JAPAN
US spy plane to be deployed
The US military is set to deploy an unmanned spy plane to boost surveillance capabilities as North Korea apparently readied for missile launches, a newspaper report said yesterday. The Global Hawk will be stationed at the US airbase in Misawa in the first ever deployment of the aircraft in the country, the Sankei Shimbun reported, quoting government sources. The US military informed the government last month about plans to deploy the plane between June and September, but may bring the date forward, it said, following reports about North Korea’s preparations for missile launches. South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, citing a top South Korean government official, said North Korea had loaded two mid-range Musudan missiles on mobile launchers and hidden them in underground facilities near its east coast.
JAPAN
Possible radioactive leak
Radioactive water may have leaked into the ground from a tank at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the operator said yesterday, the latest in a series of troubles at the crippled facility. Up to 120 tonnes of contaminated water may have escaped from one of the seven underground reservoir tanks at the tsunami-damaged plant, according to a Tokyo Electric Power Co spokesman. The tank stores water used to cool down the reactors after radioactive caesium is removed, but other radioactive substances remain. The leakage came after one of the systems keeping spent atomic fuel cool at the plant temporarily failed on Friday, the second outage in a matter of weeks, underlining the precarious fix at the plant.
MYANMAR
Carter warns on violence
Former US president Jimmy Carter warned on Friday that deadly religious violence was undermining the country’s hard-won democratic reforms. At least 43 people were killed in Buddhist-Muslim unrest last month, marring international optimism about the nation’s emergence from decades of military rule. “I’m deeply concerned about the recent religious violence,” Carter, 88, said in a speech in the former capital, Yangon, during a visit for talks with the reformist regime and fellow Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. “The recent violence risks damaging the reputation that you have gained in your country just as you’re trying to rebuild it once again,” he added. “No people should ever be treated as inferior by the government or by other citizens,” he said, voicing concern for the plight of tens of thousands of displaced people in western Rakhine state.
HONG KONG
Ferry collision injures 31
Thirty-one people were injured in a collision between a passenger ferry and another vessel late on Friday, police said, in the latest accident to hit the city’s frenetic waters. “The ferry crashed with another ship. Right now the injured people have been transported to the dock,” a police spokeswoman said, adding that 11 of the injured had been admitted to hospital. Thirty-eight people were killed and scores injured when a ferry collided with a pleasure boat in October last year, the region’s worst maritime disaster in 40 years, which raised questions about safety in one of the world’s busiest harbors. Researchers say that while it remains one of the world’s safest ports, increased vessel traffic and risks associated with land reclamation works along the harbor front call for urgent government attention.
UNITED STATES
Target sorry for ‘big’ gaffe
Retailer Target apologized on Friday after a labeling gaffe that saw the color of a plus-size dress named after manatees, the blubbery denizens of the deep found off of Florida’s coast. While the scale of the outrage caused by the blunder was not clear, Target was clearly not taking any chances by swiftly updating the color label for its “Manatee gray” kimono maxi dress. Target moved to address the issue after a sharp-eyed online customer said that the standard-size dress in the same style and color was described as “dark heather gray.” “It is never Target’s intention to offend our guests and we apologize for this unintentional oversight. We updated the color label to ‘gray’ and the dress is only available on Target.com,” a Target spokeswoman said.
UNITED STATES
Museum worker hid tortoise
A museum says an employee hid an African leopard tortoise named Cashew in an elevator after finding the 8kg reptile, presumed stolen, trapped behind the paneling in her enclosure. The National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium in Dubuque, Iowa, said the employee’s bizarre move was a misguided attempt to prevent further embarrassment after officials announced on Tuesday that they believed Cashew had been taken as a prank. Cashew was discovered in the elevator on Thursday and officials said they supposed the regretful thief had smuggled her back inside. Museum president and CEO Jerry Enzler on Friday said that an employee found Cashew some time earlier wedged behind a wall panel. The employee then put her in the elevator to keep up the impression she had been stolen. Enzler said the employee will be reprimanded
UNITED STATES
Berry expecting second child
Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry is expecting her second child at the age of 46 with French actor fiance Olivier Martinez, her spokeswoman said on Friday. Celebrity news Web site TMZ reported that she is three months pregnant and that Berry knew it was a boy. “I can confirm that Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez are expecting a child,” spokswoman Meredith O’Sullivan told reporters, but added: “We will not be commenting on or confirming any additional details.” Martinez, 47, confirmed the couple’s wedding plans in March last year. The couple met each other in 2010 on the set of the film Dark Tide. Berry has been married twice before and has a five-year-old daughter, Nahla, with Canadian model Gabriel Aubry.
UNITED STATES
Lil Poopy’s father cleared
Child welfare officials concluded that there is no evidence of abuse and neglect in the case of a nine-year-old rapper in Massachusetts who drew condemnation for appearing in sexually suggestive videos. Brockton Police in February asked state child welfare officials to look into possible abuse after watching videos featuring Louie Rivera Jr, who goes by the stage name Lil Poopy, following a feature story about him in a local newspaper. The videos showed the boy cavorting with scantily clad grown women in nightclubs and singing about drugs and a luxurious lifestyle. A state Department of Children and Families spokeswoman said a thorough investigation into the fourth-grader’s father, Luis Rivera, has been closed after finding no evidence to support abuse or neglect allegations. The family’s lawyer said the finding was a “complete vindication.” The publicity has done wonders for the boy’s career, attorney Joseph Krowski said, with multiple offers to appear on television.
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