Rohingya repatriation yet to start

YANGON • Myanmar has been able to verify only 374 Rohingya Muslim refugees for possible repatriation from Bangladesh, officials said yesterday, blaming their neighbour for not providing the correct information about the refugees.

Nearly 700,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar after militant attacks last Aug 25 sparked a crackdown led by security forces in the western Rakhine state that the United Nations has said constituted ethnic cleansing. Bangladesh and Myanmar reached a deal in November to begin repatriation of Rohingya within two months, but the process has not begun.

REUTERS

Eye-roll sets censors scrambling

BEIJING • It was the eye-roll that launched a thousand gifs. China's censors are scrambling to put a lid on a social media frenzy unleashed by a journalist's reaction to a softball question during the mostly scripted Parliament session.

Yicai financial news service reporter Liang Xiangyi sighed and raised a sceptical eyebrow at another journalist's query to a delegate at a National People's Congress press event on Tuesday. As the question dragged on, Ms Liang grimaced, glanced sideways at the woman and concluded with a head-turning eye-roll.

Caught on camera by state broadcaster CCTV, Ms Liang became the most-censored item on Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter, and the authorities released an "urgent notice" prohibiting all discussion of her in mainland media outlets.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Falling apple fractures baby's skull

BEIJING • A three-month-old baby in Shenzhen has been in critical condition for more than three days after an apple fell on her head, reported Chinese media.

According to the baby's grandmother, the pair were on their way home after a walk last Friday when an apple fell from a residential building nearby and hit the infant's head. The child turned pale soon after. Her head swelled up and she fell unconscious.

The force with which the apple hit the child's head was so great, the grandmother said, that the fruit was smashed on impact.

CT scans showed that one side of the child's skull was cracked from the incident, reported Sina News.

Police said they are investigating the incident, but have not identified the resident who threw the apple from the building.