JAPAN
Same-sex certificates issued
A major Tokyo municipality yesterday started issuing “partnership” certificates to same-sex couples, as the nation takes gradual steps toward greater tolerance for sexual minority groups. Hiroko Masuhara, 37, and Koyuki Higashi, 30, registered their “partnership” with Shibuya ward, a major Tokyo district that is home to embassies, international businesses and trendy fashion houses. “As a first step, I hope this will spread across Japan,” said Higashi, a stage actress by profession, amid intense media coverage in front of the Shibuya ward office. The certificates are not legally binding and carry only symbolic significance since the constitution identifies marriage as a union based on mutual consent of the parties from “both sexes,” but the official recognition of the same-sex unions is aimed at encouraging hospitals and landlords to accept the certificate to try to ensure couples receive similar treatment to people who are legally married.
BELGIUM
Mislabeled fish plague EU
The EU is looking into reports that cheap seafood is often mislabeled as choice fish in some of the Belgian capital’s fine restaurants and even in EU cafeterias. The Oceana environmental group said it found that 31.8 percent of seafood it tested in and around EU institutions in Brussels was a different fish than that stated on the menu. In the cafeterias of the EU, which sets fishery policies for the 28-nation bloc, the total amount of falsely labeled fish stood at 38 percent. “We take this very seriously,” EU spokesman Alexander Winterstein said. Oceana said 95 percent of what was labeled bluefin tuna was actually a less expensive species, served to make a hefty profit. In 13 percent of the cases, cod was also mislabeled and people sometimes were fed pangasius instead, a freshwater fish farmed in southeast Asia. The study did not assign blame or say whether the restaurants themselves were being unscrupulous or if they were being duped by fish wholesalers.
FRANCE
Toddler killer gets 15 years
A woman who stuffed her two-year-old daughter in a plastic bag and threw her into a river was given 15 years in prison for murder on Wednesday. Estelle Derieux, 34, showed no emotion as the verdict was read out in court. She had previously claimed she killed her daughter in Lille in August 2013 out of fear she was about to be taken away by social services. A psychologist testified earlier this week that Derieux suffered from bipolar disorder, and was trapped between “angel and demon.” “She has an angelic face, she can smile, but three minutes later she can become demonic,” the expert said. Derieux told the court during the trial that she “didn’t understand that [social services] wanted to help her” and apologized for her actions.
FRANCE
Prisoners in classic escape
Three foreign detainees escaped in classic fashion from a prison overnight on Wednesday — sawing through the bars of their cell and escaping out of a window with bedsheets, a prosecutor said. “After sawing through the bars, they used sheets and ropes to escape” from the prison in Amiens, local prosecutor Bernard Farret said. The guards noticed the men — two from Moldova and one from Romania — were missing shortly afterward, he added. One had been serving a sentence for aggravated theft. Another had been in provisional detention since June for fraud, while the third was subject to an extradition request for rape, the prosecutor said.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was