Chinese live-streamer held for ‘insulting’ national anthem
Shanghai: A popular Chinese live-streamer has been sentenced to five days detention for “insulting” China’s national anthem by waving her arms and mimicking a conductor as she sung the song during a broadcast to millions of her followers. The woman, Yang Kaili, was detained by authorities in Shanghai Saturday for violating a national anthem law that was enacted last year. In a broadcast on the Huya live-stream website on October 7, Yang, 21, appeared wearing an antler-shaped headband and hummed a ceremonial song in combination with some of the words of “The March of the Volunteers”, while waving her arms and mimicking a conductor. Huya subsequently blocked Yang’s live-stream channel, froze her account and removed her videos. Yang’s husky voice became popular on another live-stream platform, TikTok, and in August she was invited to perform by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. “The national anthem is solemn and should not be sung in a live-stream room,” Yang wrote in an apology and self-criticism to her 1.1 million followers on Twitter-like platform Weibo. “I will stop all live-stream work, perform self-rectification, draw lessons from the bitter experience, deeply reflect and fully accept education on ideological politics and patriotism.” (AFP)
Rare Indian grey hornbill sighted in Pak’s Lahore city
Lahore: A rare Indian grey hornbill, the species of which is listed as “Near Threatened” by an international nature conservation body, was spotted in Pakistan’s Lahore city on Monday. According to ornithologists, once a native bird of Lahore, the population of the Indian grey hornbill has now gone down to an alarming level with only a few pair left in the city. Experts attribute their dwindling population to lack of fruit trees in the city. The bird feed themselves on small fruits like wild fig and berries. The grey bird with dull white belly and a helmet like structure extending to its beak attracted a number of motorists who parked their vehicles along the road to watch the rare avian, which was sitting on the branch of a tree on the Canal Bank Road, The News reported. Several independent bird surveys revealed that there are only 30 to 50 species left in Lahore. The number was 240 in 1965 and 101 in 1992. Indian grey hornbills are listed as “Near Threatened” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). (PTI)