JAPAN
Moon mission proposed
The nation’s space agency said it is considering a mission to the moon by 2018 or early 2019, part of an effort to beef up aerospace technology and keep pace with China and other emerging powers. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) included the possibility of a lunar landing in its summary of moon exploration plans by itself and other nations. Media yesterday reported that JAXA presented the proposal for an unmanned mission to a government panel on Monday. The agency still needs to win funding for the project, but it is raising hopes for a revival of space exploration. The public broadcaster NHK showed satellite images of the nation’s islands lit up at night, and of the aurora borealis, or Northern Lights, as possible attractions for passengers of space flights.
JAPAN
Maglev breaks speed record
The nation’s magnetically levitated (maglev) train, the fastest passenger train in the world, has broken its own speed record. Operator JR Central said the train yesterday reached 603kph in a test run, surpassing its previous record of 581kph set in 2003. The train traveled for more than 1.8km at a speed exceeding 600kph. The nation’s high-speed rail services are among the most advanced in the world, with hundreds of trains running each day with minimal delays. The Maglev Test Line — near Mount Fuji, about 80km west of Tokyo — is developing technology for use on a future link between Tokyo and Osaka. The maglev trains hover above rails, suspended by powerful magnets.
NEW ZEALAND
Musician Rudd pleads guilty
AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd has pleaded guilty in a court to charges of threatening to kill, as well as possession of methamphetamine and marijuana. Rudd faces up to seven years in prison on the threatening to kill charge, although his lawyer is seeking a remedy that would involve no legal consequences for Rudd. The 60-year-old drummer was released on bail yesterday pending a June sentencing hearing. An unusual loophole in New Zealand law gives a judge the discretion not to enter a conviction even in cases where a defendant has pleaded guilty. A judge can do this if they think the consequences of a conviction outweigh the seriousness of the crime, a move which can allow a defendant to keep a clean record.
CHINA
Seven coal miners killed
At least seven coal miners were killed and 13 left trapped after a shaft flooded at a mine in the north of the nation, state media reported yesterday. More than 600 rescue workers were pumping water and drilling holes from the surface in hopes of reaching those still inside the Jiangjiawan mine near the city of Datong, the reports said. State broadcaster CCTV said four of the 17 miners originally reported as trapped were rescued yesterday afternoon. The bodies of those who died were retrieved on Monday evening, the reports said. A total of 247 miners were underground when water rushed into the shaft on Sunday evening. Of those, 223 people made it safely to the surface. Such accidents are usually caused by breaches of abandoned shafts where water has collected over time. The nation’s notoriously dangerous mines have seen a declining number of deaths in recent years because of safety improvements and a falling demand for coal as its once-sizzling economy cools off.
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
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
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not