JAPAN
IAEA mulls Fukushima office
The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog said the agency was considering opening a branch office in Fukushima to monitor efforts to contain the world’s worst atomic accident since Chernobyl, a report said. The government has struggled with public trust over nuclear energy since the March 11 disaster last year and had asked the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to open an office, which will help share information on the crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. A press officer for the IAEA in Tokyo, who is accompanying an ongoing mission to Japan, said no firm decision had yet been made, but that the government’s request was being given “careful consideration.”
CHINA
Fireworks send smog soaring
Clouds of smoke from Lunar New Year fireworks sent air pollution in Beijing soaring under a new more sensitive measurement system, reports said yesterday. Readings of fine particulate matter called PM2.5 reached 1.593mg per cubic meter on the Jan. 22 eve of the holiday, about 100 times worse than the amount considered good for 24-hour exposure, the city’s environmental bureau said. The reading drew wide publicity in the media yesterday. The popular Beijing Youth Daily praised the city government for taking a more critical look at air pollution, while urging residents to consider the environmental effects of setting off fireworks. Readings on Saturday averaged about 0.07 before spiking again during the nightly fireworks barrage, hitting a height of 0.124 at 10pm.
IRAN
‘Drug traffickers’ killed
Border guards killed six alleged “drug traffickers” said to have crossed from Pakistan, the official IRNA news agency said on Saturday. The six were shot dead after they allegedly crossed the border and opened fire, the report said quoting the Iranian Sistan-Baluchestan Province border police. More than 1,000kg of opium and hashish were seized, the report said.
EGYPT
French tourist killed
A French tourist was killed in a shooting in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh on Saturday after a group of Bedouins opened fire while trying to rob a currency exchange, police said on Saturday. Two police officials said the 42-year-old man died immediately from gunshot wounds to the stomach and thigh. They said the gunmen began shooting after police arrived on the scene and tried to stop them from robbing the money exchange. A German tourist and two Egyptians were also wounded, the officials said. The gunmen escaped with an unknown amount of money. Sharm el-Sheikh, 400km southeast of Cairo, is a popular tourist destination.
UNITED STATES
Lobbyists end Egypt contracts
Lobbyists representing the Egyptian government in Washington have ended their contracts with their client following a raid by Egyptian authorities on several US nonprofit organizations, the New York Times reported late on Saturday. The newspaper said the move came after Egyptian authorities slapped a travel ban on several US citizens working for NGOs, preventing them from leaving the country. The International Republican Institute, whose Egypt director Sam LaHood — was among those banned from travel, according to Egyptian officials.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of