On Sunday (Mar 26), a 1,194-member election committee will be tasked to pick Hong Kong's fourth chief executive.
The election will be the first since the 2014 Occupy protests that pushed for a "one man, one vote" system to pick the chief executive, a role with a five-year term. The 79-day street protests had failed to push the government into agreeing to democratic reforms.
For the first time, the pro-democracy camp is holding 326 votes or more than a quarter of the total. It has pledged more than 290 votes for Mr John Tsang, who is seen as the underdog in the race.
A candidate needs at least 601 votes to win, but the outcome of the race is widely seen to have already been determined by the central government in Beijing.
Another bit of instability in the Asia/Pacific region from The Australian:
Police fire on looters as Port Moresby city block blazes
RHIAN DEUTROM
Police fired on hundreds of looters in Papua New Guinea’s capital, Port Moresby, yesterday, after a deliberately-lit fire caused widespread damage to community services and businesses.
The blaze broke out in a building in the city late on Thursday evening, and then quickly spread down the street.
In a few hours, the fire took out an entire block, which had businesses and medical facilities mixed with homes.
A couple of news items about the environment, the first from mining.com:
World’s first seabed mine to begin production in 2019
Canada’s Nautilus Minerals (TSX:NUS), the world's first yet not the only seafloor miner, is on track to start operations at its Solwara 1 gold, copper and silver project off the coast of Papua Guinea in early 2019.
The Toronto-based company, which also is developing another underwater project, off the coast of Mexico, expects to have all its undersea mining tools ready to go by mid-next year, so it can kick-off operations at the Bismarck Sea-based project shortly after, chief executive Mike Johnston told Seeker.com.
From the Samoa Observer:
Ministry moves on illegal fish sales
By Aruna Lolani , 25 March 2017
The Fisheries Division of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries is serious about stopping the sale of undersized fish.
This is the assurance from Fisheries Compliance Officer, Tologata Tamaleaoa Leilua. He was responding to questions about the number of illegal undersized fish being sold around the country.
A member of the public had raised the concern with the Weekend Observer, saying she was concerned that if the practice continues, the future generations will have not much seafood to depend upon.
From The Independent:
Severe weather causing delays to half of commuters at least once a month, Earth Hour poll finds
Survey finds more than half of people don’t think their lives are affected by climate change, but increased rainfall and flooding in the UK have been linked to the rise in global temperatures
The WWF event takes place at 8.30pm on Saturday, when people and businesses are urged to switch off their lights as a symbolic gesture about the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by saving energy.
The environmental campaign group surveyed nearly 3,000 people to find out their attitudes to global warming, renewable forms of transport and the effect of bad weather on their commute.
They found that nearly 86.8 per cent of people cared about climate change – either a lot (43.8 per cent) or somewhat (43 per cent). Just 13.2 per cent said they “don’t really care”.
Instead of just art, let’s end with art and food (yay!):
From NewstalkZB (New Zealand):
Crowd of thousands expected for 25th Pasifika Festival
More than 220 performance groups and 60,000 visitors are heading to Western Springs Park in Auckland for the 25th Pasifika Festival this weekend.
Organisers say entry is free and this year there are 11 villages wrapping around the lake. Each village represents a Pacific Island nation and has a distinctly different vibe.
Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED) delivers Pasifika in conjunction with Orange Productions, on behalf of Auckland Council.
A strong youth contingent will share stages with some of the original Pasifika Festival founders throughout the weekend, says ATEED head of major events Charmaine Ngarimu said.
A link to a story from NPR’s Splendid Table:
Every bite is precious: Buddhist cooking in Japan
Local, seasonal food might be a relatively new trend in American cooking, but in Japan it’s part of a Buddhist tradition that dates back centuries. Japanese monks are now teaching a new generation of chefs to use seasonal ingredients – and zen principles – to elevate their cooking. Abigail Leonard is a Tokyo-based reporter/producer who covers Japanese culture and politics. She produced a wonderful field report about Buddhist shojin ryori ("devotion cuisine"). Listen to the story via the audio player above. Leonard also shared these related links for travelers wishing to seek out shojin ryori restaurants and cooking classes in Japan.
Also from NPR:
A Food Festival Celebrates The Rebirth Of Jewish Life In Berlin
Inside a Berlin bookstore on a recent Friday night, an unusual scene unfolded. Thirty people sat around a long table, sharing Israeli-Moroccan dishes like matbucha (a side of roasted red peppers and tomatoes), ptitim (a toasted pasta shaped in little balls) and a modern twist on the traditional challah or egg bread — a vegan one filled with dry fruits, quinoa, herbs and pomegranate juice.
They were celebrating the end of the week and the beginning of a day of rest, known as the Sabbath in Jewish communities. While observant Jews commonly have a Sabbath dinner on Friday nights called Shabbat, many of the guests were non-Jewish Germans who purchased tickets.
The Shabbat celebration in the book store was a pop-up dinner organized by a new Israeli business called Kiddush in conjunction with the March 19 start of Berlin's first-ever Jewish food week celebration called Nosh Berlin.
From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
High art meets high-tech in Vatican 3D film about Raphael
- By JOSEPHINE McKENNA Religion News Service
VATICAN CITY • He was a child prodigy who became one of the most famous artists in the world, and more than 6 million tourists come to see his work at the Vatican Museums every year.
Raphael Sanzio, better known simply as Raphael, covered the walls of the pope’s Vatican palace in ornate frescoes and filled the Sistine Chapel with tapestries modeled on his designs before he died in 1520 at the age of 37.
Now, for the first time, the legendary Renaissance painter and architect is being celebrated on screen in a 3D docudrama produced by the Vatican Museums and media partners Sky and Nexo Digital, with the backing of the Italian cultural ministry.
And to end on a good note, with news from Kansas (via the New York Times):
Can the Arts Thrive Without Washington? A Kansas Town Says Yes
HAYS, Kan. — When taxpayer money for the arts started getting tight in Kansas, Brenda Meder began scrubbing toilets at the gallery she oversees here, rather than paying for custodial services. She cooked the finger food for receptions, instead of using a caterer. And she signed up more dues-paying members of the Hays Arts Council, a 49-year-old organization where she is the executive director and only full-time employee.
For Ms. Meder, a great purpose is at stake. There are the traveling performers’ visits to elementary schools that she arranges. The classes on stained glass and drawing. The quarterly art walks she organizes in the brick-paved downtown, where storefronts transform into makeshift galleries that draw hundreds of spectators from Hays and beyond.
And for the last six years, Ms. Meder has sustained all that without consistent financing from state and federal sources.
“When what you’re about is important enough to you, you will find a way,” said Ms. Meder, who grew up around here, roughly halfway between Denver and Kansas City, Mo. “And that’s how it always is with the arts.”