Aviation pioneer Glenn L. Martin donated over 2,500 acres in 1954, helping create a refuge for migratory birds

Aviation pioneer Glenn L. Martin donated over 2,500 acres in 1954, helping create a refuge for migratory birds

Times of India

A former private hunting preserve now serves as a vital wildlife refuge. This refuge protects tidal marshes and wooded ridges for migratory birds. Established in 1954, it has since expanded significantly in size. The area provides seasonal shelter for waterfowl and nesting grounds for many birds. It also supports mammals, reptiles, and marine species, preserving the bay's natural landscape.

Temasek backs Singapore Airlines’ Air India investment amid growing scrutiny

Temasek backs Singapore Airlines’ Air India investment amid growing scrutiny

SCMP

Singapore state investor Temasek, the ⁠majority shareholder of Singapore Airlines , on Saturday backed the airline’s investment in Air India, as scrutiny grows over its stake in the loss-making Indian carrier. Air India’s request for about US$1.5 billion in fresh equity from owners Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines was ‌first reported by Reuters this week. Singapore Airlines owns 25.1 per cent of I...

Vietnam’s move to end executions for drug trafficking sparks debate in region

Vietnam’s move to end executions for drug trafficking sparks debate in region

SCMP

Vietnam is seeking to end executions for drug trafficking under a draft revision to its Penal Code, a notable shift in a country with one of Southeast Asia’s toughest anti-drug regimes. The proposal, presented to lawmakers last week, would remove trafficking from Vietnam’s list of capital crimes. Last year, Hanoi kept the offence on the list during an earlier round of death penalty reforms. If pas...

Reality check for China’s carmakers as authorities tell them to focus on quality, not tech

Reality check for China’s carmakers as authorities tell them to focus on quality, not tech

SCMP

China’s shrinking car market has received another reality check as regulators step in to police the hi-tech offerings that carmakers use to drive sales. A nationwide inspection campaign assessing the quality of Chinese-made cars that was announced this week would see some consumers shelve purchase plans, exacerbating a bearish outlook for the country’s auto sector, dealers and analysts said. Vice-...

10 years, 1,800 survey sites: inside China’s hi-tech push to map linguistic diversity

10 years, 1,800 survey sites: inside China’s hi-tech push to map linguistic diversity

SCMP

Speak a few sentences of your hometown dialect into a microphone at a museum in central China, and a machine will pinpoint exactly where you are from. The interactive voice-recognition booth is among star attractions at a new language resources hall that opened on Monday at the Hunan Museum in Changsha. The hall showcases recordings and other language materials from Chinese dialects, minority lang...

Iceland votes on whether to resume EU membership negotiations

Iceland votes on whether to resume EU membership negotiations

France 24

Icelanders go to the polls on Saturday in a referendum on whether to resume membership negotiations with the European Union, in a tight race that will be closely watched in Brussels. The country of just under 400,000 people applied to join the EU in the wake of a 2009 financial crisis that devastated its economy. The membership talks were suspended in 2013 when a eurosceptic government came to pow...

Hongkongers can use either ID or home return permit at revamped Huanggang Port

Hongkongers can use either ID or home return permit at revamped Huanggang Port

SCMP

Hongkongers can present either their identity card or home return permit at the revamped Huanggang border checkpoint instead of both documents under the latest agreement with mainland Chinese authorities, the security minister has revealed. Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung announced the measure after a drill at the crossing involving more than 20,000 civil servants on Saturday. “Reside...

US to control one fifth of Venezuela's oil reserves, Trump says

US to control one fifth of Venezuela's oil reserves, Trump says

France 24

President Donald Trump on Friday announced an unprecedented US push ​to take control of a fifth of Venezuela's vast oil reserves, betting that American companies can revive the OPEC nation's battered energy industry while delivering a new source of crude to help bring down US fuel prices.