JAPAN
Fukushima system down
The operator of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant yesterday said it had again suspended a trouble-plagued system used to clean radiation-tainted water. Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) put its Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) on standby mode after it found processed water was cloudy instead of clear. Higher-than-usual levels of calcium were believed to be the cause, but why the levels had become elevated was not known, a TEPCO spokesman said. ALPS has three lines — one of which has already been stopped for the same problem, while the third is not functioning properly. It is unknown when the company will switch the system back on. ALPS is used to clean the radiation-tainted water that has been used to cool reactors at the plant, where Japan’s devastating 2011 quake-tsunami disaster sparked meltdowns.
CHINA
Man stabs schoolchildren
A knife-wielding attacker went on a rampage at a primary school yesterday, wounding eight schoolchildren, with one seriously hurt, state media reported. The 35-year-old suspect, a man surnamed Chen, rushed into the school in Macheng in the central province of Hubei and began slashing at students with a kitchen knife, the Xinhua news agency reported, citing the local government. Police apprehended Chen at the scene, the report added, and the eight injured pupils were hospitalized. China has seen several violent attacks against children in recent years, including a spate of five incidents in 2010 which killed 17 people — 15 of them children — and wounded more than 80. In March last year, a man killed two relatives and then slashed 11 people, including six children, outside a school in Shanghai.
JAPAN
McCartney sick, cancels tour
Paul McCartney is canceling his entire tour of the country because of illness. The former Beatle got a virus last week and canceled several appearances, apologizing online to his fans. Now, his organizers say he is not well enough to do any of the concerts, including the one set for today at the Nippon Budokan, where the Beatles performed during their first tour of the country in 1966. The official site of McCartney’s “Out There Japan Tour 2014” said his doctors are ordering him “complete rest.” McCartney is still scheduled for a concert in Seoul on May 28 at the Jamsil Sports Complex Main Stadium, followed by 19 US performances. Two weekend concerts in Tokyo and another in Osaka on Saturday were canceled.
SOUTH KOREA
Elder Kim brother surfaces
The elder half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has surfaced in Indonesia, dismissing speculation that he might have been hiding following the execution of his uncle, a TV report said yesterday. Kim Jong-nam was sighted at an Italian restaurant run by a Japanese businessman in Jakarta on May 4 with two women, cable news network YTN said. YTN quoted one of Kim’s friends as saying the 43-year-old had been living well, shuttling back and forth among Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and France, despite the shock execution of his uncle, Jang Song-thaek, in December last year. Kim Jong-nam was reportedly close to Jang, once the North’s unofficial No. 2 and political mentor of leader Kim Jong-un. Kim Jong-nam was once considered heir apparent, but fell out of favor with his father following a botched attempt in 2001 to secretly enter Japan and visit Disneyland. He has since lived in virtual exile, mainly in Macau.
UNITED STATES
No more fake vaccines: CIA
A top White House official has pledged that the CIA will no longer use vaccination programs as cover for spying operations. The agency used the ruse in targeting Osama bin Laden before the US raid that killed him in 2011. Lisa Monaco, President Barack Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser, wrote to the deans of 13 prominent public health schools last week, saying that the CIA has agreed it would no longer use vaccination programs or workers for intelligence purposes. The agency also agreed not to use genetic materials obtained through such programs. A Pakistani doctor, Shakil Afridi, offered a program of hepatitis vaccinations in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad as cover for his CIA-backed effort to obtain DNA samples from children at a compound where bin Laden was later killed during a 2011 raid by US Navy SEALs. Afridi was convicted and sentenced by a Pakistani court to 33 years in prison for treason. The sentence was later overturned and Afridi faces a retrial.
COLOMBIA
Driver in bus fire arrested
Authorities have arrested 56-year-old Jaime Gutierrez, the unlicensed driver who allegedly fled his overcrowded bus after it burst into flames, burning to death 33 young children, an official said on Monday. Manuel Ibarra, an evangelical church leader who had chartered the bus, was also arrested, prosecutor Luis Gonzalez told a press conference. The pair will be charged with aggravated manslaughter, he said, as Colombians expressed horror over Sunday’s tragedy in the northern town of Fundacion that involved children aged three to 12. Gutierrez, who lost two of his own children in the fire, turned himself over to police as families sought to hunt him down following the tragedy in which, according to a witness, the bus went up in flames as he refueled it with a jerrycan.
UNITED STATES
Clarion snake rediscovered
The Clarion nightsnake, a reptilian species believed lost, has resurfaced on the Mexican island of Clarion in the Pacific, the National Museum of Natural History in Washington said on Monday. Brownish black in color and sporting spots on its head and neck, it was found on the island about 700km off the mainland. It was rediscovered by museum researcher Daniel Mulcahy, the institution said in a statement. The snake — a lone specimen of which is part of the museum’s collections — was first discovered in 1936 by naturalist William Beebe while on an expedition to western Mexico. While never formally declared extinct, it was struck from the scientific record after scientists were unable to detect any trace of it in the decades that followed. Working in collaboration with a researcher from a Mexican institute, Mulcahy carried out an expedition to Clarion where the team identified 11 snakes that matched Beebe’s description.
BRAZIL
Hail ends Sao Paulo drought
A storm has brought marble-sized hail to Sao Paulo, leaving some streets flooded or coated in white in the nation’s largest city. The Center for Emergency Management said on Monday the storm, which brought 10cm of moisture, broke a dry spell that caused historically low levels at the main dams that supply water to Sao Paulo. Residents wondered at the ice balls that decorated their yards and gardens even up to early Monday. Some told local news media that their children had never seen hail or played with ice before Sunday’s storm. Many Sao Paulo residents struggled to keep their balance on the ice and the storm stranded cars in some neighborhoods.
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
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
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number