RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) – Saudi Arabia said Wednesday it will not formalise ties with Israel unless a Palestinian state is established, after Israel’s prime minister remarked that he thought normalisation with the Gulf kingdom was “going to happen”.
“Saudi Arabia will continue its relentless efforts to establish an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel without that,” the Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement on X.
Both US President Donald Trump and his predecessor Joe Biden have backed Israel and Saudi Arabia having diplomatic relations.
US President Donald Trump takes questions during a press conference with unseen Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on February 4, 2025. PHOTO: AFP
Riyadh paused tentative talks on the matter early in the Gaza conflict and hardened its rhetoric as the war continued.
The foreign ministry’s statement came swiftly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said establishing formal relations “is not only feasible, I think it’s going to happen”.
His government remains opposed to the internationally backed two-state solution.
Netanyahu was speaking at the White House alongside Trump, whose administration in 2020 brokered accords which saw Israel establish relations with the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Bahrain.
That raised hopes of a similar deal with Saudi Arabia, the Arab world’s richest economy and guardian of Islam’s two holiest sites.
Saudi Arabia does not recognise Israel, but since 2020 has been negotiating rapprochement in exchange for a US defence pact and Washington’s help on a civilian nuclear programme.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Using satellite trackers, scientists have discovered the whereabouts of young sea turtles during a key part of their lives.
“We’ve had massive data gaps about the early baby to toddler life stages of sea turtles,” said Kate Mansfield, a marine scientist at the University of Central Florida. “This part of their long lives has been largely a mystery.”
For decades, scientists have wondered about what happens during the so-called lost years between when tiny hatchlings leave the beach and when they return to coastlines nearly grown — a span of about one to 10 years.
New research published Tuesday begins to fill in that gap.
This photo provided by researchers shows a young green sea turtle with a satellite tag before release offshore of Venice, Louisiana, USA on April 12, 2012. The photo was made under protected species permit NMFS 16377. PHOTO: AP
For over a decade, Mansfield and colleagues attached GPS tags to the fast-growing shells of young wild turtles. Steering small boats, they looked for young turtles drifting among algae in the Gulf of Mexico, eventually tagging 114 animals – including endangered green turtles, loggerheads, hawksbills and Kemp’s ridleys.
Eventually the GPS tags slough off because “the outside of a young turtle’s shell sheds as they grow very quickly,” said Katrina Phillips, a marine ecologist at the University of Central Florida and co-author of the new study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
But each tag stayed on long enough to transmit a few weeks to a few months of location data. What the researchers found challenged many old ideas.
Scientists long thought that tiny turtles drifted passively with ocean currents, literally going with the flow.
“What we’ve uncovered is that the turtles are actually swimming,” said co-author Nathan Putman, an ecologist at LGL Ecological Research Associates in Texas.
The scientists confirmed this by comparing location data of young turtles with the routes of drifting buoys set in the water at the same time. More than half of the buoys washed ashore while the turtles did not.
This photo provided by researchers shows a young green sea turtle released with a satellite tag swimming in sargassum seaweed offshore of Venice, Louisiana, USA on June 2, 2015.
“This tiny little hatchling is actually making its own decisions about where it wants to go in the ocean and what it wants to avoid,” said Bryan Wallace, a wildlife ecologist at Ecolibrium in Colorado.
The tracking data also showed more variability in locations than scientists expected, as the little turtles moved between continental shelf waters and open ocean.
Besides the painstaking work of finding turtles, the trick was developing flexible solar-powered tags that could hang onto shells long enough to send back data.
“For years, the technology couldn’t match the dream,” said Jeffrey Seminoff, a marine biologist at NOAA who was not involved in the study.
The findings give biologists a better idea of how young turtles use the Gulf of Mexico, a critical region for four species of endangered sea turtles.
“It’s not that the sea turtles were ever lost, but that we had lost track of them,” said Jeanette Wyneken at Florida Atlantic University, who had no role in the research.
SEOUL (ANN/THE KOREA HERALD) – Places such as Hongdae in Mapo-gu and Seongsu-dong have become popular dating locations for numerous millennials and Gen Zs but to Korean baby boomers – those born between 1955 to 1974 – the Dongmyo Flea Market is their equivalent of where cool vibes emanate from nearly every store brimming with vintage goods.
The Dongmyo Flea Market is captivating visitors once again as a spot that stirs nostalgia – from fashion, food and music from the 1980s and 1990s – for older travelers while providing a time-travel experience for younger visitors.
A local visitor looks for clothes at one of the vintage shop in Dongmyo Flea Market in Jongno-gu, central Seoul. (Lee Si-jin/The Korea Herald)
The market’s revived appeal was additionally boosted by its appearance in an episode of the acclaimed Korean reality series “I Live Alone,” in which Key from the popular K-pop boy band SHINee visited the location and celebrated the nostalgic atmosphere.
A local visitor looks for clothes at one of the vintage shop in Dongmyo Flea Market in Jongno-gu, central Seoul. PHOTO: ANN/KOREA HERALD
The main street of Dongmyo Flea Market begins from Dongmyo Station Exit No. 3 on Subway Line No. 1.
One feature of the market that stands out the most is the clothing stalls where vendors casually stack the clothes on the street and shoppers would have to bend down to sift through the heaps in search of hidden gems.
The state of the clothes may be unpredictable, but their astonishingly low prices – beginning at KRW1,000 (USD0.72) — encourage individuals to dedicate some time to discover a piece of clothing that is both stylish and matches the buyers’ preferences.
Whether you want to enhance your outfit or embrace the current Y2K fashion, a variety of products are all available to delight fashion enthusiasts and captivate casual visitors alike.
Entrance of vintage cloth shop Sold Out in Jongno-gu, central Seoul. PHOTO: ANN/KOREA HERALD
If clothes and accessories do not interest you, take a moment to explore the stores showcasing faded DVDs, vinyl records, stylish accessories, plush dolls and other intriguing merchandise are displayed.
Why go to convenience stores to get the extra drinks when you could satisfy your thirst with a cup of coffee, sikhye – a sweet-flavored rice drink – or makgeolli at the nearby beverage stalls? Conveniently, many of these beverages only cost KRW1,000.
Exploring traditional Korean markets is essential for both local and international tourists. These markets provide visitors with an opportunity to experience life in Korea, discover lesser-known areas in the city and browse items that enhance their trip in Seoul.
SYDNEY (AFP) – Australia has banned DeepSeek from all government devices on the advice of security agencies, a top official said Wednesday, citing privacy and malware risks posed by China’s breakout AI program.
The DeepSeek chatbot — developed by a China-based startup — has astounded industry insiders and upended financial markets since it was released last month.
But a growing list of countries including South Korea, Italy and France have voiced concerns about the application’s security and data practices.
Australia upped the ante overnight banning DeepSeek from all government devices, one of the toughest moves against the Chinese chatbot yet.
This illustration photograph shows screens displaying the logo of DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence company that develops open-source large language models on January 29, 2025 in Toulouse, southwestern France. PHOTO: AFP
“This is an action the government has taken on the advice of security agencies. It’s absolutely not a symbolic move,” said government cyber security envoy Andrew Charlton.
“We don’t want to expose government systems to these applications.”
Risks included that uploaded information “might not be kept private”, Charlton told national broadcaster ABC, and that applications such as DeepSeek “may expose you to malware”.
‘Unacceptable’ risk
Australia’s Home Affairs department issued a directive to government employees overnight.
“After considering threat and risk analysis, I have determined that the use of DeepSeek products, applications and web services poses an unacceptable level of security risk to the Australian Government,” Department of Home Affairs Secretary Stephanie Foster said in the directive.
As of Wednesday all non-corporate Commonwealth entities must “identify and remove all existing instances of DeepSeek products, applications and web services on all Australian Government systems and mobile devices,” she added.
The directive also required that “access, use or installation of DeepSeek products” be prevented across government systems and mobile devices.
It has garnered bipartisan support among Australian politicians.
Deputy opposition leader Sussan Ley said the public should “think carefully” about also removing DeepSeek from their private phones and computers.
In 2018 Australia banned Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from its national 5G network, citing national security concerns.
TikTok was banned from government devices in 2023 on the advice of Australian intelligence agencies.
Alarm bells
DeepSeek raised alarm last month when it claimed its new R1 chatbot matches the capacity of artificial intelligence pace-setters in the United States for a fraction of the cost.
It has sent Silicon Valley into a frenzy, with some calling its high performance and supposed low cost a wake-up call for US developers.
Some experts have accused DeepSeek of reverse-engineering the capabilities of leading US technology, such as the AI powering ChatGPT.
Several countries now including South Korea, Ireland, France, Australia and Italy have expressed concern about DeepSeek’s data practices, including how it handles personal data and what information is used to train DeepSeek’s AI system.
Tech and trade spats between China and Australia go back years.
Beijing was enraged by Canberra’s Huawei decision, along with its crackdown on Chinese foreign influence operations and a call for an investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic.
A multi-billion-dollar trade war raged between Canberra and Beijing but eventually cooled late last year, when China lifted its final barrier, a ban on imports of Australian live rock lobsters.
TOKYO (AP) — Record-breaking snowfall fell on Japan ‘s northern main island of Hokkaido, disrupting traffic, causing airport closures and delaying deliveries on Tuesday.
The Hokkaido prefectural government said record-breaking snowfall has been observed especially in the eastern regions of the island, including Obihiro and Kushiro, whose city offices received dozens of calls for help from drivers whose vehicles had stalled in the snow.
The heavy snow and traffic disruptions came just as a popular snow festival began in Sapporo in southern Hokkaido, although the city did not face major disruptions.
Television footage showed residents shoveling snow and passengers pushing vehicles that got stuck. So far, no injuries or major damage have been reported.
People remove snow from a street in Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. PHOTO: Kyodo News via AP
In Obihiro, record-breaking snowfall of 129 centimeters (4 feet) was detected earlier Tuesday.
The Japan Meteorological Agency said two powerful low pressure systems are moving on both sides of the Japanese archipelago, sending cold air into the region.
The agency predicted up to 100 centimeters (3.2 feet) of snowfall in northwestern Japan and 50 centimeters (1.6 feet) more snowfall in Hokkaido over the next 24 hours through Wednesday evening.
The prefecture said parts of highways and main roads were closed, and train services in the affected areas were suspended. Runways were closed due to snow at Obihiro and Kushiro airports, while dozens of flights in and out of Hokkaido were cancelled, affecting thousands of people.
About 370 schools canceled classes Tuesday across Hokkaido, according to the prefecture.
The snow also caused closures of post offices and other distribution services, delaying deliveries within Hokkaido and to destinations across Japan.
Hokkaido officials called on the residents and visitors to carry shovels and warm clothes in their vehicles in case they stall in the snow.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday suggested that displaced Palestinians in Gaza be “permanently” resettled outside the war-torn territory and proposed the US take “ownership” in redeveloping the war-torn territory
Trump’s audacious proposal appears certain to roil the next stage of talks meant to extend the tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and secure the release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza.
The provocative comments came as talks are ramping up this week with the promise of surging humanitarian aid and reconstruction supplies to help the people of Gaza recover after more than 15 months of devastating conflict. Now Trump wants to push roughly 1.8 million people to leave the land they have called home and claim it for the US, perhaps with American troops.
Trump outlined his thinking as he held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, where the two leaders also discussed the fragile ceasefire and hostage deal in the Israeli-Hamas conflict and shared concerns about Iran.
President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ain the East Room of the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, in Washington. PHOTO: AP
“I don’t think people should be going back,” Trump said. “You can’t live in Gaza right now. I think we need another location. I think it should be a location that’s going to make people happy.”
Trump said the US would take ownership of the Gaza Strip and redevelop it after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere and turn the territory into “the Riviera of the Middle East” in which the “world’s people”— including Palestinians — would live.
“We’ll make sure that it’s done world class,” Trump said. “It’ll be wonderful for the people–Palestinians, Palestinians mostly, we’re talking about.”
Egypt, Jordan and other US allies in the Mideast have cautioned Trump that relocating Palestinians from Gaza would threaten Mideast stability, risk expanding the conflict and undermine a decades-long push by the US and allies for a two-state solution.
Still, Trump insists the Palestinians “have no alternative” but to leave the “big pile of rubble” that is Gaza. He spoke out as his top aides stressed that a three-to-five-year timeline for reconstruction of the war-torn territory, as laid out in a temporary truce agreement, is not viable.
Last week, both Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Jordanian King Abdullah II dismissed Trump’s calls to resettle Gazans.
But Trump said he believes Egypt and Jordan—as well as other countries, which he did not name—will ultimately agree to take in Palestinians.
“You look over the decades, it’s all death in Gaza,” Trump said. “This has been happening for years. It’s all death. If we can get a beautiful area to resettle people, permanently, in nice homes where they can be happy and not be shot and not be killed and not be knifed to death like what’s happening in Gaza.”
Trump also said he isn’t ruling out deploying US troops to support reconstruction of Gaza.
He envisions “long-term” U. ownership of a redevelopment of the territory.
“We’ll do what is necessary,” Trump said about the possibility of deploying American troops to fill any security vacuum.
The White House’s focus on the future of Gaza comes as the nascent truce between Israel and Hamas hangs in the balance.
Netanyahu is facing competing pressure from his right-wing coalition to end a temporary truce against Hamas militants in Gaza and from war-weary Israelis who want the remaining hostages home and for the 15-month conflict to end.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, the Palestinian Authority and the Arab League joined Egypt and Jordan in rejecting plans to move Palestinians out of their territories in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Trump may be betting he can persuade Egypt and Jordan to come around to accept displaced Palestinians because of the significant aid that the US provides Cairo and Amman. Hard-line right-wing members of Netanyahu’s government have embraced the call to move displaced Palestinians out of Gaza.
“To me, it is unfair to explain to Palestinians that they might be back in five years,” Trump’s Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, told reporters. “That’s just preposterous.”
Trump also signaled that he may be reconsidering an independent Palestinian state as part of a broader two-state solution to the decades-long Israel-Palestinian conflict. “Well, a lot of plans change with time,” he told reporters when asked if he was still committed to a plan like the one he laid out in 2020 that called for a Palestinian state. “A lot of death has occurred since I left and now came back.”
Netanyahu’s arrival in Washington for the first foreign leader visit of Trump’s second term coincides with the prime minister’s popular support sagging.
The prime minister is in the middle of weekslong testimony in an ongoing corruption trial that centers on allegations he exchanged favors with media moguls and wealthy associates. He has decried the accusations and said he is the victim of a “witch hunt.”
Being seen with Trump, who is popular in Israel, could help distract the public from the trial and boost Netanyahu’s standing.
Netanyahu met with White House national security adviser Mike Waltz and Witkoff on Monday to begin the daunting work of brokering the next phase of a ceasefire agreement.
The Israeli leader said he would send a delegation to Qatar to continue indirect talks with Hamas that are being mediated by the Gulf Arab country, the first confirmation that those negotiations would continue. Netanyahu also said he would convene his security Cabinet to discuss Israel’s demands for the next phase of the ceasefire when he returns to Israel at the end of the week.
Witkoff, meanwhile, said he plans to meet with Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, in Florida on Thursday to discuss the next phase in the ceasefire. Qatar and Egypt have served as key intermediaries with Hamas throughout the conflict.
Netanyahu is under intense pressure from hard-right members of his governing coalition to abandon the ceasefire and resume fighting in Gaza to eliminate Hamas. Bezalel Smotrich, one of Netanyahu’s key partners, vows to topple the government if the war isn’t relaunched, a step that could lead to early elections.
Hamas, which has reasserted control over Gaza since the ceasefire began last month, has said it will not release hostages in the second phase without an end to the war and Israeli forces’ full withdrawal. Netanyahu, meanwhile, maintains that Israel is committed to victory over Hamas and the return of all hostages captured.
The two leaders also discussed Iran’s nuclear program. Ahead of his meeting with Netanyahu, Trump signed an executive order that he said would increase economic pressure on Iran.
“We’re not going to allow them to have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.
AP – It’s one of the most important pieces of forensic evidence following a plane crash: The so-called “black box”.
There are actually two of these remarkably sturdy devices: the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder. And they’re typically orange, not black.
Federal investigators recently recovered the black boxes from the passenger jet that crashed in the Potomac River just outside Washington, while authorities were still searching for similar devices in the military helicopter that also went down.
One recovered flight data recorder was in good condition and its information is expected to be downloaded shortly. Water had gotten inside the cockpit voice recorder, which will make downloading the data more difficult. The collision killed 67 people in the deadliest United States (US) aviation disaster since 2001.
Here is an explanation of what black boxes are and what they can do:
WHAT ARE BLACK BOXES?
The cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder are tools that help investigators reconstruct the events that lead up to a plane crash.
They’re orange in colour to make them easier to find in wreckage, sometimes at great ocean depths. They’re usually installed a plane’s tail section, which is considered the most survivable part of the aircraft, according to the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) website.
They’re also equipped with beacons that activate when immersed in water and can transmit from depths of 4,267 metres. While the battery that powers the beacon will run down after about one month, there’s no definitive shelf-life for the data itself, NTSB investigators told The Associated Press (AP) in 2014.
For example, black boxes of an Air France flight that crashed in the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 were found two years later from a depth of more than 10,000 feet, and technicians were able to recover most of the information.
If a black box has been submerged in seawater, technicians will keep them submerged in fresh water to wash away the corrosive salt. If water seeps in, the devices must be carefully dried for hours or even days using a vacuum oven to prevent memory chips from cracking.
The electronics and memory are checked, and any necessary repairs made. Chips are scrutinised under a microscope.
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators examine the flight data recorder in Washington recovered from the American Airlines passenger jet that crashed with an Army helicopter last Wednesday night near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. PHOTO: APThe plane wreckage in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. PHOTO: AP
WHAT DOES THE COCKPIT VOICE RECORDER DO?
The cockpit voice recorder collects radio transmissions and sounds such as the pilot’s voices and engine noises, according to the NTSB’s website.
Depending on what happened, investigators may pay close attention to the engine noise, stall warnings and other clicks and pops, the NTSB said. And from those sounds, investigators can often determine engine speed and the failure of some systems.
Investigators are also listening to conversations between the pilots and crew and communications with air traffic control. Experts make a meticulous transcript of the voice recording, which can take up to a week.
WHAT DOES THE FLIGHT DATA RECORDER DO?
The flight data recorder monitors a plane’s altitude, airspeed and heading, according to the NTSB. Those factors are among at least 88 parameters that newly built planes must monitor.
Some can collect the status of more than 1,000 other characteristics, from a wing’s flap position to the smoke alarms.
The NTSB said it can generate a computer animated video reconstruction of the flight from the information collected.
NTBS investigators told the AP in 2014 that a flight data recorder carries 25 hours of information, including prior flights within that time span, which can sometimes provide hints about the cause of a mechanical failure on a later flight.
An initial assessment of the data is provided to investigators within 24 hours, but analysis will continue for weeks more.
WHAT ARE THE ORIGINS OF THE BLACK BOX?
At least two people have been credited with creating devices that record what happens on an airplane.
One is French aviation engineer François Hussenot.
In the 1930s, he found a way to record a plane’s speed, altitude and other parameters onto photographic film, according to the website for European plane-maker Airbus.
In the 1950s, Australian scientist David Warren came up with the idea for the cockpit voice recorder, according to his 2010 AP obituary.
Warren had been investigating the crash of the world’s first commercial jet airliner, the Comet, in 1953, and thought it would be helpful for airline accident investigators to have a recording of voices in the cockpit, the Australian Department of Defence said in a statement after his death.
Warren designed and constructed a prototype in 1956.
But it took several years before officials understood just how valuable the device could be and began installing them in commercial airlines worldwide. Warren’s father had been killed in a plane crash in Australia in 1934.
WHY THE NAME ‘BLACK BOX’?
Some have suggested that it stems from Hussenot’s device because it used film and “ran continuously in a light-tight box, hence the name ‘black box’”, according to Airbus, which noted that orange was the box’s chosen colour from the beginning to make it easy to find.
Other theories include the boxes turning black when they get charred in a crash, the Smithsonian Magazine wrote in 2019.
“The truth is much more mundane,” the magazine wrote.
“In the post-World War II field of electronic circuitry, black box became the ubiquitous term for a self-contained electronic device whose input and output were more defining than its internal operations.”
The media continues to use the term, the magazine wrote, “because of the sense of mystery it conveys in the aftermath of an air disaster”. – Ben Finely
JAKARTA (AP) – Indonesian authorities yesterday were set to return an ailing French national who has been on death row in the Southeast Asian country, under an arrangement between the two nations.
Serge Atlaoui, who has spent almost 20 years in an Indonesian prison for drug offenses, won a last-minute reprieve from execution by a 13-member firing squad in 2015, after France’s government stepped up pressure because Atlaoui still had an outstanding court appeal.
Indonesia executed eight others in May 2015, but Atlaoui was granted a stay of execution. An Administrative Court in Jakarta denied his last court appeal the following month.
The father of four, who is now 61 and reportedly suffering from cancer, made a last-ditch plea to be returned home in December by writing to the Indonesian government requesting to serve the rest of his sentence in France.
Paris responded and the transfer agreement was signed remotely by Indonesia’s Senior Minister of Law Yusril Ihza Mahendra and France’s Minister of Justice Gérald Darmanin on January 24. The deal allows Atlaoui to return home.
Atlaoui was arrested in 2005 for his alleged involvement in a factory manufacturing the psychedelic drug MDMA, sometimes called ecstasy, on the outskirts of Jakarta. His lawyers said he was employed as a welder at the factory and did not understand what the chemicals on the premises were used for. Atlaoui, from Metz, has maintained his innocence during his 19 years behind bars, claiming he was installing machinery in what he thought was an acrylics plant. Police accused him of being a ‘chemist’ at the site. He was initially sentenced to life, but the Supreme Court in 2007 increased the sentence to death on appeal.
About 530 people are on death row in Indonesia, mostly for drug-related crimes, including nearly 100 foreigners, Ministry of Immigration and Corrections’ data shows. Indonesia’s last executions, of an Indonesian citizen and three foreigners, were carried out in July 2016.
Indonesia’s government in December returned Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina woman who had been on death row and who was nearly executed by firing squad in 2015, after longstanding requests from her home country.
Five Australians who spent almost 20 years in Indonesian prisons for heroin trafficking also returned to Australia in the same month under a deal struck between the governments.
Following the recent repatriation of foreign convicts, Jakarta is considering legislating new rules on prisoner amnesty and transfers as part of a wider aim to ease congestion in the country’s overcrowded prisons.
File photo of Serge Atlaoui escorted by police at Tangerang court outside Jakarta, Indonesia. PHOTO: AFP
ANN/THE STRAITS TIMES – Singapore’s elusive leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis), typically found on offshore islands and in the central and western catchment areas, may have expanded its range to Changi.
The Singapore Wildcat Action Group (Swag), a volunteer-led organisation, plans to conduct a rapid survey of the Changi coastal area in 2025 to confirm the presence of the rare feline.
The group will apply for a research permit from the National Parks Board (NParks), said its co-director Dr Vilma D’Rozario.
“We aim to monitor leopard cat activity near the construction site of Singapore’s new airport terminal, given the heavy vehicle traffic in the area,” she said. Construction of Changi Airport Terminal 5 is slated to begin in the first half of 2025, with the mega-terminal expected to be operational by the mid-2030s.
Dr D’Rozario noted that several leopard cats have been killed in road accidents, raising concerns about the species’ survival as development encroaches on its habitat.
“In the last 25 years, five leopard cats were found dead on Singapore’s roads – one too many, when we have a population of fewer than 50,” she added.
The roadkills were found at different locations: Bukit Timah Expressway near Mandai Road, Mandai Lake Road, Jalan Bahar, Neo Tiew Road and Changi Coast Road. The incident in Changi was in 2018, although in 2024, two sightings of the leopard cat were reported in the same area, Dr D’Rozario added.
“We would like to see mitigations to this real threat put into place,” she said.
The recent sightings in Changi hint at a leopard cat population in the area but other researchers are less sure.
Lecturer at the National University of Singapore’s Department of Biological Sciences Dr Ian Chan said leopard cats sighted in Changi are likely to have swum across from Pulau Tekong or Pulau Ubin, given Changi’s distance from the leopard cat’s existing habitats on the mainland.
In 2024, there were two reported sightings of the leopard cat in Changi. PHOTO: THE STRAITS TIMES
AP – Within hours of taking office, United States (US) President Donald Trump outlined in one of his many executive orders a mission to celebrate American greatness and to recognise those who have made contributions throughout history.
He jumpstarted the effort by ordering the name of North America’s tallest peak to be changed from Denali back to Mount McKinley in honour of the nation’s 25th president, William McKinley. He also called on the US Interior Department to work with Alaska Natives and others to adopt names for other landmarks that would honour their history and culture.
The US Board on Geographic Names will play a role. The little known panel made up of officials from several federal agencies has been in existence since 1890.
HOW DID THE BOARD GET ITS START?
As more settlers and prospectors headed west following the American Civil War, it became apparent the federal government needed some kind of consistency for referencing landmarks on maps and in official documents.
In comes President Benjamin Harrison. He issued an executive order establishing the board in hopes of resolving some of the confusion.
President Theodore Roosevelt took it further in 1906, making the board responsible for standardising geographic names for use across the federal government. That included changing names for some spots and identifying unnamed features.
It was President Franklin Roosevelt who dissolved the board in 1934, opting instead to transfer duties to the Interior Department. After World War II, Congress changed course and re-established the panel.
The board under the Trump administration will have new members, but the makeup will be the same with representatives from several agencies ranging from the Interior and Commerce departments to the Post Office and the Library of Congress. Even the CIA plays a role when the board considers place names beyond US borders.
The members are appointed for two-year terms by the respective heads of the agencies they represent. The committee that deals with names on US soil meets monthly.
Denali is visible from Pt Woronzof. PHOTO: APUnited States President Donald Trump. PHOTO: AP
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
The board is quite aware of the importance of a name, noting in its guiding principles, policies and procedures that the names of geographic features throughout the US reflect the nation’s history and its changing face.
The board points out that names of Native American origin are found sprinkled throughout the land and there are traces of the languages spoken by early explorers.
“It is in these ways and many others that geographic naming gives us a clear, exciting profile of the US that is unmatched in any other medium,” the board states.
In the case of Mount McKinley, original inhabitants had unique names for the mountain long before prospectors showed up. For the Koyukon Athabaskans, it’s always been deenaalee, roughly translated as “the high one”.
Despite never having visited Alaska, McKinley’s name became attached to the mountain in 1896, labelled by a gold prospector after the Republican was nominated as a presidential candidate. McKinley, who signed legislation in 1900 making gold the sole standard for US currency, was assassinated just six months into his second term and the name Mount McKinley stuck.
Alaska wasn’t a state then and it would take decades before elected officials there would petition the Board on Geographic Names to return to what locals knew best. But their efforts were repeatedly blocked. Then in 2015, after years of pressure from Alaska Natives and other advocates, President Barack Obama issued an order making Denali official for federal purposes.
Like so many sites across the US, the peak is more than a tourist attraction. It’s woven into the cultural fabric of those who call the area home, said Executive Director of the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers Valerie Grussing.
“It’s a sacred place,” she told The Associated Press (AP), adding, “the name we use for it should reflect that sacred relationship between the people and the land.”
HAVE NAME-CHANGING CAMPAIGNS MADE A DIFFERENCE?
In the 1960s and 1970s, the Board on Geographic Names took action to eliminate the use of derogatory terms related to Japanese and Black people.
More recently, former US Interior Secretary Deb Haaland initiated a campaign to eliminate offensive names at hundreds of places around the nation. She highlighted the work during her farewell address to department employees just weeks ago, saying the effort to address derogatory words would continue.
In 2023, the board voted to change Mount Evans southwest of Denver to Mount Blue Sky at the request of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes. Two years earlier, more than a dozen sites with racist and offensive names in Texas were renamed. In 2008, the board approved a proposal to change the name of a prominent Phoenix mountain to Piestewa Peak to honour Army Spc Lori Piestewa, the first Native American woman to die in combat while serving in the US military.
And now there’s a campaign brewing in Alaska to have Denali restored. It’s too early to say whether that will result in a new proposal before the board.
The Interior Department on Friday took steps to update the peak’s name in the federal Geographic Names Information System. Since the board’s decisions are binding only for the federal government, it’s possible Denali will live on through Google and Apple map applications and other private mapping services.
WHO CAN PROPOSE A NAME CHANGE?
Any person, government agency, Native American tribe or organisation can submit a proposal to the board, as long as there is a compelling reason and evidence to support it.
The support of local communities and historical or genealogical societies helps.
“A new name will affect many people for a long time; thus, it must be acceptable to local citizens, involved local, state, and federal agencies, and other users,” board policy states.
While its role over the years has grown, the board said its principles for deciding whose name may be applied to a natural feature for US official maps and publications have stood the test of time. In some cases, the board may be able to suggest alternatives to geographic naming that might better commemorate an individual.
The board prohibits consideration of any derogatory names and it won’t consider proposals involving the names of living people or anyone who has been dead less than five years.
Once settled on, the names are listed in the official repository of geographic names used by the federal government. The system includes more than 2.5 million name records. – Susan Montoya Bryan
