JAPAN
Steel plant blast injures 15
At least 15 people were injured yesterday after an explosion at a steel plant in Tokai, Aichi Prefecture, an official said, the latest in a series of accidents at the site. Television pictures showed clouds of black smoke billowing from the Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal facility, where 3,000 employees make steel sheets and pipes. The local fire department had been alerted at 12:46pm, officials said. All 15 injured were taken to hospital, according to a Tokai emergency official.
JAPAN
Whale hunt planned
The government plans to resume its slaughter of minke whales in the Antarctic Ocean next year, an official said yesterday, despite an order from the International Court of Justice to stop all whaling in the area. The court in March said the annual hunt was a commercial activity masquerading as research. However, a new policy announced by the government on Tuesday hopes to bypass this ruling by giving the controversial mission a more scientific focus. Whaling vessels will collect “data necessary to calculate the number of whale catch allowed [once commercial whaling resumes],” and “construct a model of the Antarctic Ocean ecosystem,” a Fisheries Agency official said. “We are thinking that we will only target Antarctic minke whales in the new plan,” he said.
JAPAN
Ex-Hyatt manager sought
Police have obtained an arrest warrant for the Spanish former general manager of the Grand Hyatt Tokyo on suspicion of sexually assaulting a female customer, reports said yesterday. Officers want to question Antonio Alvarez, 45, over the alleged assault on the woman, in her 20s, in a toilet at the hotel on May 30, just five months after he assumed the role, Kyodo News reported. After the alleged incident was reported, Alvarez visited a police station where he denied the claim, Kyodo said, adding that a police DNA test of substances found on the woman appeared to indicate sexual activity had taken place. Alvarez left the hotel on Aug. 7 after two months of home leave, a spokeswoman for the hotel said. “Although he has not been proven guilty, we apologize to our customers... for all the fuss around the incident,” she said.
SOUTH KOREA
Crew had beer as ferry sank
Some crew member of the Sewol ferry that capsized in April drank beer while waiting for rescue, one of them told a court. An engineer said he and a colleague drank beer in a hallway as they waited to be rescued by the coast guard after their ship started to list, media reported yesterday. “We took a sip to calm down,” the engineer, who faces charges of negligence, was quoted by the Chosun Ilbo as telling the court in Gwangju. The testimony drew ridicule from the families of some victims, the paper added, with one of them asking: “Would you like a beer now, too?”
MACAU
Little trust in Chui: poll
An unofficial referendum on democracy in the territory showed 89 percent of nearly 9,000 people who took part do not trust Chief Executive Fernando Chui (崔世安), who was re-elected on Sunday as the sole candidate. Chui was returned to office by a panel of 400 largely pro-China loyalists. Data released on the poll’s online site showed that 7,762 of 8,688 voters did not have confidence in Chui, while 95 percent of the voters said they supported universal suffrage by 2019. Authorities were quick to disrupt the unofficial poll last week, and arresting five people for breaching privacy laws.
UNITED KINGDOM
Scotland Yard HQ up for sale
London’s cash-strapped police force put its New Scotland Yard headquarters up for sale on Tuesday with a £250 million (US$415 million) guide price, as part of plans to reinvest in frontline policing and cut costs. The 1960s-era complex, home to the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) since 1967, is known for its revolving triangular name sign, which has served as a backdrop to thousands of TV crime reports over the years. It had kept the name Scotland Yard from the original headquarters of the London police force near the Houses of Parliament after it was founded in 1829. The MPS plans to move its head office to a smaller former police station that has been empty for three years. The relocation aims to help the MPS save £6 million a year in running costs and avoid the £50 million expense needed to refurbish the current head office, it said.
ITALY
Mafia memoir wins prize
The memoir of a mafia boss serving life imprisonment for several murders has won a Sicilian literary prize named after one of the first Italian writers to challenge the Cosa Nostra. Malerba, which recounts the life, crimes and education of Giuseppe Grassonelli — a “savage criminal” by his own admission — received this year’s Sciascia-Racalmare prize on Sunday. However, its victory sparked a row in Sicily. Gaspare Agnello, one of the jurors, quit last week over the book’s shortlisting, saying its candidacy was an outrage. “It has been written by a lifer who is telling his version of events, which cannot be compared with the version of others who have been hurt,” said Agnello, a friend of Leonardo Sciascia. Fans of Malerba counter that it is a moving portrait of a man coming to terms with his misdeeds.
FRANCE
Mayor in threat to block port
Calais Mayor Natacha Bouchart on Tuesday threatened to shut down the city’s port unless Britain helps solve the problem of the hundreds of immigrants turning up there in a bid to sneak across the Channel. The mayor took issue with British immigration policy which, she said, “is “considered as an Eldorado” by immigrants. She also reproached London for demanding security be boosted at the port, without participating enough in financing the project, which, she said, cost 10 million euros (US$13 million) a year.
UNITED KINGDOM
More child abuse reported
Twelve new alleged victims of child sexual abuse have come forward following a report last week detailing horrific crimes against at least 1,400 young people in Rotherham, police said on Tuesday. Chief Constable David Crompton of the South Yorkshire police promised to act on the new claims and said the report was a “huge wake-up call.” The results of an inquiry published last week detailed the gang rape, kidnapping and trafficking of girls as young as 11 in Rotherham between 1997 and last year, and the failure of the authorities to respond.
UNITED KINGDOM
Police apologize to star
Police apologized to veteran singer Cliff Richard on Tuesday over the handling of a search of his property during an investigation into a sex crime allegation. The BBC filmed the search by helicopter after police informed them in advance when it was due to take place. The coverage sparked widespread criticism that it had violated the privacy of the 73-year-old star and damaged his reputation before he was charged with a crime. Richard denies the allegations.
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
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
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