The bear, whose name means “Silent Stalker” in Inuit, had reached the grand old age of 27 — into his 70s in human years and two years older than the average lifespan of the creatures in captivity.

Born at the zoo, Inuka was particularly popular with visitors due to his playful antics in his enclosure.

But in recent years the animal had suffered age-related ailments, including arthritis, and an examination at the start of this month revealed his health was failing markedly.

(FILES) This file photograph taken on May 5, 2017 shows Inuka the polar bear, 26, inside its enclosure at the Singapore Zoo. Inuka, the first polar bear born in the tropics, was put down on April 25, 2018 after a rapid decline in health, with Singapore Zoo mourning the loss of one of its best-loved animals. / AFP PHOTO 

His weakened limbs had trouble supporting his body and he developed cuts on his paws and a wound on his abdomen.

After a final check-up, vets found that Inuka’s health had not improved despite intensive treatment and decided not to revive him from anaesthesia.

“Singaporeans have known Inuka from the time he was a cub, and have seen him growing up and ageing,” said Mohan Ponichamy, one of his keepers.

“It has been a privilege and honour being his care giver, but difficult as it may be, it would not have been fair to prolong his suffering.”

The bear had been put on a “seniors programme” at the zoo for the past five years, to help elderly animals deal with the effects of ageing.

He had slowed down in recent months, and became less interested in his daily playing sessions.

Inuka was born on December 26, 1990. His father Nanook was caught in the wild and came from Canada and his mother, Sheeba, came from a German zoo.

(FILES) This file photo taken on December 16, 2015 shows Inuka the polar bear in his enclosure during his 25th birthday at the Singapore Zoo. Inuka, the first polar bear born in the tropics, was put down on April 25, 2018 after a rapid decline in health, with Singapore Zoo mourning the loss of one of its best-loved animals. / AFP PHOTO

His death marks the end of an era for the zoo, which has said it will not keep any more polar bears in its collection.

As few as 22,000 polar bears are thought to remain in the wild, according to environmental group WWF. Protection group the International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies them as a vulnerable species.

They are typically found in places with cold climates such as Greenland, and parts of Canada and Russia — making Singapore, where daytime temperatures rarely dip below 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit), an unusual location for the creatures to live.

Speaking during his weekly press briefing, Prayut cited the Kingdom’s “being tourist-friendly and ranking top in the world’s tourism” for its readiness to provide the venue for such a major meeting.

Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai added that while Thailand had the potential to provide assistance, the topic being the Korean peninsula was unlikely to allow it to play the role of negotiator among the parties.

Speculation about Thailand playing a role came as foreign news agencies last week estimated Bangkok to be one of nine potential locations to host the historic summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un to settle the long-standing conflict over the peninsula and regional nuclear proliferation.

“The US Embassy in Thailand is one of its largest. Bangkok is also one of the few countries in Asia to host a North Korean embassy,” one news report said, citing reasons for Thailand’s capital being on the list.

The US Embassy in Bangkok declined to comment on the matter when contacted by The Nation.

So far, however, it is nothing more than media speculation, with none of the involved parties yet to hint on the meeting place for the much-anticipated summit.

Meanwhile, Deputy PM and Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan on Monday met with US Secretary of Defense James Mattis, as per the latter’s invitation to the Thai general to visit him in the US.

“Thailand expressed support for the US in building maritime domain awareness and maritime security cooperation within the Asean framework for mutual regional peace,” Defence Ministry spokesperson Maj-General Kongcheep Tantrawanich said on Tuesday.

While Prawit’s visit is officially cited as being to strengthen partnership dialogue as part of this year’s bicentennial celebration of relations between Thailand and the US, Washington has been campaigning among Indo-Pacific countries on a security agenda, particularly regarding the Korean peninsula and the South China Sea.

“Thailand is ready to facilitate and host the talks,” Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai told reporters, though he stressed that the kingdom has not been contacted about the possibility.

The US embassy declined to comment.

Kim is set to meet South Korea’s president Moon Jae-in on Friday, an event seen as a major stepping stone towards the summit with Trump.

Earlier this month Trump said five locations were under consideration for a summit “probably in early June”, which he hopes will result in a denuclearisation deal with North Korea.

But he did not specify where, leaving observers to speculate on anywhere from Mongolia to Scandinavia and Singapore.

Thailand is a historic US ally which also has diplomatic relations with North Korea.

The Thai junta number two Prawit Wongsuwon is currently in the US where he has met Defense Secretary James Mattis and senior Homeland Security officials, according to the Thai defence ministry.

Over the weekend Pyongyang announced a moratorium on nuclear tests and intercontinental ballistic missile launches.

Analysts are divided over the headline-grabbing offer, with many noting it is reversible and did not signal any intention of actual nuclear disarmament.

Travis Reinking — who exhibited “mental instability” and was arrested last year for trying to enter the White House grounds — was captured in the early afternoon after a more than 24-hour manhunt.

“A tip from the community is what led to the arrest,” Nashville Mayor David Briley told a news conference.

The 29-year-old faces four counts of criminal homicide charges for Sunday’s pre-dawn shooting that also wounded two people.

Held in lieu of a $2 million bond, he is due in court Wednesday.

Reinking was captured without incident in a wooded area near his home, refused to speak with authorities and asked for a lawyer, police said, adding that they found a semi-automatic weapon and ammunition in a backpack he was carrying.

After his arrest, police posted photos of Reinking in the back of a police car, looking disheveled and wearing a ripped maroon shirt and jeans.

“He looked like he was tired,” said Nashville police lieutenant Carlos Lara.

Reinking is accused of using an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle to rain bullets at the Waffle House restaurant while wearing nothing but a jacket.

He was stopped by James Shaw, 29, a restaurant patron hailed as a hero for wrestling away the rifle.

Reinking then shed his jacket, returned to his nearby apartment home, put on clothes and fled, according to police.

The Nashville metropolitan area of 1.8 million people was on edge for more than a day as armed federal, state and local police looked for the suspect.

Gunman’s past

As the manhunt ended, the actions of Reinking’s father came into sharper scrutiny.

Reinking was arrested at the White House in July 2017, when he entered a restricted area of the presidential grounds.

He demanded to see Donald Trump and declared himself a “sovereign citizen,” a designation used by anti-government extremists, according to The Tennessean newspaper.

Police rescinded Reinking’s firearms ownership authorization in the Midwestern state of Illinois, where he lived at the time.

They seized his four weapons and handed them to his father. But his father returned the weapons to his son, according to police.

“From our perspective, after the incident at the White House… we were able to effectively neutralize what we felt was the threat at the time by ensuring that he did not have the ability to purchase or own weapons,” said FBI Special Agent Matt Espenshade.

Reinking’s father could face charges for his actions, said Marcus Watson of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

“If you transfer weapons to a person that is knowingly prohibited, that could be a violation of federal law,” Watson said.

Reinking’s mental health was also under scrutiny.

Nashville police spokesman Don Aaron confirmed that Reinking “exhibited mental instability over many months,” but said investigators did not have a motive for the attack.

Reinking recently had been fired from a job at a construction crane company for exhibiting signs of paranoia, according to The Tennessean.

Family members had told police he believed singer Taylor Swift was stalking him, according to The New York Times.

Authorities confirmed that Taurean Sanderlin, 29, Joe Perez, 20, and DeEbony Groves, 21, were killed at the restaurant.

A fourth victim, 23-year-old Akilah Dasilva, died at a hospital.

The Sir John Monash Centre, in the Somme region of northern France which became synonymous with slaughter during the 1914-18 war, uses lifesize videos of soldiers and a 360-degree cinema to bring the role of Australian troops to life.

“It’s designed for visitors to leave with a better understanding of the role of Australians on the Western Front, right here where they fought,” said its director Caroline Bartlett.

Australian premier Malcolm Turnbull and France’s Edouard Philippe will officially open the museum at the Australian National Memorial, 100 years to the day since the Battle of nearby Villers-Bretonneux.

On Wednesday — Anzac Day, Australia’s national day of remembrance — Britain’s Prince Charles will join the two leaders and nearly 8,000 other people at a solemn dawn ceremony to remember the dead.

German troops seized the town of Villers-Bretonneux on April 24, 1918 on a major westwards push towards the end of the war.

But Australian and British troops, backed by French forces, pulled off a dangerous counter-offensive, stopping a German advance towards the highly strategic neighbouring city of Amiens.

Australia sent more than 295,000 soldiers to France and Belgium to help allied forces between 1916 and 1918.

Some 46,000 of them died and more than 130,000 were injured — huge losses for a nation that had a population of only five million at the time.

More than 2,000 of the young Australians who lost their lives in the war — the average soldier sent to the Western Front was 23 years old — are buried at the National Memorial in what is now peaceful countryside.

The site’s new museum, which cost 63 million euros ($76 million) to develop and opened to the public earlier this month, is named after Australian general John Monash.

Along with hundreds of screens projecting archive footage, it will display soldiers’ diaries, photographs and letters, while visitors will be able to enter a recreation of the trenches.

Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson advised on the filming of new scenes for the museum’s video displays shot in Australia, France and New Zealand to bring the experience of trench warfare to life.

He also lent the museum two World War I planes from his personal collection for the films, which took more than a year to produce.

The blaze took place after midnight in a three-storey building in Qingyuan City, Guangdong province, and was put out shortly before 1:00 am local time, according to the police.

A preliminary investigation found that the fire was caused by arson, the Qingyuan public security department said on its Weibo social media account.

“The public security authorities are stepping up their investigation,” it said.

The police statement did not describe the location of the fire but the official Xinhua news agency said it occurred in a KTV house, or karaoke lounge.

Deadly fires are common in China, where safety regulations are widely flouted and enforcement is often lax.

A blaze that killed 38 people at a nursing home in 2015 sparked soul-searching about safety standards in China. Courts jailed 21 people, including firefighters and government staff, over the fire last year.

In the days following the accident, China’s top safety watchdog said the facility had poorly-designed fire exits, while safety checks, fire and electricity management, and the emergency response system were all found lacking.

More than two dozen people were killed in two fires in Beijing’s migrant neighbourhoods late last year. The first blaze, which killed 19 people in November, prompted authorities to begin tearing down unsafe buildings in the capital, driving residents out in the middle of winter.