SOUTH KOREA
Drill against North planned
The government yesterday said it would begin next week an annual, large-scale military exercise aimed at countering threats from North Korea. The week-long Hoguk exercise beginning on Thursday next week will involve 240,000 army, navy, air force and marine corps personnel, along with police officers, a Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman told reporters. About 500 US soldiers will also take part. Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been raised in the past month by a series of maritime border confrontations, defections and a new deal with the US to nearly triple the range of the national missile systems. There are also widespread concerns that Pyongyang might do something in the run up to December’s presidential election.
UNITED STATES
Dissident granted asylum
Chinese dissident and author Yu Jie (余杰) said late on Wednesday he was granted asylum in the US last week and plans to start a Web site in support of his friend, imprisoned Chinese 2010 Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波). Yu, who was in New York to receive the Civil Courage Prize, came to the US in January after being detained several times last year and being beaten so badly that he passed out. He wrote a book critical of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) called China’s Best Actor: Wen Jiabao and helped found the Independent PEN Center in China, which fights for freedom of expression. He plans to settle in Virginia and publish Liu’s works online, Yu said. Liu was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2009 for co-authoring a bold call for ending single-party rule and enacting democratic reforms.
JAPAN
Director Wakamatsu dies
Award-winning Japanese director Koji Wakamatsu, whose film career started in pornography and ended in acclaimed independent productions, has died after being hit by a taxi in Tokyo on Friday last week, an aide said yesterday. Wakamatsu was 76 and had only two weeks ago been named Asian Filmmaker of the Year at the region’s biggest film festival in Busan, South Korea, for his contribution to independent cinema. Interviewed by reporters in Busan, the Caterpillar director had said he felt his films were undervalued in his home country “so this is a great honor for me.” Wakamatsu first came to international attention when Secrets Behind The Wall was featured at the 1965 Berlin International Film Festival. In a career that spanned more than 100 movies, he was as noted for his work exploring strong social themes as he was for his adult films.
AUSTRALIA
Gillard redefines misogyny
A fiery speech against sexism by Prime Minister Julia Gillard has prompted the textbook of Australian English to broaden the definition of “misogyny” to better fit the heated political debate raging in the country. Gillard last week used a parliamentary debate to launch a strong attack against conservative Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, accusing him of being a misogynist for once suggesting men were better adapted to exercise authority, and saying that abortion was “the easy way out,” among other things. The speech has since become an Internet hit. In response, the Macquarie Dictionary has decided to broaden the definition of “misogyny” to better match the way the word has been used over the past 30 years. The dictionary currently defines misogyny as “hatred of women,” but will now add a second definition to include “entrenched prejudice against women,” suggesting Abbott discriminated against women with his sexist views.
UNITED KINGDOM
Barley genome unveiled
An international consortium of scientists has published a high-resolution draft of the barley genome in a move that could not only improve yields and disease resistance, but may also hold the key to better beer. “This research will streamline efforts to improve barley production through breeding for improved varieties,” said Professor Robbie Waugh, of Scotland’s James Hutton Institute, who led the research. “This could be varieties better able to withstand pests and disease, deal with adverse environmental conditions, or even provide grain better suited for beer and brewing.” Barley which has been malted is a key ingredient in brewing beer along with hops and yeast.
MEXICO
Drug lord’s parents probed
Mexico’s top anti-drug prosecutor says authorities are seeking permits to exhume the remains of the parents of deceased drug lord Heriberto Lazcano, to obtain material for DNA testing. The testing is aimed at confirming that a body stolen from a funeral home Oct. 8 was indeed Lazcano’s. The navy says Lazcano’s body was identified through fingerprints after he was killed in a shootout with marines on Oct. 7. Prosecutor Jose Cuitlahuac Salinas said on Wednesday that Lazcano’s parents died years ago, and are buried in central Hidalgo state. He did not say what sample from the body would be used for comparison, but an autopsy was performed before the body was stolen and officials apparently saved blood or bloody clothing.
ITALY
Milan McDonald’s closes
Milan’s Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, with its glittering Gucci and Louis Vuitton stores, has long attracted tourists eager to marvel at the posh heart of the world’s fashion capital. For two decades, the marble-floored arcade has also been the location for a branch of McDonald’s. The restaurant was a popular meeting point. However, apparently not everyone was “lovin’ it.” On Tuesday, the restaurant closed its doors for the last time — to make way for a new Prada outlet. “For stores like Prada or Gucci, to have a McDonald’s across from them probably didn’t play well into the prestige of the gallery,” Italian luxury adviser Salvo Spagna said. Reports suggested McDonald’s is planning to sue the City of Milan for 24 million euros (US$31 million) in damages and lost revenue, though others speculated they had struck a deal. During the day, several thousand young people queued up outside the restaurant (one of Italy’s busiest McDonald’s locations) to mourn its closing and get one last burger, which the chain gave away free in order to “go away with a smile,” according to company representatives.
UNITED STATES
Guards drunk, on drugs
A private security company working for the US government in Afghanistan is in hot water after a video surfaced allegedly showing several of its employees drunk and on drugs, US broadcaster ABC reported on Wednesday. The video posted on the Web site of ABC purportedly taken at an operations center belonging to US defense contractor Jorge Scientific shows men with nude torsos downing vodka shots and wrestling with each other. Another man, identified as the medic of the group, is shown in a dazed state after shooting up with Ketamine, a strong anesthetic. Contractors working for the US Army are banned from the use of alcohol and drugs. The cellphone video, shot earlier this year, was provided to ABC by two former employees of the company, Jorge Scientific.
‘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
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
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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