U.S.-born panda cub arrives in China
BEIJING — Bao Bao, an American-born panda cub, arrived in China on Wednesday evening after leaving the National Zoo in Washington.
The 3-year-old panda landed in Chengdu in southwest China after a 16-hour flight that was described by pilots and a keeper as having gone smoothly.
Bao Bao left the zoo in a special crate and began her journey from Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia with a keeper and a veterinarian.
The panda’s keeper, Marty Dearie, said in an interview with China’s official Xinhua News Agency at the airport in Chengdu that the flight went well.
“She ate and slept the whole flight, and we have no concerns, none at all,” he said.
Bao Bao eventually will join a panda breeding program with the China Wildlife Conservation Association, which requires that all cubs born in the U.S. be transferred to China before the age of 4.
N. Korea denies role in assassination
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea denied this morning that its agents masterminded the assassination of the half brother of leader Kim Jong Un, saying a Malaysian investigation into the death of one of its nationals is full of “holes and contradictions.”
The North’s response came a day after Malaysian police said they were seeking two more North Koreans, including the second secretary of North Korea’s embassy in Kuala Lumpur, in connection with the Feb. 13 killing of Kim Jong Nam at a Malaysian airport.
Malaysia police have not directly pinpointed North Korea as being behind the death of Kim Jong Nam but have already arrested a North Korean man working at a Malaysian company along with three other Southeast Asian people. They are searching for several more North Koreans.
The Korean Jurists Committee, a legal body affiliated with North Korea’s parliament, said in a statement this morning that the Malaysian investigation lacks fairness and was influenced by the South Korean government, which blames the North for the death.
The North has not acknowledged the dead man is Kim Jong Nam. Today’s statement described the man only as a North Korean citizen bearing a diplomatic passport.
It said South Korea had “kicked up a fuss” and had plotted to have North Korea blamed for the killing.
Russia high court orders activist freed
MOSCOW — Russia’s highest court Wednesday overturned the conviction of a jailed opposition activist and ordered him released more than a year after he was sent to prison.
Ildar Dadin in December 2015 became the first person to be convicted of breaking a new law against protesters. The bill, which made it possible to press criminal charges and imprison anyone who was repeatedly caught taking part in unsanctioned protests, was seen as the Kremlin’s knee-jerk reaction to counter anti-government rallies in Moscow in 2011 and 2012.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday annulled the 2½-year sentence for Dadin and closed his case, more than a year after he was first imprisoned.
Dadin’s wife, Anastasia Zotova, who was at the court Wednesday, told the Ekho Moskvy radio station that the court did not indicate how soon he could be released.
Ex-Hong Kong leader sentenced in graft
HONG KONG — A former leader of Hong Kong was sentenced to 20 months in prison Wednesday for misconduct in public office, a development in a high-profile trial that has again drawn attention to the cozy ties between the city’s political elites and business tycoons.
Donald Tsang, 72, who was the chief executive of Hong Kong from 2005-12, is the highest-ranking former official in the city to be put behind bars.
Tsang was found guilty last week over his failure to disclose his interests when his Cabinet was considering a broadcasting license application by a Chinese developer from 2010-12.
A jury concluded that Tsang had deliberately concealed his plans to lease a three-story penthouse from the developer, Wong Cho-bau, when the developer’s company was seeking government approval for several applications, including one for a digital audio broadcasting license. The applications were approved.