Vietnam’s decline is especially intense. For example, in a single remote national preserve set aside for the saola and other rare animals, 23,000 cheap but fatally efficient wire snares were found in 2015, the most recent year tallied. Tens of thousands more of these snares are placed each year, as fast as they can be confiscated. Despite intensive surveys, no verifiable… Read more »
HONG KONG — Singapore introduced draft legislation on Monday that it said would combat false or misleading information on the internet, but critics said the measure could be used as a cudgel against the government’s critics. The legislation, called the Protection From Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Bill, would require websites to run corrections alongside “online falsehoods” and would “cut off… Read more »
BEIJING — A forest fire in southwestern China turned deadly over the weekend when winds shifted unexpectedly, trapping firefighters and local officials in a maelstrom. The bodies of 30 people who could not escape were found on Monday, officials announced, even as the fire continued to burn out of control. Among those who died were the chief of a regional… Read more »
NEW DELHI — NASA has criticized India for the antisatellite test it carried out with great fanfare last week, saying it was riskier than officials claimed and created debris that could threaten the International Space Station. “That kind of activity is not compatible with the future of human spaceflight that we need to see have happen,” Jim Bridenstine, NASA’s administrator, said… Read more »
Vietnam’s decline is especially intense. For example, in a single remote national preserve set aside for the saola and other rare animals, 23,000 cheap but fatally efficient wire snares were found in 2015, the most recent year tallied. Tens of thousands more of these snares are placed each year, as fast as they can be confiscated. Despite intensive surveys, no verifiable… Read more »
HONG KONG (AFP) – Sixty years after the Dalai Lama fled into permanent Indian exile, the cause of Tibetan freedom that earned him a Nobel prize and a celebrity-studded international following has lost much of its momentum – neutralised, analysts say, by the passage of time and China’s rising global power. Inside Tibet, Beijing has effectively wiped out any organised… Read more »
HONG KONG/TAIPEI (REUTERS) – As Beijing grows wary of pro-independence groups seeking to forge closer ties in Hong Kong and Taiwan, activists say they are coming under increased surveillance and harassment from pro-China media outlets and unofficial “operatives”. Visits to Taiwan in January by several Hong Kong activists including Tony Chung generated heavy coverage by two pro-China newspapers, including detailed… Read more »
HONG KONG (AFP) – A Hong Kong activist was found guilty on Friday (March 15) of “misleading police” after a local court decided his claims to have been abducted by mainland Chinese agents and punctured with staples were made up, local media reported. Howard Lam, 44, a founding member of the city’s largest pro-democracy party, was sentenced to five months… Read more »
The shootings that killed at least 49 people at two mosques in New Zealand on Friday have placed new scrutiny on New Zealand’s gun laws and sparked a fervent debate about whether they were a factor in the gunman’s decision to carry out his attack there. The police have described the gunman as a man in his late 20s and officials have… Read more »