Authorities are considering banning tourists from Komodo, the island home of the ancient Komodo dragon, to allow for conservation efforts amid concerns over animal-smuggling. The island, in Manggarai Barat, Indonesia, is a major tourist destination, with many making the trip to see the lizard which has a venomous bite, can grow up to three metres long and weigh more than 150kg. Authorities… Read more »
BEIJING (BLOOMBERG) – China’s central bank had an odd warning on Thursday (April 4): Please don’t burn fake yuan notes. On Friday, millions of Chinese will celebrate Qing Ming Festival, the tomb-sweeping holiday, holding memorials for deceased relatives. Part of the tradition involves burning fake money and paper models of goods in the belief that one’s ancestors will get to… Read more »
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Ethiopian investigators said on Thursday that the pilots of a doomed Ethiopian Airlines flight repeatedly followed procedures recommended by Boeing but were still unable to recover before the plane dived into the ground last month. The crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on March 10 followed the unrecoverable nose-dive almost five months earlier of another jet of the… Read more »
In 2013, Brunei decided to implement “harsh Islamic laws”, such as death by stoning, as a punishment to adultery and homosexual relations. All across the world, people condemned this for its obvious human rights violations. There were widespread boycotts and calls for divestment in opposition to this extreme decision. On the island of Borneo, a sultanate of nearly half a… Read more »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan is preparing to ease antitrust rules that will enable some regional banks to merge as they struggle to stay profitable amid low interest rates and a declining population.Pedestrians cast shadows as they make their way at a financial district in Tokyo, Japan, January 26, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government wants to allow such… Read more »
OKINAWA (Reuters) – A month after Jinshiro Motoyama’s five-day hunger strike forced a referendum over a new U.S. military runway on Japan’s island of Okinawa, he came to bid farewell to a knot of protesters trying to block trucks heading for the building site.FILE PHOTO: People look at the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma Air Station in Ginowan on Japan’s southernmost… Read more »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday called on NATO allies to adapt to confront a wide variety of emerging threats, including Russia’s increased aggression, Chinese strategic competition and uncontrolled migration.Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu greets U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at a meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty… Read more »
(Reuters) – The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has severed ties with Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp as U.S. authorities investigate the Chinese firms for alleged sanctions violations, it said on Wednesday.The Logo of Huawei is seen at its showroom in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China March 29, 2019. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu MIT is the latest top U.S. education institution to unplug… Read more »
Brenton Tarrant, the self-confessed white supremacist accused of killing 50 people at two Christchurch mosques last month, has been charged with 50 counts of murder and 39 counts of attempted murder before a court appearance on Friday. The 28-year-old Australian was only charged with one murder when he first appeared in the Christchurch District Court the day after the shootings, which took place on… Read more »
In one of the clearest signs of just how much Kim Jong Un wanted an agreement at what became the failed Hanoi summit in February with President Donald Trump, CNN has learned that the North Korean leader gave specific orders to his generals to not carry out any unplanned activity in the days and weeks leading up the meeting, according… Read more »