Endangered dinner: Tiger meat, bear paws openly available in Laos

Endangered dinner: Tiger meat, bear paws openly available in Laos
One Direction’s Zayn apologises after controversial photo
Only on request: Tap water for diners in California
Without killing the party, Florida beach town tries to tame spring break
Veteran musher wins third Iditarod title
US, NZ take farm trade disputes with Indonesia to WTO

Posted: 18 Mar 2015 05:53 PM PDT

Children observe a Bengal tiger in the Cali Zoo February 8, 2014.. — Reuters picBANGKOK, March 19 — A resort complex in northwest Laos targeting Chinese visitors has become a "lawless playground" for the trade in illegal wildlife ranging from tiger meat to bear paws, an advocacy group said today.

Customers "can openly buy endangered species products" in the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone on the border between Laos, Myanmar and Thailand in Laos' Bokeo province, according to a report by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA).

The London-based group, together with the non-governmental group Education for Nature Vietnam, also documented restaurants offering "sauté tiger meat", bear paws and pangolins on their menus.

Laos is becoming a growing hub for the trade in endangered species with foreign tourists, particularly from neighbouring China, driving the demand for illegal products, according to environmental groups.

Many Chinese people believe rare animal meats and body parts contain aphrodisiac or medicinal qualities.

The EIA report called on Laos to immediately set up a task force to tackle the trade and seize all illegal products in the Special Economic Zone.

"China also needs to understand and accept that its legal domestic trade in the skins of captive-bred tigers is doing nothing but driving consumer demand," said Debbie Banks of the EIA in a statement.

According to the report the Laos zone "appears more like an extension of China" — running on Beijing time, employing mostly Chinese workers and displaying signs in Chinese characters.

Similar temples of excess have sprung up in Myanmar where some border towns — often outside of central government control — have become open markets renowned for selling rare animals, sex and gambling trips to Chinese visitors.

China's seemingly insatiable appetite for rare animal meat and parts has also led to a thriving smuggling scene across much of Southeast Asia.

Authorities in Vietnam and Thailand routinely uncover large hauls of endangered animals heading north in what conservationists say is likely just a fraction of the species smuggled into China. — AFP

One Direction’s Zayn apologises after controversial photo

Posted: 18 Mar 2015 05:51 PM PDT

(Left to right) Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson of One Direction arrive for the BRIT Awards, celebrating British pop music, at the O2 Arena in London February 19, 2014. — Reuters picLONDON, March 19 — Zayn Malik has spoken out after pictures emerged of him hand-in-hand with a girl.

The One Direction singer was pictured in Phuket, Thailand by several tourists, with the images apparently showing him holding hands with 19-year-old Essex girl Lauren Richardson.

However, Zayn, who is engaged to Little Mix star Perrie Edwards, took to Twitter yesterday night to clear up any confusion surrounding the images.

"I'm 22 years old... I love a girl named Perrie Edwards," Zayn tweeted. "And there's a lot of jealous f**ks in this world I'm sorry for what it looks like x"

Zayn and Lauren are believed to have been out at a nightclub in Phuket, where One Direction were touring, on Tuesday night.

Once the pictures hit the internet, the band's fans were quick to jump to conclusions about the images.

While some speculated that Zayn and Lauren were more than just friends, others insisted he would never cheat on his fiancée.

Zayn proposed to 21-year-old Perrie in August 2013 after just over a year of dating.

The pair sparked rumours that their relationship had hit the rocks after postponing their nuptials.

However, in December Perrie set the record straight about her wedding, insisting she and Zayn have "no idea" about when they will get married.

"We're just going with the flow, we're just happy to be engaged and enjoying it," she told Sugarscape.

"We'll get there eventually when we're not too busy to make it perfect."

One Direction are currently travelling the world on their On The Road Again tour. — Cover Media

Only on request: Tap water for diners in California

Posted: 18 Mar 2015 05:49 PM PDT

Diners in California will now have to ask for tap water. — AFP picSAN FRANCISCO, March 19 — Diners in California may want to BYOWB — Bring Your Own Water Bottle — following news that the state has passed a law prohibiting restaurants, cafes and bars from voluntarily serving glasses of tap water, except on request.

Now facing its fourth year of severe drought, California has passed a set of wide-sweeping water conservations laws in order to safeguard their remaining, precarious supply.

That means that diners and customers will have to speak up if they want a glass of tap water, as the new rules include prohibiting restaurants from giving out free glasses of water — a basic service that consumers have come to expect — except upon request.

Likewise, hotels and motels will be required to prominently display signs that offer guests the option of reusing their towels and linens as a water-saving measure.

The state of California experienced the lowest snowpack and driest January in recorded history this year, exacerbating already stressful conditions from three consecutive years of drought.

"If the drought continues through next winter and we do not conserve more — the consequences could be even more catastrophic than they already are. Today's action is just a tune-up and a reminder to act, and we will consider more significant actions in the weeks to come," said Felicia Marcus, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, in a statement.

In the UK, water laws require that all businesses which serve alcohol provide complimentary water to their customers.

Likewise, restaurants in France cannot deny customers tap water. — AFP-Relaxnews

Without killing the party, Florida beach town tries to tame spring break

Posted: 18 Mar 2015 05:48 PM PDT

Spring breakers dance during a competition at a pool party at a hotel in Cancun March 8, 2015. — Reuters picPANAMA CITY BEACH (Florida), March 19 — A tradition of around-the-clock spring break partying has drawn Lance Granata to this small Florida Gulf Coast town three times. But this year, his antics landed him in jail — twice.

The Michigan student ran afoul of a new community effort to tamp down on the debauchery that comes with being a leading collegiate spring break destination, without breaking up a lucrative party.

"They want the underage drinkers, but they don't," said Granata, 20. He was arrested for smashing a window at a Subway store and for underage drinking, which he considered "beyond ridiculous".

Like previous Florida spring break hot spots Fort Lauderdale and Daytona Beach, this Panhandle town is facing a crisis of conscience over the trade-offs involved in hosting a binge for some 300,000 students who arrive through mid-April with coolers, beer funnels and credit cards.

Unwilling to evict spring break, a crucial season in a community where tourism brings in more than US$1 billion (RM3.681 billion) annually, the city has passed new rules to counter the worst excesses.

Bars must stop serving alcohol at 2am in March, two hours earlier than before.

Partygoers must have a valid ID to drink on the beach, and the practice of digging deep holes in the sand for drinking games and sex is banned.

"We're a very conservative area," said Bay County Commissioner Mike Thomas.

"We've got more churches than we do bars.

"When you get this many people together being rowdy, it shows our community in a bad light."

Thomas supported the local sheriff's failed proposal to ban alcohol on the beach, where students fashion sand tables for beer pong and twerk dance in bikini-length shorts.

"If they tried to crack down on it, people would probably go somewhere else," said 18-year-old Lacey Spence of Tennessee as she sloshed beer out of a plastic cup.

Businesses agree. So beer cans and water bottles brimming with pastel-colored drinks filled the hands of thousands of revelers who blanketed the sand down to the ocean's edge at a free concert last week by country music star Luke Bryan.

"If you ain't here to party," Bryan told the crowd, "you may as well take your ass to another spring break".

100-mile club

Off the main strip, the county sheriff's office set up two open-air cells on the beach, where 513 people were booked in the first 10 days of spring break season.

The agency responds to dozens of complaints about noise and drunken pedestrians who spill into the streets outside nightclubs.

Traffic congestion, with scores of spring breakers zipping around on rented scooters, leads to a spike in accidents.

"Our calls for service go off the map," said Major Tommy Ford, citing a 61 per cent increase in calls during spring break since 2007.

The biggest problems often involve the "100-mile club", as locals call the non-students in their 20s and 30s who join the party from communities within driving distance of Panama City Beach, whose permanent population is about 12,000.

"They come to prey off the spring breakers," Ford said.

As spring break revved up last week, Mississippi State University star quarterback Dak Prescott was attacked after a daytime concert, but not seriously injured.

Last weekend, one man was shot and another stabbed. Forty extra officers were called in to help law enforcement "take back the street," Ford said.

Florida has long struggled with the crowds of rowdy students embracing its sun, sea and party life in March and April.

Fort Lauderdale announced on television in 1985 that spring breakers were no longer welcome after 350,000 students took nudity and drinking to new heights.

The party scooted up Florida's east coast to Daytona Beach, which grew weary of the crowds in the late 1990s after publicity about kids falling off balconies. At the same time, the festivities picked up in Panama City Beach.

Mike Bennett, a hotel owner who chairs the local tourism council, took a pragmatic view as his staff hauled off trash bags filled with beer cans and spritzed away the stench of marijuana. — Reuters

Veteran musher wins third Iditarod title

Posted: 18 Mar 2015 05:43 PM PDT

Veteran Alaska musher Dallas Seavey drives his dog team to a second consecutive victory of the Iditarod Sled Dog race in Nome, Alaska March 18, 2015. — Reuters picLOS ANGELES, March 19 — Dallas Seavey and his team of huskies won Alaska's Iditarod sled dog race for the third time yesterday, beating the musher's father who was in second position in the epic 1,000-mile event.

Seavey, a third-generation sled dogger, was pulled across the finish line in the western city of Nome by his team of 10 dogs with a time of eight days, 18 hours, 13 minutes and six seconds.

Race fans — many of them merry after celebrating St Patrick's Day in the remote town's bars — lined the snowy streets to cheer Seavey as he and his canines romped home.

Immediately after the race, Seavey credited his dogs for the win.

"As long as you take care of the dog team and make good decisions, good things will happen," Seavey told journalists in comments reported by the Alaska Dispatch News.

"We loved every second of it," he added.

Now 28, Seavey became the youngest winner in Iditarod history three years ago and his father, Mitch, became the oldest winner in 2013, capturing his second title at 53 after winning his first in 2004. — AFP

US, NZ take farm trade disputes with Indonesia to WTO

Posted: 18 Mar 2015 05:39 PM PDT

US Trade Representative Michael Froman (right) at a plenary session of the ninth World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Nusa Dua, Bali, December 4, 2013. — Reuters picWASHINGTON, March 19 — The United States and New Zealand have taken their farm trade disputes with Indonesia to the World Trade Organisation, US officials said yesterday.

US Trade Representative Michael Froman said the WTO had been asked to set up a dispute settlement panel to look at Indonesia's wide-ranging import restrictions on fruits and vegetables, such as apples and potatoes; animal products including beef and poultry, and other agricultural products.

"I'm proud to take this action today standing up on behalf of farmers and ranchers across the United States who have been shouldering unfair export barriers to the fourth-largest country in the world, Indonesia," Froman said in a statement.

Among the measures taken by Indonesia, the fourth most-populous country, since 2012 is a ban on poultry and certain meat products and trade-restrictive import licensing regimes for horticultural products and animals and animal products, the USTR said.

"Indonesia appears to have acted inconsistently with its WTO obligations" through its restrictive import measures, the trade office said.

It said the US has been working closely with New Zealand in the dispute, and that New Zealand was also requesting a WTO panel to examine Indonesia's import restrictions.

The US consulted with Indonesia about the measures in January 2013, and, working with New Zealand, consulted again in August 2013 and May 2014.

"USTR and USDA have worked over the past two years to hold Indonesia to its trade commitments," said Tom Vilsack, secretary of the US Department of Agriculture.

"When our trading partners don't play by the rules it costs American jobs, so it is critical we hold them accountable."

US exports affected by Indonesia's import licensing regimes totaled about US$385 million (RM1.4b) in 2014, according to the trade office. — AFP