Japan’s Okinawa to hold referendum on US base move

Tokyo: Japan’s Okinawa region voted on Friday to hold a non-binding referendum on a deeply unpopular plan to relocate a US military base, in the latest twist to a long-running saga. The decision, by local politicians, comes a month after residents elected a new governor who opposes plans to move the US Marines’ Futenma Air Station from an urban area to a sparsely populated part of the island. AFP 

‘World’s smallest optical gyroscope developed’

Los Angeles: Scientists have developed the world’s smallest optical gyroscope-device that helps vehicles, drones, and wearable and handheld electronic devices know their orientation in three-dimensional space. The new gyroscope, described in the journal Nature Photonics, is 500 times smaller than the current state-of-the-art device. The smallest high-performance gyroscopes today are bigger than a golf ball. PTI

Asma posthumously awarded UN rights prize

Islamabad: The late Pakistani human rights activist and lawyer Asma Jahangir was announced as one of the four winners of the 2018 UN Human Rights Prize on Friday. The three other recipients are Tanzanian activist Rebeca Gyumi, Brazil’s first indigenous lawyer Joenia Wapichana and Ireland’s human rights organisation Front Line Defenders. Jahangir became the fourth Pakistani woman to be awarded the prize after Begum Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan (1978), Benazir Bhutto (2008) and Malala Yousufzai (2013). IANS