JAPAN
iPhone maps dispute
Apple’s new iPhone 5 may have been criticized for its glitch-ridden new maps program, but it may have inadvertently provided a diplomatic solution to China and Japan’s ongoing row over the disputed Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The new smartphone, which has dumped Google Maps in favor of its own version, has been ridiculed for misplacing major landmarks, shifting towns and even creating a new airport. However, amid a row over an outcrop of islands claimed by Tokyo and Beijing, as well as Taipei, Apple’s new iO6 software has provided a resolution of sorts. When a user searches for the islands, two sets of the islands appear alongside each other. “The map has one set of islands for each country. Is this a message from Apple that we civilians must not get engaged in a pointless dispute?” a Japanese blogger wrote.
south korea
Bridge collapse kills two
Two workers were killed and 12 others injured yesterday when the bridge they were building in the northern city of Paju collapsed, according to media reports.
A 55m-long section of the 539m-long bridge over the Imjin River collapsed, causing the workers to fall 15m down onto gravel and muddy ground, Yonhap news agency said. Most of the injured were listed as being in serious conditions in nearby hospitals. Police were investigating whether there was any breach of safety regulations, Yonhap said.
PHILIPPINES
‘Secret marshals’ deployed
Plain-clothed “secret marshals” have been deployed on public transport in Manila with orders to shoot down armed robbers in a crackdown against violent crime, the city’s newly appointed police chief said on Friday. In a message to armed criminals who victimize bus and public transport users, Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina said: “If you want to live longer, then stop your criminality, stop the crimes that you create, because if you give us the opportunity to [get into a firefight] with you, we will do so.” The police chief, who assumed his post two weeks ago, was speaking on a tour of police stations in the capital of 15 million people, and warned holdup men that “numerous secret marshals” had been deployed.
AFGHANISTAN
Pakistani papers banned
Afghanistan banned all Pakistani newspapers from entering the country on Friday in an attempt to block the Taliban from influencing public opinion via the press. The order, issued by the Ministry of Interior, adds to the mounting tension between the neighboring countries. It focuses specifically on blocking entry of the papers at Torkham, a busy border crossing, and directed border police to gather up Pakistani newspapers in the three eastern provinces of Nangarhar, Kunar and Nuristan. In a statement, the ministry said the newspapers were a conduit for Taliban propaganda.
“The news is not based in reality and it is creating concerns for our countrymen in the eastern provinces of Afghanistan,” the ministry said in a statement. “Also, the newspapers are a propaganda resource of the Taliban spokesmen.” The tensions between the two countries were highlighted on Thursday at a UN Security Council meeting, when Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul called on Pakistan to stop shelling in the border province of Kunar, which he said has killed dozens of civilians.
VENEZUELA
Major gold mine deal inked
Venezuela and China signed an agreement on Friday to develop together one of the world’s biggest gold mines, with plans to exploit both the yellow metal and cooper there. President Hugo Chavez made the announcement after meeting at the Miraflores presidential palace with a delegation from China’s state-run International Trust and Investment Corp (CITIC) headed by its president, Chang Zhenming (常振明), about the deal to develop Las Cristinas mine in southern Venezuela. Last year, the Canadian firm Crystallex sought international arbitration against Venezuela after Caracas canceled its contract to develop Las Cristinas. Crystallex obtained the concession in 2002. Chavez, whose statement was carried on official VTV television, said that a second agreement was reached to produce a mineral deposits map for Venezuela, which he called a “high-caliber project” for the country’s development. Energy and Petroleum Minister Rafael Ramirez later said the map was a five-year project. Ramirez also said that Venezuela has contracts with CITIC to build 30,000 homes — 24,000 of which are already being built — as part of an ambitious government plan to make a dent in the country’s desperate lack of housing.
UNITED STATES
Contentious ads to go ahead
Starting tomorrow, advertisements describing Muslim militants as “savages” are to appear in New York’s subway system, courtesy of a right-wing US anti-Islamic group. “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad,” read the adverts that the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) paid to be shown in the sprawling subway. AFDI chief Pamela Geller told CNN: “I’m running them because I can.” The conservative activist, who runs the Atlas Shrugs blog and heads a group called Stop Islamization of America, defended her use of the word “savage,” claiming that jihad, in the sense of holy war, targets innocent people. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups, described Geller as “the anti-Muslim movement’s most visible and flamboyant figurehead.”
UNITED STATES
Tiger attacks cage-invader
A man was mauled by a 181kg tiger after leaping from a moving monorail train and plummeting over a protective fence at the Bronx Zoo, authorities said. The man was alone with the tiger for about 10 minutes on Friday before he was rescued by zoo officials, who used a fire extinguisher to chase it away. He suffered bites and punctures on his arms, legs, shoulders and back and broke an arm and a leg. Zoo director Jim Breheny said the man was lucky to escape the tiger’s clutches. “If not for the quick response by our staff and their ability to perform well in emergency situations, the outcome would have been very different,” Breheny said.
UNITED STATES
Tsunami flotsam hits Hawaii
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said a large plastic storage bin is the first confirmed piece of marine debris from last year’s Japanese tsunami to arrive in Hawaii. NOAA spokesman Ben Sherman says Japanese consular officials confirmed on Friday that the blue bin is from Fukushima. Makai Ocean Engineering staff spotted the bin floating in the ocean off Waimanalo earlier this week. Sherman says it is the 12th confirmed piece of tsunami debris to arrive in US or Canadian waters.
PRECARIOUS RELATIONS: Commentators in Saudi Arabia accuse the UAE of growing too bold, backing forces at odds with Saudi interests in various conflicts A Saudi Arabian media campaign targeting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has deepened the Gulf’s worst row in years, stoking fears of a damaging fall-out in the financial heart of the Middle East. Fiery accusations of rights abuses and betrayal have circulated for weeks in state-run and social media after a brief conflict in Yemen, where Saudi airstrikes quelled an offensive by UAE-backed separatists. The United Arab Emirates is “investing in chaos and supporting secessionists” from Libya to Yemen and the Horn of Africa, Saudi Arabia’s al-Ekhbariya TV charged in a report this week. Such invective has been unheard of
‘TERRORIST ATTACK’: The convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri resulted in the ‘martyrdom of five of our armed forces,’ the Presidential Leadership Council said A blast targeting the convoy of a Saudi Arabian-backed armed group killed five in Yemen’s southern city of Aden and injured the commander of the government-allied unit, officials said on Wednesday. “The treacherous terrorist attack targeting the convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri, commander of the Second Giants Brigade, resulted in the martyrdom of five of our armed forces heroes and the injury of three others,” Yemen’s Saudi Arabia-backed Presidential Leadership Council said in a statement published by Yemeni news agency Saba. A security source told reporters that a car bomb on the side of the road in the Ja’awla area in
US President Donald Trump on Saturday warned Canada that if it concludes a trade deal with China, he would impose a 100 percent tariff on all goods coming over the border. Relations between the US and its northern neighbor have been rocky since Trump returned to the White House a year ago, with spats over trade and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney decrying a “rupture” in the US-led global order. During a visit to Beijing earlier this month, Carney hailed a “new strategic partnership” with China that resulted in a “preliminary, but landmark trade agreement” to reduce tariffs — but
SCAM CLAMPDOWN: About 130 South Korean scam suspects have been sent home since October last year, and 60 more are still waiting for repatriation Dozens of South Koreans allegedly involved in online scams in Cambodia were yesterday returned to South Korea to face investigations in what was the largest group repatriation of Korean criminal suspects from abroad. The 73 South Korean suspects allegedly scammed fellow Koreans out of 48.6 billion won (US$33 million), South Korea said. Upon arrival in South Korea’s Incheon International Airport aboard a chartered plane, the suspects — 65 men and eight women — were sent to police stations. Local TV footage showed the suspects, in handcuffs and wearing masks, being escorted by police officers and boarding buses. They were among about 260 South
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