Pandas become collateral damage

Crowds watch and take pictures as giant male panda Xiao Liwu enjoys a meal of bamboo at the San Diego Zoo before his repatriation to China with his mother Bai Yun, bringing an end to a 23-year-long panda research program in San Diego, California, U.S., April 18, 2019. Picture taken April 18, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake

Compiled by RAHIMY RAHIM 

PANDAS at the San Diego Zoo in California have become the latest “collateral damage” due to the prolonged US-China trade war, reported China Press.

Bai Yun (White Cloud) and her cub Xiao Liwu (Little Present) were recalled to China after the country scrapped its conservation loan agreement with the United States.

The daily speculated that the refusal to renew the decades-old loan deal was part of China’s retaliation against the trade war started by the Trump administration.It cited another report which said this was despite the San Diego Zoo having expressed its intention to renew the loan deal with China.

Both pandas arrived in Sichuan province on May 16 and will remain under quarantine for one month.

Bai Yun spent 22 years at the San Diego Zoo. In that time, she gave birth to six panda cubs.

Both pandas attracted an estimated two million tourists each year.

 

> The driver of a Singapore-registered vehicle was caught changing his number plates at a petrol station in Malaysia, which led to an uproar online when the video went viral, reported Sin Chew Daily.

The man was filmed switching the number plates on his gold BMW sedan while filling up petrol.

Citing Singapore’s Shin Min Daily, the man kept glancing over his shoulders and acting suspiciously.

Netizens have accused him of trying to evade the law by framing the owner of another vehicle.

Online sleuths found that the original number plate belonged to a BMW sedan registered in Singapore, matching the vehicle in the video.

They also learned that the car was involved in two speeding offences. The alternate number plate was found to have been registered to a Hyundai Elantra in Singapore.

The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.