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.
Le Tuan Binh keeps his Moroccan soldier father’s tombstone at his village home north of Hanoi, a treasured reminder of a man whose community in Vietnam has been largely forgotten. Mzid Ben Ali, or “Mohammed” as Binh calls him, was one of tens of thousands of North Africans who served in the French army as it battled to maintain its colonial rule of Indochina. He fought for France against the Viet Minh independence movement in the 1950s, before leaving the military — as either a defector or a captive — and making a life for himself in Vietnam. “It’s very emotional for me,”
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Central Committee is to gather in July for a key meeting known as a plenum, the third since the body of elite decisionmakers was elected in 2022, focusing on reforms amid “challenges” at home and complexities broad. Plenums are important events on China’s political calendar that require the attendance of all of the Central Committee, comprising 205 members and 171 alternate members with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at the helm. The Central Committee typically holds seven plenums between party congresses, which are held once every five years. The current central committee members were elected at the
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed his pledge to replace India’s religion-based marriage and inheritance laws with a uniform civil code if he returns to office for a third term, a move that some minority groups have opposed. In an interview with the Times of India listing his agenda, Modi said his government would push for making the code a reality. “It is clear that separate laws for communities are detrimental to the health of society,” he said in the interview published yesterday. “We cannot be a nation where one community is progressing with the support of the Constitution while the other
CODIFYING DISCRIMINATION: Transgender people would be sentenced to three years in prison, while same-sex relations could land a person in jail for more than a decade Iraq’s parliament on Saturday passed a bill criminalizing same-sex relations, which would receive a sentence of up to 15 years in prison, in a move rights groups condemned as an “attack on human rights.” Transgender people would be sentenced to three years’ jail under the amendments to a 1988 anti-prostitution law, which were adopted during a session attended by 170 of 329 lawmakers. A previous draft had proposed capital punishment for same-sex relations, in what campaigners had called a “dangerous” escalation. The new amendments enable courts to sentence people engaging in same-sex relations to 10 to 15 years in prison, according to the