MACAU
Robot scares woman
A woman on an evening walk was briefly hospitalized after a humanoid robot startled her and left her feeling unwell, police told reporters yesterday. Police said they had received a call for assistance for the woman, who “was startled when she suddenly noticed a robot behind her while using her mobile phone.” Video widely shared online showed a woman angrily confronting a robot as it waved its metallic arms at her, while a crowd of curious onlookers gathered. “With so many other things to do, why bother me? Are you crazy?” the woman yelled at the unperturbed ’bot in Cantonese, as she gestured agitatedly toward it. The woman did not have injuries and there had been no physical contact with the robot, but she required hospital treatment, police said in a statement. “She has since been discharged and has not pressed charges regarding the incident,” which took place earlier this month, the statement said. Social media videos showed officers leading a forlorn robot away, although police said that they “did not seize” it. The robot was operated by a man in his 50s, who said he was conducting a test and intended to use it to promote his business.
Photo: AP
CHINA
University urges love
The Sichuan Southwest Vocational College of Aviation on Tuesday urged students to “enjoy the flowers, fall in love” during their midterm break. “See the flowers and enjoy romance” is the theme for the spring holidays from April 1 to 6, the university said on its Wechat account. The notice exhorting teachers and students to put down the books comes about two weeks after the government said that it would introduce spring and autumn holidays for schools, in addition to the traditional times of summer and winter.
THAILAND
Man enters hippo cage
A man has been arrested after he was caught climbing into an enclosure of Moo Deng, the adorable pygmy hippo who became a social media sensation, zoo officials said. The Thai man allegedly entered the enclosure on Tuesday evening while a zookeeper was away and no other visitors were around, Khao Kheow Open Zoo director Narongwit Chodchoy told reporters. Security footage widely shared online shows a man wearing a black beanie, sunglasses, a green tank top and brown shorts approaching Moo Deng and her mother, Jona, while holding a tablet, apparently recording or taking photos. The man remained inside the enclosure for a minute or two before staff noticed him, Narongwit said.
NETHERLANDS
Mayor vows plunge
Rotterdam Mayor Carola Schouten, who says she is terrified of heights, on Tuesday pledged to abseil down the city’s highest tower if turnout increased in local elections to be conducted yesterday. Schouten posted a video on Instagram from the observation platform of Rotterdam’s Euromast, the city’s 185m-high landmark, which is being renovated. “I’ve said before that I’m prepared to do anything to ensure that turnout is higher for these municipal elections,” she said, adding that some had asked whether that would include abseiling down the Euromast, “Europe’s highest” according to its Web site. “You should know that I have a huge fear of heights — in fact I am a bit shaky even being up here,” Schouten said. However, she said she would take the plunge from the viewing platform 100m up if the turnout was higher than the 38.9 percent four years ago — the lowest in the country. Polls were to close after press time last night.
KINGPIN: Marset allegedly laundered the proceeds of his drug enterprise by purchasing and sponsoring professional soccer teams and even put himself in the starting lineups Notorious Latin American narco trafficker Sebastian Marset, who eluded police for years, was handed over to US authorities after his arrest on Friday in Bolivia. Marset, a Uruguayan national who was on the US most-wanted list, was passed to agents of the US Drug Enforcement Administration at Santa Cruz airport in Bolivia, then put on a US airplane, Bolivian state television showed. “The arrest and deportation were carried out pursuant to a court order issued by the US justice system,” Bolivian Minister of Government Marco Antonio Oviedo told reporters. The alleged kingpin was arrested in an upscale neighborhood of Santa
ACTIONABLE ADVICE: The majority of chatbots tested provided guidance on weapons, tactics and target selections, with Perplexity and Meta AI deemed to be the least safe From school shootings to synagogue bombings, leading artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots helped researchers plot violent attacks, according to a study published on Wednesday that highlighted the technology’s potential for real-world harm. Researchers from the nonprofit watchdog Center for Countering Digital Hate and CNN posed as 13-year-old boys in the US and Ireland to test 10 chatbots, including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity, Deepseek and Meta AI. Eight of the chatbots assisted the make-believe attackers in more than half the responses, providing advice on “locations to target” and “weapons to use” in an attack, the study said. The chatbots had become a “powerful accelerant for
FAKE NEWS? ‘When the government demands the press become a state mouthpiece under the threat of punishment, something has gone very wrong,’ a civic group said The top US broadcast regulator on Saturday threatened media outlets over negative coverage of the Middle East war, after US President Donald Trump slammed critical headlines from the “Fake News Media.” The US president since his first term has derided mainstream media as “fake news” and has sued major outlets over what he sees as unfair coverage. Brendan Carr, head of the US Federal Communications Commission — which oversees the nation’s radio, television and Internet media — said broadcasters risked losing their licenses over news coverage. “The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will
SCANDAL: Other images discovered earlier show Andrew bent over a female and lying across the laps of a number of women, while Mandelson is pictured in his underpants A photograph of former British prince Andrew and veteran politician Peter Mandelson sitting in bathrobes alongside late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was unearthed on Friday in previously published documents. The image is believed to be the first known photograph of the two men with Epstein. They are currently engulfed in scandal in the UK over their ties to their mutual friend. The undated photograph, first reported by ITV News, shows King Charles III’s disgraced brother and former British ambassador to the US sitting barefoot outside on a wooden deck. They appear to have mugs with a US flag on them
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