China

Small wonder - The fingertip of artistChen Forng-shean highlights the tiny size of his latest work, a miniature portrait of Taiwanese president- elect Tsai Ing-wen carved on a grain of rice. The Chinese characters with the portrait read: “Modest, modest and even more modest.” Photo: Reuters

Cry for fresh probe - Relatives of passengers on board Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which mysteriously disappeared on March 8, 2014, demand an open and transparent reinvestigation into the missing plane as they protest attheMalaysianembassyinBeijing yesterday. Photo: AP

Art of recycling - People walk around The Starry Paradise, a recreation of Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh’s painting The Starry Night – made entirely out of discarded plastic bottles – at the Embrace Cultural and Creative Park, in Keelung, Taiwan.Uptofourmillion plastic bottles were used in the new artwork, which covers 53hectaresofthe park. It was created at a cost of NT$90 million (HK$22 million) to help promote environmental protection. Photo: EPA

Disaster strikes - A primary school classroom stands in ruins after being hit by a landslide in Rongan, in the Guangxi (廣⻄西) Zhuang autonomous region, yesterday. The landslide struck at about noon, sending rocks and soil into part of the Liuliao Village School, which is located at the foot of a hill. Twenty pupils and one teacher were injured in the incident. Photo: Imaginechina

Close to extinction - The Malayan Tapir Awareness Campaign 2016, an art exhibition of 3,000 Malayan Tapir clay figurines made by schoolchildren across the country will be on show in Kuala Lumpur until May 8. Aimed at raising public awareness particularly among the younger generation about the possible extinction of the Malayan Tapir, arts collective ArtSemble has worked with a number of primary schools and children art centres since 2014 to produce these figurines. The Department of Wildlife and Natural Parks estimates that there are 1,100 Malayan Tapirs left in the wild. Photo: EPA

Explosion toll rises - An explosion killed 13 people and injured scores at a petrochemical plant on Mexico’s southern Gulf coast. The blast and ensuing fire caused evacuations in the area as a fire billowed a toxin-filled cloud intothe air. The state oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos, said a further 136 workers were injured in the blast on Wednesday afternoon in the industrial port city of Coatzacoalcos. Photos: Reuters, Xinhua, AFP

Alzheimer’s cure in sight - A treatment for Alzheimer’s disease in 10 years – that’s the goal for Professor Nancy Ip and her team at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology after they restored the memory of mice affected by dementia by injecting them with a protein. Photo: Dickson Lee

Sober reality - Police lead away suspects after a pre-dawn raid on an unlicensed bar in the BCC Building in Carnarvon Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, yesterday. Thirty-six people were arrested and officers seized HK$250,000 in cash, drugs worth about HK$35,000, liquor and weapons. Photo: Dickson Lee