JAPAN
Temp ends up in Fukushima
A man who applied for a temporary truck-driving job instead found himself deployed to the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, an employment official said on Monday. The man, in his early 60s, had applied for a job as a 9-tonne dump truck driver in Miyagi Prefecture, which was advertised for ¥12,000 (US$149) a day for 30 days, about a week after the March 11 quake. However, when he was taken to his new work location, he realized he was actually at the site of the atomic plant, Satoshi Hoshino of the Nishinari job center in Osaka said. The worker was under the supervision of plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co and ended up working for a full 30 days, he said. Hishino said a subcontractor in Gifu Prefecture who hired the man had said there had been a mix-up because the company had tried to gather workers for a broad variety of reconstruction tasks after the disaster.
CHINA
Hello Kitty park announced
The Japanese creators of Hello Kitty will build a theme park in China — the first on foreign soil, state media reported on Monday. The Hello Kitty-themed amusement park will be in the city of Anji in Zhejiang Province, the Xinhua news agency said, citing an agreement between Japan’s Sanrio Co and its local partner. The project, jointly designed by Sanrio and US-based amusement park designer Hettema, will cost US$215 million, with construction expected to start in the second half of this year and completed in 2014, it said. The complex will cover an area of 60 hectares that includes a theme park, hotel and catering services. There are two Hello Kitty theme parks in Japan.
INDIA
Women urged to phone less
The Punjab State Commission for Women issued an official advisory last week urging brides “to focus on their domestic life instead of having long conversations on mobile phones.” Commission head Gurdev Kaur Sangha said on Monday that the advice was designed to avoid suspicion between new couples as they adjust to their new life together. “I found that almost 40 percent of women consider seeking a divorce on the grounds that her husband and in-laws do not like her talking on mobile phones,” said Sangha, 70, from Chandigarh. Sangha said she had seen a rise in complaints from women about domestic violence, sexual harassment and family discord because of arguments over brides being constantly on the phone. The advisory said most newly married women were actually ringing their parents, but warned that passing on hourly updates about their new home was damaging.
INDIA
Swimwear charges mulled
A top court has agreed to consider criminal proceedings over an Australian brand of swimwear bearing the image of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi that has sparked angry protests. The Allahabad High Court in Uttar Pradesh state agreed to hear a “public interest litigation” yesterday, brought by lawyers over photographs of the swimwear published in a Hindi daily. The lawyers argued that the newspaper should not have published the photographs and that the central government should have pushed Australia to take action against the manufacturer, Lisa Blue Swimwear. The photographs were from a fashion show in Sydney last week that saw models take to the catwalk in swimsuits and bikinis covered in images of Lakshmi, the goddess of light, prosperity and fertility.
UNITED STATES
Sex class canceled
Students at Chicago’s Northwestern University won’t be able to take a popular course in human sexuality next year after a professor invited his class to watch a live sex show, officials said on Monday. The topic of the day was bondage, swinging and other fetishes. After the class was officially dismissed, professor John Michael Bailey invited students to stick around for a demonstration of sex toys and the female orgasm. About 100 students were in the auditorium when an exhibitionist couple offered to perform in February. Most stayed to watch as the woman undressed on stage and her male partner brought her to orgasm with a device that looked like a machine-powered saw with a phallic object instead of a blade. The story soon went viral and university officials were lambasted by angry parents and pundits.
UNITED STATES
Schwarzeneggers splitting
Former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife of 25 years, Maria Shriver, announced on Monday that they were separating. The statement, issued by a spokesman for Schwarzenegger, said the two were working on the future of their relationship while living apart and would continue to parent their four children together. “This has been a time of great personal and professional transition for each of us,” the two said in a prepared statement. “After a great deal of thought, reflection, discussion, and prayer, we came to this decision together.” Schwarzenegger, a Republican, finished his seven-year run as governor in January and has been traveling the speech circuit and pursuing various entertainment projects. The separation announcement comes months after the death of Shriver’s father, Peace Corps founder and former Democratic vice presidential candidate Sargent Shriver, in January.
UNITED STATES
Teen accused of matricide
Police said a 17-year-old in South Carolina shot his mother to death on Mother’s Day. A judge on Monday denied bond for Joshua David McEachern, who has been charged with murder. It is not clear if he has an attorney. Authorities said the teen shot his 59-year-old mother and 21-year-old brother on Sunday night at the family’s Greenville home. Police said he then called authorities to report the shooting. His brother is in critical condition. McEachern’s grandmother, Fran McEachern, said on Monday she last saw her grandson just more than a year ago and the teen had mental issues. She said he was a sweet boy, but never seemed normal.
GUATEMALA
Portillo charges dismissed
A court dismissed charges against former president Alfonso Portillo of embezzling public funds, ordering his immediate release on Monday but requiring him to stay in the country. The court said prosecutors did not present sufficient evidence to prove Portillo, 59, stole US$15 million from the military in 2001 and hid them in offshore accounts. Portillo must remain in the country and await the appeals process before its courts rule on an extradition request by the US. A federal grand jury in New York has requested Portillo’s extradition on charges of money laundering and French prosecutors are investigating similar allegations. Portillo maintained his innocence throughout the trial. Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz said the government would challenge the decision. The court also dismissed charges against former finance minister Manual Maza Castellanos and former defense minister Eduardo Arevalo as alleged conspirators.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
The pitch is a classic: A young celebrity with no climbing experience spends a year in hard training and scales Mount Everest, succeeding against some — if not all — odds. French YouTuber Ines Benazzouz, known as Inoxtag, brought the story to life with a two-hour-plus documentary about his year preparing for the ultimate challenge. The film, titled Kaizen, proved a smash hit on its release last weekend. Young fans queued around the block to get into a preview screening in Paris, with Inoxtag’s management on Monday saying the film had smashed the box office record for a special cinema