■JAPAN
Arms exports ban relaxed
Tokyo has decided to relax its self-imposed ban on arms exports to allow more joint development and production of weapons with other nations, the Nikkei Shimbun reported yesterday. The new measure would “enable shipments to countries with which Japan co-develops arms,” the newspaper said without citing sources. “The move is aimed at reducing procurement costs and stimulating the domestic defense industry by promoting joint development and production of key arms, such as next-generation fighter jets, with the US and Europe,” it said. By taking a more active role in US or European military development programs, Japan hopes to reduce the purchasing cost of major equipment such as jets, the paper said. Tokyo however would continue to prohibit arms exports to nations that are state sponsors of terrorism, violate the human rights or lack sufficient controls over arms sales, it said.
■AUSTRALIA
Asylum seekers intercepted
A boat carrying more than 70 suspected asylum seekers was intercepted yesterday, the latest in a string of such vessels stopped this year. A navy patrol intercepted the boat 11km north of Ashmore Island in the Indian Ocean, Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus said in a statement. The 73 passengers and four crew members were being taken to Christmas Island, where the government detains and processes refugee applicants. A recent rise in boat arrivals has stoked a political debate over immigration. Last year, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd relaxed the mandatory detention policy for asylum seekers and allowed full residency visas for those who are accepted as refugees, rather than temporary visas granted by previously. The opposition says the decision made Australia a more attractive destination.
■CHINA
Waitress not raped: police
Police said yesterday that a young woman accused of murdering an official during an alleged sex attack was not raped, the latest development in a scandal that has shocked the nation. Lawyers for waitress Deng Yujiao (鄧玉嬌), 21, have insisted that she was sexually violated on May 10 when she fatally stabbed local official Deng Guida (鄧貴大) in a Hubei Province spa and karaoke parlor where she worked. Deng Yujiao has won widespread sympathy and been deemed a heroine by the media after she allegedly killed Deng Guida when he and two other local officials tried to force her to have sex at the Dream Town spa and karaoke bar. Following the killing, the waitress turned herself into the police and remains in custody, charged with murder. State press reports said the officials arrived at the spa after a drinking bout and beat the girl with a wad of cash after she insisted that she was only a waitress and did not provide sexual services. After repeatedly forcing her down onto a sofa, the young waitress pulled out a manicure knife and stabbed the official, the reports said.
■HONG KONG
One arrested for forced strip
Police on Saturday arrested a suspect alleged to have forced a man to strip naked and walk down the street in broad daylight, in an incident then uploaded to YouTube. Tens of thousands of people have watched the two-and-a-half-minute clip, which shows a man being beaten with an umbrella outside a 7-Eleven store and then forced to strip naked and walk in a circle in the middle of the street. The video, apparently recorded and uploaded by a resident watching the incident from an apartment overlooking the street, triggered a police investigation and has now been removed from YouTube.
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