HONG KONG
Limbs operation criticized
An animal rights group yesterday called for an e-commerce company to stop conducting experiments that it said involve keeping detached animal heads and limbs “viable” for hours. Hong Kong Technology Venture Co (HKTV), the parent company of popular shopping platform HKTV mall, announced in a stock exchange filing on Monday that its research team has been developing “equipment designed to maintain the viability of detached body organs.” Without specifying what animals were involved, the company said its team of doctors, professors and researchers had conducted “38 experiments in which the animals’ limbs or heads were separated from their bodies” since 2022. “The detached heads remained viable for approximately seven hours,” the company said, adding that it believes the case to be a world first. The detached limbs were kept alive for approximately 46 hours, according to measurements made using electrodes. PETA Asia president Jason Baker called on the company to “immediately cease and permanently prohibit” the experiments and other similar tests. “In addition to being cruel, this research is purely exploratory, with highly speculative benefit,” Baker said in a letter sent to HKTV and the media.
Photo: AFP
BRAZIL
Rio zipline blocked
A federal judge on Tuesday blocked plans to build a zipline on Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Sugarloaf Mountain, a project that had faced strong opposition from residents and environmental advocates. Construction had begun in September 2022 with drilling into the rock. The project later received approval from the Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (Iphan). The case had been in court since 2023. In his ruling, Judge Paulo Andre Manfredini declared Iphan’s administrative actions to install the zipline null and void. The institute and the developer were ordered to pay 30 million reals (US$5.8 million) for “collective moral damages,” the judge said, noting the “inestimable value of Sugarloaf Mountain, not only for Brazilians, but for people worldwide.” Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012 alongside other Rio landmarks such as Corcovado Hill and its Christ the Redeemer Statue, Sugarloaf Mountain each year welcomes more than 1.6 million visitors who take the cable car to the peak for a breathtaking view of the “Marvelous City.” The developer, Companhia Caminho Aereo Pao de Acucar, had hoped visitors would be able to descend via four ziplines connecting the famous rock hill about 396m above sea level with its neighbor Urca, at 220m high. Covering the 755m zipline distance could bring riders to speeds of nearly 100kph.
UNITED STATES
Toilet mocks Trump
Here is one monument President Donald Trump probably is not too happy to see emblazoned with his name: a golden toilet near the White House. Ensconced in the kind of over-the-top faux marble that Trump loves, the gold-painted toilet bears a plaque reading: “A throne fit for a king.” The pop-up installation created by a clandestine artistic group calling itself the “Secret Handshake” drew long lines of tourists and Trump opponents near the Lincoln Memorial on Tuesday, blocks from the White House. “I came to Washington to take this photo because I hate Trump,” said Nancy Chase, 78. William Hoker, who bicycled to the satirical golden toilet, said it was a fitting memorial. “I wanted to see this statue before it disappeared, and I think it epitomizes perfectly the guy in the White House,” he said.
ROCKY RELATIONS: The figures on residents come as Chinese tourist numbers drop following Beijing’s warnings to avoid traveling to Japan The number of Chinese residents in Japan has continued to rise, even as ties between the two countries have become increasingly fractious, data released on Friday showed. As of the end of December last year, the number of Chinese residents had increased by 6.5 percent from the previous year to 930,428. Chinese people accounted for 22.6 percent of all foreign residents in Japan, making them by far the largest group, Japanese Ministry of Justice data showed. Beijing has criticized Tokyo in increasingly strident terms since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last year suggested that a military conflict around Taiwan could
A retired US colonel behind a privately financed rocket launch site in the Dominican Republic sees the project as a response to China’s dominance of the space race in Latin America. Florida-based Launch on Demand is slated to begin building a US$600 million facility in a remote region near the border with Haiti late this year. The project is designed to meet surging demand for the heavy-lift rockets needed to put clusters of satellites into orbit. It is also an answer to China’s growing presence in the region, said CEO Burton Catledge, a former commander of the US Air Force’s 45th Operations
Germany is considering Australia’s Ghost Bat robot fighter as it looks to select a combat drone to modernize its air force, German Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius said yesterday. Germany has said it wants to field hundreds of uncrewed fighter jets by 2029, and would make a decision soon as it considers a range of German, European and US projects developing so-called “collaborative combat aircraft.” Australia has said it will integrate the Ghost Bat, jointly developed by Boeing Australia and the Royal Australian Air Force, into its military after a successful weapons test last year. After inspecting the Ghost Bat in Queensland yesterday,
A pro-Iran hacking group claimed to breach FBI Director Kash Patel’s personal e-mail inbox and posted some of the contents online. The e-mails provided by the hacking group include travel details, correspondence with leasing agents in Washington and global entry, and loyalty account numbers. The e-mail address the hackers claim to have compromised has been previously tied to Patel’s personal details, and the leaked e-mails contain photos of Patel and others, in addition to correspondence with family members and colleagues. “The FBI is aware of malicious actors targeting Director Patel’s personal email information,” the agency said in a statement on
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