Hong Kong (AFP) Dec 16, 2023 Jailed pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai will go on trial in Hong Kong on Monday for national security crimes, facing life in prison in a case that has sparked international condemnation. Lai, who is 76, is charged with several counts of “colluding with foreign forces” – a crime under a national security law imposed on Hong Kong by Beijing … Continue reading Hong Kong pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai to go on trial

Ramstein, Germany (SPX) Dec 11, 2023 U.S. European Command, U.S. Africa Command and U.S. Space Force officially activated the U.S. Space Forces Europe and Africa component command at a ceremony in Ramstein, Germany, Dec. 8, 2023. USSPACEFOR-EURAF is the newest service component under EUCOM and AFRICOM with their permanent headquarters at Ramstein Air Base. EUCOM and AFRICOM are the latest combatant commands to establish a … Continue reading EUCOM, AFRICOM, Space Force activate new service component command

Montreal (AFP) Dec 15, 2023 Colombia was officialy confirmed Friday as the host of the the UN’s next biodiversity summit to be held in late 2024 after Turkey backed out. The COP16 biodiversity summit would follow up on a landmark deal at the last talks in 2022 in Montreal which promised to preserve 30 percent of the planet’s land and seas by 2030. It comes … Continue reading Colombia confirmed as host of next UN biodiversity talks

Los Angeles (AFP) Dec 15, 2023 Children in California are suing the US government over its failure to curb pollution, the latest in a series of legal actions by young people around the world worried about climate change. The youngsters, aged between eight and 17, say the Environmental Protection Agency – the federal regulator – “intentionally allows life-threatening climate pollution to be emitted by the … Continue reading California children sue US govt over pollution

Taipei (AFP) Dec 15, 2023 From a homeless child to a leader of Hong Kong’s struggle for democracy, 79-year-old Reverend Chu Yiu-ming tells all in a new memoir – except for 30 pages blanked out to protest official censorship. “Confessions of a Bell Toller” is Chu’s account of a life spent helping the underprivileged and struggling against China’s authoritarian rule, including by co-organising a months-long … Continue reading ‘Never surrender’: Hong Kong democracy leader’s memoir protests censorship

Ithaca NY (SPX) Dec 05, 2023 Inspired by a small and slow snail, scientists have developed a robot protype that may one day scoop up microplastics from the surfaces of oceans, seas and lakes. The robot’s design is based on the Hawaiian apple snail (Pomacea canaliculate), a common aquarium snail that uses the undulating motion of its foot to drive water surface flow and suck … Continue reading Snail-inspired robot could scoop ocean microplastics

Sasabe, United States (AFP) Dec 15, 2023 Jaguars don’t understand borders, but where the United States meets Mexico, they are having to adapt to them. Once the master of the Sonoran Desert, the animal is now struggling to survive in a landscape cut in two by a wall. The barrier, which former US president Donald Trump boasted he would make “impenetrable,” does little to discourage … Continue reading US-Mexico border wall threatening rare wildlife

Manila (AFP) Dec 14, 2023 Far from the standing ovation delivered by delegates in Dubai, activists in some of Asia’s most climate-vulnerable nations responded to the COP28 agreement with disappointment on Thursday. The deal, approved by nearly 200 countries on Wednesday, contains their first call for a transition from fossil fuels, language hailed by US President Joe Biden as a “milestone”. Lavetanalagi Seru, a Fhttp://dlvr.it/T0CRd3 Continue reading Asia’s climate activists lukewarm on COP deal that ‘falls short’

Tokyo (AFP) Dec 15, 2023 Leaders from Southeast Asia and Japan will hold talks this weekend on boosting security ties with an eye on China, as well as Tokyo’s contentious efforts on energy cooperation. Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea, a vital trade corridor, and its increasingly aggressive behaviour in areas also claimed by Southeast Asian nations has stoked regional tensions. Close US … Continue reading China, climate in focus at Japan-ASEAN summit

Paris (AFP) Dec 14, 2023 After COP28’s landmark call for the world to move away from fossil fuels, experts say the pressure is on to fast-track – and fund – the global energy transition. The agreement was a compromise wrestled out of countries with sharply conflicting interests by the oil-rich United Arab Emirates, hosting COP28 in the last days of the hottest year humans have … Continue reading ‘Where is the money?’ COP28 deal throws spotlight on funding