NIGERIA
Fire scorches Lagos slum
A massive fire tore through a waterfront slum in Lagos on Tuesday, burning down dozens of shack workshops and homes. When firefighters did not turn up, locals tried in vain to stop the blaze with buckets of water. The fire hit along the dirty shoreline of the Lagos Lagoon, an area full of sawmills that process lumber floated into the city from hundreds of kilometers away. Massive piles of sawdust and loose shavings fill the area. By Tuesday afternoon, a thick plume of smoke rose from the mills over the city’s long Third Mainland Bridge, which links the metropolis to its islands. Hours later after the sunset set, the stories-high fire still raged in the neighborhood. It was unclear if anyone was injured in the inferno.
JAPAN
Abe warned on Kono apology
An opposition lawmaker on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Shinzo Abe not to alter a two-decade-old apology to World War II sex slaves, saying a revision would be “counterproductive.” Abe, an outspoken conservative, called before taking office for a review of the landmark apology issued in 1993 by then-top government spokesman Yohei Kono — a move that would outrage its neighbors, particularly South Korea. On a visit to Washington, Democratic Party of Japan Legislator Motohiro Oono said that views on history should be left to academics. “We would like to request Mr Abe to have a cautious attitude to revising this historical issue,” Oono said. Yoshihide Suga, the chief spokesman for Abe’s government, has said only that experts should study the Kono statement. Up to 200,000 women from South Korea, along with other Asian nations and the Netherlands, are estimated to have been kidnapped and forced to work in brothels set up for Japanese soldiers.
UGANDA
Aid funds returned to Dublin
The government has returned to Ireland US$5 million of aid money that was embezzled by state officials, it said on Tuesday, promising to reimburse other governments in the hope of unblocking vital payments. Major Western donors cut off aid to the nation late last year, saying that about US$13 million in aid had been stolen. By reimbursing Ireland, Uganda hopes to thaw the aid freeze which risked putting a 0.7 percent dent in economic growth. “The government of Ireland has confirmed it will not take away the money, but it will use it for the same purpose, in northern Uganda,” Treasury Deputy Secretary Keith Muhakanizi told reporters. Muhakanizi said the government had “sacrificed some few things here and there,” to raise the money to reimburse donors, but did not give more details. Donor funding accounts for up to one-quarter of the nation’s annual budget.
INDIA
Rape suspect says not guilty
A third suspect accused of fatally gang-raping a 23-year-old student in a moving bus in New Delhi last month will plead not guilty to all charges, his lawyer said yesterday. Advocate M.L. Sharma said he would file the plea on behalf of Ram Singh, the driver of the bus on which the attack allegedly took place. Sharma is also representing Singh’s brother Mukesh and labourer Akshay Thakur in the case. The advocate on Tuesday said that the other two men would also plead not guilty to the string of charges including gang-rape, murder and kidnapping. “Whoever committed this heinous crime should be punished, but my clients are not the real culprits,” he said. All five men are residents of New Delhi slums aged from 19 to 35. A sixth accused, who is 17, is to be tried in a separate court for juveniles.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia