Mobile phone footage showing a line of uniformed soldiers being repeatedly punched and kicked inside what appears to be a Myanmar army barracks was watched by over half a million people and shared more than 50,000 times since it was posted Wednesday.

The outpouring of online outrage spurred the country’s military to issue a rare comment.

“You or I would not accept such treatment, but it happened during a training class. We don’t know the details. They had their reasons. It is still under investigation,” said Colonel Khin Maung Cho, from the military’s normally publicity-shy information team.

“I am very sure that action will be taken in this case, and not just a soft charge,” he said, adding however, that this would depend on how army training officials decide to handle the case.

During the clip, which was one of three similar videos published on Facebook by an activist with the name “Friends of Moemaka”, several young soldiers stand in a row as senior officers hit them in a dormitory.

The systematic beating, accompanied by a soundtrack of blasting pop and hip hop music, was apparently egged on by the person filming the video, who can be heard ordering one young recruit to keep his arms in the air as he was pummelled in the stomach.

“If they train like this, how will soldiers deal with people in the outside world? So it is hardly amazing for me when they behave badly,” posted Jimmy Phang, in one of many disapproving comments under the video.

Myanmar’s army has sought to rework its image since a quasi-civilian government replaced junta rule in 2011.

It has freed child soldiers and taken part in ceasefire negotiations with ethnic minority armed groups — although heavy fighting continues in some areas.

Army chief Min Aung Hlaing even has his own regularly updated Facebook page, seen by observers as a sign of the military’s growing sophistication as it sets its sights on continued political sway — and greater ties with the West.

Unelected soldiers retain a quarter of all parliamentary seats and control over key ministries, despite a landslide win for Aung San Suu Kyi’s pro-democracy party in November elections.

The army’s image revamp is unlikely to quickly win over a nation still traumatised by junta repression.

Rights groups say the military still acts with impunity in conflict areas, including in the shooting of a journalist by troops in a southeastern border region in October 2014. His wife is now an NLD MP.

The deaths of two ethnic Kachin teachers last year also triggered a wave of public outrage, with activists accusing soldiers of raping and murdering the pair in the village where they worked in northeastern Shan state.

A year later no one has been charged with the killings.

– AFP

Leading a joint research team, Li Weiqi, a research fellow with the KIB/CAS, collected walnut leaf samples of the wild ancestral species in the Wuliangshan national nature reserve. Using advanced sequencing technology, the Li-led team completed a fine sequencing of the walnut whole genome.

Combining data in genomics, proteomics and lipids, the research team also explored the walnut material-basis in nutrition and health care in the genetic deciphering process. It is discovered that the walnut produces 86 bioactive peptides with known functions, including 43 antifungal peptides, 31 antibacterial peptides, 5 antiviral peptides, and 4 anti-cancer peptides.

The whole genome sequencing will make it possible to breed target crops designed on molecular basis. At the same time, by comparing genetic information of walnut varieties, the genetic codes that control biological traits of the species can be gained. This will provided technical support in selection, protection and promotion of fine breeds.

Ministry inspectors will be checking 500 worksites for errant supervisory practices, poor workers’ training and inadequate risk management, said an MOM spokesman on Thursday.

“We are stepping up our enforcement efforts,” he added, noting that the Ministry is “concerned about the recent spate of fatal workplace accidents”.

After seeing her begging in the city, an authorised agency sent her to a social welfare centre. She finished a short training course and found work at a garment company.

Statistics from the city’s department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, showed that social welfare centres received about 2,000-3,000 beggars and homeless people each year.

Centres gave those living in the city a short training course and then they could look for a job. People coming from other provinces would be sent to their hometown. Le Chu Giang, head of the department’s Social Welfare Office said more than 90 per cent of beggars living in the city came from other provinces

They often returned to the city after being sent to their hometown because their hometown’s administration failed to support them, he said.

Giang claimed that the city was closely working with other provinces to fix the situation.

Despite attempts made by the department, a lot of beggars, mainly children, elderly, and people with disabilities were still seen at several places such as Cat Lai T-junction in District 2; Hang Xanh area in Binh Thanh District; and Park 23/9 in District 1, said Giang.

Giang called upon people not to give money to beggars. He encouraged the public to call the hotline 38.292491 – run during working hours, and 35.533258 – running 24 hours per day to inform authorised agencies if they saw any beggars in the city.

In addition, according to scientists from the Vietnam Federation of Geology, a moderate earthquake registering 5.7 on the Richter scale may occur in Thua Thien-Hue Province in the future.

Many Vietnamese scientists who specialise in seismic forecasts said a major quake measuring more than 7 on the Richter scale may hit the northwestern region in the future.

They said several faults, particularly the Dien Bien and Song Da faults along the Ca River, have a tendency to gradually shift towards the Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) and south central region. These are obvious indications that Vietnam is likely to be hit by strong quakes, which are often accompanied by a tsunami warning.

In 1935, a quake measuring 6.75 on the Richter scale hit Dien Bien Province, caused by the Song Ma fault. In 1983, another quake measuring 6.8 was reported in the Tuan Giao area of Dien Bien Province. Those two quakes caused extensive damage to personal property.

Although the consequences of earthquakes that hit Vietnam have not been serious in terms of human lives or property, adverse weather in recent years has raised alarms for Vietnam. Scientists warned that reliable and precise predictions of earthquakes and tsunamis are needed in order to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

Anna Teoh Poi Ling, who admitted to the offence committed at her home in Kampung Boyan here on March 6 last year, was fined 4,000 ringgit by magistrate Mohamed Ruhaizat Abdullah.

The court was told that the dog, which is now 16 years old, was bought by Teoh’s mother for RM1,200 when it was a puppy.

Teoh said she had not intended to abandon the dog after her ­mother’s death but since taking custody of the dog, she could not care for it because it was too big for her.

“I am alone. I had no time to take care of her. It was my first time rearing a dog,” said Teoh, who is single.

Prosecuting officer Mohd Nizam Abdullah said the dog was not fed.

“It was not given food or water and was neglected by her owner. We got to know about the case through public complaints,” he said.

The Department of Veterinary Services acted together with the assistance of the police to rescue the dog.

He said the owner was not at home when the operation was carried out.

The dog, he said, would be placed under the care of the Department of Veterinary Services and put up for adoption later.

Teoh, who was charged under Section 44 (1)(d) of the Animal Act, is the first person in Perak to be charged under the amended Act which carries a maximum RM50,000 fine or one year’s jail, or both.

Suu Kyi and hundreds of fellow lawmakers from her National League for Democracy (NLD) strode into the legislature on Monday with a huge mandate from November elections, carrying the hopes of a nation desperate to rebound after decades under the military yoke.

But the democracy champion, who is herself barred from the presidency under a constitution scripted by the former junta, said it was “not yet time to form a government”.

She was speaking at her first press conference since the new parliament.

“Don’t be anxious. You will know when the time comes,”Suu Kyi told reporters, adding that the party must “think carefully” about its choice of a candidate and suggesting the decision would not come until next month.

The NLD’s massive majority — with almost 80 per cent of parliament’s seats — gives it a clear run at the presidential selection.

Suu Kyi, the centrepiece of Myanmar’s long democracy struggle, is excluded from the presidency by a charter clause that bars anyone with close relatives who are foreign.

She has sought to sidestep that problem by vowing to rule “above” a proxy leader.

But the secrecy surrounding a potential candidate has sent ripples of disquiet through the nation.

There are few obvious choices since the pro-democracy movement has been dominated by Suu Kyi’s charismatic leadership since the 1980s.

The NLD also faces a still-powerful military, which under the constitution is granted 25 per cent of parliamentary seats — giving it an effective veto on charter change.

The army has so far resisted any move to amend the clause that blocks Suu Kyi, and a commentary in the state military newspaper on Monday restated this stance.

Elected members of both houses of parliament and the military will nominate three candidates to replace outgoing President Thein Sein, who retains his post until the end of March.

The new president will then be chosen by a vote of the combined houses.

Suu Kyi said she was “really satisfied” with the parliamentary process so far, particularly the selection of several ethnic minority representatives for the roles of parliament speakers and their deputies, which she said was intended to promote “national reconciliation”.

She also chided reporters over their over-eager approach to news collection in recent months, following chaotic scenes during the election and huge media scrums in parliament this week.

“People should be able to move around freely,” she said, but pledged to work for greater transparency in a party that decreed recently that she alone could act as a spokesperson.

The next government faces a daunting rebuilding task in one of Southeast Asia’s poorest countries, where civil wars continue to rage in ethnic borderlands and public services bear the scars of junta neglect.

– AFP

Its minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said the guidelines would be issued by tomorrow.

He said fighting the virus was a challenge because it spreads easily.

“But we have to fight it, by stopping it from breeding,” he told reporters after launching the Watch Your Weight, Watch Your Calories healthy eating campaign here.

Also present was Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof.

Zika has been linked to brain birth-defects.

Cases have been reported in Brazil and those infected hardly show any symptoms, unlike dengue.

Both Zika and dengue are transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.

Dr Subramaniam said one measure to fight Zika was to eradicate the Aedes mosquito.

He said there was no known treatment or vaccine for the virus.

Dr Subramaniam advised Malaysians planning to visit South America to defer their travels while those returning from there should exercise caution if they felt lethargic or weakness in their limbs.

“Since carriers are asymptomatic, they need to see a doctor if they experience general weakness,” he said.

On Monday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the recent microcephaly cases and other neurological disorders reported in Brazil and French Polynesia in 2014 as a “public health emergency of international concern” but did not call for restrictions on travel and trade.

The condition has been linked to but not proven to be caused by the Zika virus.

Dr Subramaniam said the strain in Brazil was probably different and more dangerous than the one found in Malaysia in 2014.

The virus was first isolated from mosquitoes in 1969 in Bentong, Pahang, and the last case was in 2014 when a German traveller was diagnosed with a mild infection after her return to Germany from Sabah.

In Petaling Jaya, Health deputy director-general Datuk Dr Lokman Hakim Sulaiman said the WHO declaration has no advisory other than the measures Malaysia has taken to combat mosquito breeding.

“The focus is on standardising case definition and diagnostics for clarity of reporting and surveillance, and the need for more studies,” he said.

WHO director-general Margaret Chan, who made the declaration after the first International Health Regulations Emergency Committee on Zika virus, said the committee agreed that a causal relationship between Zika infection during pregnancy and microcephaly was strongly suspected, although not yet scientifically proven.

“All agreed on the urgent need to coordinate international efforts to investigate and understand this relationship better,” she said.

According to WHO, the virus was first discovered in Uganda in 1947 in rhesus monkeys.

It was subsequently identified in humans in 1952 in Uganda and Tanzania.

Outbreaks of the virus have been recorded in Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific.

The Qinzhou Nixing pottery with more than 1,300 years of history is renowned both at home and abroad for the clay that is only available locally and the “kiln transformation” art that cannot be copied. It is the only one of its kind in China and one of the four famous pottery in China – the other three being the Violet Sand Earthenware of Yixing in Jiangsu Province, Jianshui pottery in Yunnan Province and Rongchang pottery Sichuan Province and has been included in the National Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

In recent years, the local government has been promoting Nixing pottery as an important industry, putting the development of Nixing pottery in the fast lane.

Last year, the local government spent 1.5 billion yuan to build a Nixing pottery cultural and creative industries park covering an area of 445.5 acres (Millennium Ancient Pottery Town). So far 28 Nixing pottery businesses and 15 masters have signed a lease and entry agreement. Reporters from mainstream media outlets in Thailand said they would introduce the excellent traditional culture of Guangxi to more people through what they saw and heard after they returned to Thailand.