JAPAN
Reactors unsafe: newspaper
Regulators have found inadequate fireproofing at more than one-fifth of the nuclear reactors that went offline after the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi crisis, a major daily said yesterday. The finding could delay their restart by several years in some cases, the Mainichi Shimbun said. More than 10 of the nation’s 50 reactors, excluding those at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, have flaws in fireproofing, the paper quoted sources at the industry ministry and the Nuclear Regulation Authority as saying.
JAPAN
Population in decline
The nation’s population logged a record drop last year, health ministry estimates showed yesterday, highlighting concerns that an ever-dwindling pool of workers is having to pay for a growing number of pensioners. A record low 1,033,000 babies were born last year, against 1,245,000 deaths, resulting in a net drop of 212,000 in the nation’s population of about 126 million, ministry figures showed. The decline is sharper than in 2011 when the annual decline topped 200,000 for the first time as 19,000 people lost their lives in a 9.0 earthquake and massive tsunami that followed.
AUSTRALIA
Shark scares swimmers
Thousands of bathers enjoying the hot New Year’s Day weather on Bondi Beach fled the water yesterday after a shark alert was sounded. The crowded sea was cleared in a matter of minutes after authorities raised the alarm when a surf patrol boat said it had seen what it thought could have been a large shark. A helicopter was called in to scour the water, but found no sign of the animal and the beach was reopened 25 minutes later. Westpac Life Saver helicopter service later tweeted: “Offshore Rescue Boat has cleared Bondi Beach of any sharks following sighting at 4:15pm. Lifeguards have opened beach.”
PAKISTAN
Measle cases surge: WHO
The WHO says measles cases surged in the south of the country last year, with hundreds of children dying of the disease. The WHO did not give a reason for the increase in deaths, but a provincial health official said that the disease hit areas where poor families do not vaccinate their children. A spokesperson for the WHO said yesterday that 306 children died nationwide of measles last year, compared to 64 the year before. She said the jump was most pronounced in southern Sindh Province, where measles killed 210 children last year. Provincial health minister Saghir Ahmed said 100 children died in Sindh Province last month alone, mostly areas where many go unvaccinated.
INDIA
Alleged bomb plotter caught
Police yesterday arrested a man who was allegedly trying to plant a crude bomb near the home of one of the accused in the New Delhi gang-rape and murder case. The 37-year-old man was arrested in a slum in southwest Delhi where four of the six accused lived, an officer said. The low-grade device was filled with explosives usually used in firecrackers, he said. Two of the other accused come from outside Delhi, police said. The incident reflects growing anger across the country since the 23-year-old medical student was repeatedly assaulted and violated with an iron bar while being driven around in a bus on the night of Dec. 16. The victim died of her grievous injuries in a Singapore hospital on Saturday.
UNITED KINGDOM
Two held for bomb attempt
Two men were being held in custody in Northern Ireland yesterday after being arrested over the attempted murder of a police officer. The men, aged 34 and 25, were arrested on Monday in the Belfast area, a spokeswoman for the Police Service of Northern Ireland said. The targeted officer found the viable device underneath his car in east Belfast on Sunday. Army bomb disposal experts carried out a controlled explosion. A group calling itself the “New IRA,” or Irish Republican Army, claimed responsibility for the attack. Senior officers have said the attack could have killed the off-duty policeman and his family.
ITALY
Fireworks kill two
Two people were killed by exploding fireworks and 361 injured in New Year’s revelry despite multiple public awareness campaigns to encourage people to tone down the partying. A 49-year-old builder was killed by a rocket flying into his face and a 51-year-old restaurant owner died when a firecracker went off near his head as he was trying out a firework battery just before midnight, police said. Both accidents occurred in the Campania region in the south. A car apparently packed with illegal fireworks exploded in Naples on New Year’s Eve, severely injuring the two teenagers inside, police said. Dozens more were injured overnight in and around Naples, the capital of Campania, including a six-year-old girl and a five-year-old boy who were hospitalized with burns caused by explosions, but were later released. There were scores of injuries in other parts of the country too, with an 11-year-old Roma boy in Milan losing three fingers when an unexploded firecracker went off in his hand and one man losing the use of his hand due to a blast near Foggia.
CUBA
Guantanamo pair retire
The last two Cuban workers at the Guantanamo Bay US naval base retired on Monday from jobs they began more than five decades ago. Harry Henry, an 82-year-old office supply technician, and Luis La Rosa, a 79-year-old welder, had worked at the US base since they were teenagers. They were among thousands of Cuban workers who once commuted to the base each day. The US imposed an economic embargo, as well as a hiring freeze, to put pressure on the island’s communist government in 1962. Over the decades, the ranks of daily commuters thinned until only Henry and La Rosa were left. Henry had worked at the base for more than 61 years and La Rosa for more than 53 years. They also served as couriers, carrying US government pension payments to other Cubans who had retired from the base. Because of its embargo, the US government has been left scrambling to find another way to make those payments.
ZAMBIA
New bank notes introduced
The nation woke up yesterday to a new year and new bank notes, which lop off three zeros in a bid to address high inflation that made the currency cumbersome to work with. Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda launched the new Kwacha notes by assuring the public that the move to rebase the currency was meant to address previous bouts of depreciation. What was 1,000 kwacha is now 1 kwacha. Previously, 10,000 kwacha was worth roughly US$2. The new currency will run side by side with old Kwacha notes until June 30. “Although the old currency will cease to be legal tender on 30 June, it will be available for exchange at the Bank of Zambia, commercial banks for a period of 36 months until 31 December 2015,” Chikwanda said.
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
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
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