18/06/2025

WEDNESDAY | JUNE 18, 2025

8

Xi cements Central Asia ties

and gold standard science – not driven by divisive DEI mandates,” Nixon said in a statement, referring to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Rachel Meeropol of the American Civil Liberties Union, which represents the grant recipients who sued, said Young’s ruling applies to hundreds of grants. The plaintiffs include the American Public Health Association, a membership organisation for public health researchers, and 16 states led by Massachusetts. – Reuters Accused had no reason to kill, murder trial told SYDNEY: An Australian woman accused of murdering three elderly relatives of her estranged husband using a meal laced with toxic mushrooms had no motive to kill them, her lawyer told the court yesterday as the defence began its closing argument. Erin Patterson is charged with the murders of her mother-in-law Gail Patterson, father-in-law Donald Patterson and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, along with the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson, Heather’s husband, in July 2023. The prosecution accuses her of foraging for poisonous death cap mushrooms, drying them and knowingly serving the mushrooms in individual portions of Beef Wellington at her home in Leongatha, a town of about 6,000 people some 135km from Melbourne. Patterson denies the charges, which carry a life sentence, with her defence earlier calling the deaths a “terrible accident”. Patterson’s barrister Colin Mandy said yesterday prosecution evidence that the accused’s relationship with estranged husband Simon Patterson had soured after a disagreement over child support lacked logic. “Whatever we might call those spats and disagreements and frustrations, it doesn’t provide any kind of motive to murder someone’s parents,” he told the court. In fact, the accused had a good relationship with the Patterson family, he added, saying she had loaned Simon Patterson’s siblings hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy property. Earlier yesterday, barrister Nanette Rogers ended the prosecution’s closing argument by accusing Patterson of a calculated trail of deception before and after the lunch. “Erin Patterson told so many lies it’s hard to keep up with them,” Rogers told the court. “She’s told lies upon lies because she knew the truth would implicate her.” After the defence concludes its closing statement, presiding judge Justice Christopher Beale will give his instructions to the jury before it retires to consider a verdict. The trial, which is now in its eighth week and has gripped Australia, is expected to conclude later this month. – Reuters

o Call to scale up trade, investment

ASTANA: Chinese President Xi Jinping met Central Asian leaders at a summit in Kazakhstan yesterday, his second trip to the region in under a year as Beijing competes with Russia for influence there. The summit brings together Xi, who arrived in the Kazakh capital on Monday, and the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Under Russia’s orbit until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the five countries of Central Asia have courted interest from major powers including China and the United States since becoming independent. The region is rich in natural resources and strategically located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. In a meeting with Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov yesterday, Xi called for the two countries to “scale up trade and investment and expand cooperation in emerging sectors”, Xinhua news agency reported. The two sides should “advance high-quality construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway and foster new drivers of growth in clean energy, green minerals and artificial intelligence”, Xi reportedly said. In talks with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, Xi said Beijing “firmly supports Tajikistan in safeguarding its national independence, sovereignty and security”, according to Xinhua. The Chinese leader also held talks with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Turkmen President Serdar Berdymukhamedov.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev welcoming Xi on Monday. – REUTERSPIC

Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Andrew Nixon said the agency stands by its decision to end funding for research “that prioritised ideological agendas over scientific rigour and meaningful outcomes for the American people”, and is considering an appeal. “Under the leadership of Secretary Kennedy and the administration, HHS is committed to ensuring that taxpayer dollars support programmes rooted in evidence-based practices down any US market for their scales. There’s no good reason for anybody to ingest any part of a pangolin.” Pangolins are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which prohibits trade for commercial purposes and allows it only under exceptional circumstances. In April, Nigerian authorities seized nearly four tonnes of trafficked pangolin scales. In November 2024, Indonesian officials intercepted another 1.2 tonnes. – AFP influence in the region does not pose a threat. “There is no reason for such fears. China is our privileged strategic partner, and the countries of Central Asia, naturally, are our natural historical partners,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. But China has now established itself as Central Asia’s leading trading partner, far outstripping the EU and Russia. – AFP

and Wildlife Service would extend that status to all eight known species. The agency said it intends to list the four Asian species – Chinese, Indian, Sunda and Philippine – as well as the three other African species: white-bellied, black-bellied and giant pangolins. “I’m delighted the United States is doing its part to save these adorably odd creatures,” said Sarah Uhlemann, international programme director at the Centre for Biological Diversity. “Pangolins are on the razor’s edge of extinction, and we need to shut High-level “5+1” format talks have also been organised with the European Union, the United States, Turkiye and other Western countries. “The countries of the region are balancing between different centres of power, wanting to protect themselves from excessive dependence on one partner,” said Kyrgyz political scientist Nargiza Muratalieva. Russia says China’s growing

While Central Asian leaders continue to view Russia as a strategic partner, ties with Moscow have loosened since the war in Ukraine. The five nations are taking advantage of the growing interest in their region and coordinating their foreign policies. They regularly hold summits with China and Russia to present the region as a unified bloc and attract investment.

US moves to protect all species of pangolin WASHINGTON: The United States on Monday moved to extend federal protection to all species of pangolins, a step that would tighten trade restrictions and highlight the urgent conservation plight of the world’s only scaly mammal. pinecone, they use long, sticky tongues to feast on ants and termites, give birth to a single pup each year - and are the most heavily trafficked mammals on Earth.

Their keratin scales are coveted in traditional medicine, and their meat is considered a delicacy in some regions. Despite steep population declines driven by poaching, habitat loss and inbreeding, only one species, Temminck’s pangolin of Africa, is protected under the US Endangered Species Act. Monday’s proposal by the US Fish

Found in the forests, woodlands, and savannas of Africa and Asia, pangolins are small, nocturnal creatures known for their distinctive appearance, slow and peaceful demeanor, and habit of curling into a ball when threatened. Often likened to a walking

National Institutes of Health grants reinstated BOSTON: A federal judge here said on Monday the termination of National Institutes of Health grants for research on diversity-related topics by the administration was “void and illegal”, and accused the government of discriminating against minorities. connection to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. “Any discrimination by our government is so wrong that it requires the court to enjoin it and at an appropriate time, I’m going to do it.”

Young said he was reinstating grants that had been awarded to organisations and Democratic-led states that sued over the terminations. And the judge indicated that as the case proceeds he could issue a more sweeping decision. “This represents racial discrimination,” said Young, an appointee of Republican former President Ronald Reagan.

The judge said he had in four decades on the bench “never seen a record where racial discrimination was so palpable”. “You are bearing down on people of colour because of their colour,” the judge said. “The Constitution will not permit that.”

District Judge William Young during a non-jury trial said the NIH violated federal law by arbitrarily cancelling more than US$1 billion (RM4.2 billion) in research grants because of their perceived