Compiled by C. ARUNO and BENJAMIN LEE
THREE milky storks became local celebrities in Taiping after they made the popular Lake Gardens in Taiping, Perak, their home, reported China Press.
The latest inhabitants of the park, each about a metre tall, were not coy and would even allow visitors to take photos next to them.
Locals noticed that they would appear by the pier in the morning or evening.
According to Taiping Zoo director Dr Muhamad Ridhwan Affendi, the storks by the lake were products of the zoo’s breeding programme in 2016.
“Actually, milky storks are categorised as an endangered species. You could once find them in the wetlands in Kuala Gula, Perak, but it’s now hard to do so,” he said, adding that the birds will not attack unless threatened.
However, Dr Muhamad Ridhwan advised visitors at Lake Gardens to keep their distance while taking photos to avoid startling the animals.
> Pedestrians in Xiamen in China’s Fujian province will soon have to pay a 50 yuan (RM33) fine if they are caught crossing the road while being glued to their mobile phones, China Press also reported.
A local law has been passed to prohibit “sitting, stopping, having fun, using electronic devices or any act to disrupt traffic” while using a zebra crossing, with a 50 yuan fine for offenders, beginning Aug 1.
Officially, Xiamen has around 2,800 zebra crossings and are reportedly where 20% of all traffic incidents occurred.
Other cities which have begun implementing a similar policy including Ningbo and Wenzhou (both in the Zhejiang province) as well as the entire Henan province.
> Malaysian singer Fish Leong (pic) felt the heat in sizzling hot China during her performances recently, reported Sin Chew Daily.
The 45-year-old, who is currently on a concert tour across the country, was spotted cooling herself with a paper fan mid-performance in Shenyang, which recorded 33°C and 35°C respectively on June 23 and 24 when she was there.
The capital of the Liaoning province is located 700km east of Beijing, which logged its hottest June day at 40°C since records were kept.
Noticing the singer’s discomfort, fans chanted: “Switch on the air-conditioning.”
The organisers later apologised, saying that while they had already turned on the air-conditioning at the venue, they were unprepared for the unprecedented heat.
Concertgoers pointed out that the air-conditioning was woefully inadequate to have kept the 10,000 attendees cool.
The Queen of Love Ballads kicked off her When We Talk about Love world tour in Shanghai last month and is expected to return home next year for a concert.
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.
