Pandas for Atlanta zoo
China on April 26 announced it will send two giant pandas to Zoo Atlanta in the US in Beijing’s latest efforts of panda diplomacy despite tensions with Washington, less than a month before a visit by US President Donald Trump to Beijing.The China Wildlife Conservation Association said in a statement that male panda Ping Ping and female panda Fu Shuang, from the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, will kick off a decade-long conservation partnership.
Risky to climb
Alarge ice block on the route just above the Mount Everest base camp has forced hundreds of climbers and local guides to delay their attempt to scale the world’s highest peak. The serac between base camp and camp one was risky for climbers, said Himal Gautam of Nepal’s department of mountaineering. It is part of the Khumbu icefall, a constantly shifting glacier with deep crevasses. It is considered one of the hardest and trickiest sections of the climb.
Shorts, not suits
Public servants working for the Tokyo metropolitan government are being encouraged to swap their suits for shorts this summer to combat sweltering heat and rising energy costs caused by the US-Israel war on Iran. Inspired by Japan’s Cool Biz energysaving initiative, Tokyo officials hope the measure will cut dependence on air conditioning. Japan and other countries in Asia are growing anxious about the economic effects of the conflict in the Middle East.
