JAPAN
US sailors jailed for rape
Two US sailors who raped a woman in Okinawa in October last year, sparking island-wide anger, have been jailed for nine and 10 years, a report said. The Naha District Court said Christopher Browning, 24, should be jailed for 10 years, while Skyler Dozierwalker, 23, should serve nine years, Jiji Press reported. Earlier this week the two men had admitted the offense, which led to a nationwide nighttime curfew on all US military personnel in the nation. Despite the curfew, misconduct involving US servicemen, much of it drunken, has continued to fuel anti-US sentiment in communities with bases.
IRAQ
Attacks kill 26 people
Bombings in and around Baghdad, including two car bombs near a soccer field, killed at least 23 people on Thursday, while three people were shot dead in the north of the country, security and medical officials said. With the latest violence, more than 210 people were killed and over 550 wounded in attacks last month, according to security and medical sources.
NEW ZEALAND
Court rules against Dotcom
US prosecutors won a Wellington court victory yesterday in their battle to extradite Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom and three colleagues accused of facilitating massive copyright fraud through the now-defunct online file-sharing site. The appeals court overturned an earlier ruling that would have allowed Dotcom and the others broad access to evidence in the case against them at the time of their extradition hearing, which is scheduled for August. The court ruled that extensive disclosure would bog down the process and that a summary of the US case would suffice.
SOUTH KOREA
Troops join joint exercises
Thousands of US troops converged on the nation yesterday for the start of annual joint military exercises, a report said, as tensions run high on the peninsula following North Korea’s third nuclear test. A joint air, ground and naval field training exercise known as Foal Eagle is to run until April 30, involving more than 10,000 US troops along with a far greater number of South Korean personnel. Separately, troops from both nations are to stage a computer-simulated drill named Key Resolve from March 11 to March 21. Pyongyang habitually denounces the drills as a rehearsal for invasion, but Seoul and Washington insist they are defensive in nature.
UNITED STATES
Vegas shooting suspect held
A multi-state manhunt came to an end when a self-described pimp was arrested near Los Angeles one week after a vehicle-to-vehicle shooting and spectacular, fiery crash that killed three people on Las Vegas’ main boulevard, police said. Ammar Harris, 26, surrendered on Thursday to police and federal agents, authorities said. Harris, whose Internet posts show him with fists full of money boasting of a high-rolling lifestyle with prostitutes, was the subject of a multi-state search after the Feb. 21 attack at a neon-lit intersection that is home to posh casino resorts. Court documents allege Harris was driving his black Range Rover SUV when he fired into a Maserati sports car, killing self-promoted rapper Kenneth Wayne Cherry Jr. The two men had argued minutes earlier in the valet area of an upmarket Las Vegas Strip resort.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was