CHINA
Japan-N Korea talks begin
Japan and North Korea yesterday started high-level government talks in Beijing— the first such summit in more than a year — that are expected to focus on the fate of at least a dozen people Tokyo says Pyongyang abducted in the 1970s and 1980s. The two-day talks began with North Korean Ambassador Song Il-ho meeting a Japanese delegation led by Junichi Ihara, director-general for Asian and Oceanic Affairs at the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at North Korea’s embassy in Beijing.
SRI LANKA
Ruling party set to triumph
The ruling Freedom Alliance party was headed for victory in local elections, but by smaller-than-expected margins in a crucial mid-term test for President Mahinda Rajapakse, early results showed yesterday. Rajapakse’s party won comfortably in his home constituency of Hambantota, taking 57.42 percent of the vote, preliminary Department of Elections figures showed. However, that was less than the 66.95 percent it won in 2009. In neighboring Matara District, the party’s vote base was eroded by nearly 10 percent as opposition parties made inroads, the figures showed, while counting was ongoing in the third district. In Western Province, the party was leading in most districts, but also by smaller-than-anticipated margins.
MEXICO
Abandoned children found
Officials on Saturday said that in one week, they found 370 migrant children who were apparently abandoned by traffickers paid to take them to the US. The children were rescued across 14 states between March 17 and Monday last week, the National Migration Institute said, adding that 163 of those under 18 were traveling alone. According to the institute, the children told officials the traffickers left them after being paid between US$3,000 and US$5,000. It said most of the children showed signs of extreme fatigue, dehydration, foot injuries and disorientation from being abandoned at unknown locations.
FRANCE
‘Hollande referendum’ starts
Voters headed to the polls yesterday in municipal elections seen as a referendum on embattled President Francois Hollande’s first two years in office, with the far-right National Front aiming to build on its strong finish in the first round of voting. The front made advances nationwide amid record-low turnout and is poised to make big gains in the mayoral and municipal counselor elections of 36,000 villages, cities and towns. The ruling Socialist Party, reeling from Hollande’s record-low approval ratings, is bracing for a rout pollsters estimate could see the opposition Union for Popular Movement party take back about 100 city halls.
UNITED STATES
Mudslide missing lowered
The number of those believed missing following a mudslide in Oso, Washington State, has plummeted to 30 after many people were found safe, authorities said on Saturday. Officials previously said they expected the figure — previously estimated at 90 — to fall as they worked to find the missing and cross-referenced a “fluid” list that likely included partial reports and duplicates. As the number of people unaccounted for went down, the fatalities went up. The number of victims identified by the medical examiner on Saturday rose by one to 18, said Jason Biermann, from the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management. More than two dozen bodies — including one on Saturday — have been recovered, but they are not added to the official tally until formally identified.
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