 13 and posted to the court’s Web site. ICC prosecutors have charged Duterte with three counts of crimes against humanity, alleging his involvement in at least 76 murders as part of his “war on drugs.” “Duterte and his coperpetrators shared a common plan or agreement to ‘neutralize’ alleged criminals in the Philippines
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