JAPAN
Chinese activity ‘escalates’
Chinese military activity has been escalating in the East China Sea, with a spike in emergency jet scrambles in the past three months, Self-Defense Forces head Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano yesterday said at a regular news briefing in Tokyo. “It appears that Chinese activity is escalating at sea and in the air,” Kawano said. Air force jet scrambles rose by more than 80 in the three months ending on Thursday from 114 a year earlier, he said. Detailed figures for the period are due to be announced next week. Kawano also said that Tokyo was “very concerned” about how China would react to the expected ruling by an international court on Beijing’s territorial claims in the South China Sea on July 12.
NEW ZEALAND
Homeless man crushed
A homeless man whose dismembered body was found crushed in cardboard bales was likely picked up by a recycling truck while sleeping rough, police said. The remains of Daniel Bindner were found on Tuesday at a cardboard processing plant in Hamilton, about 30km from his hometown of Te Awamutu on the North Island. Police investigating the grisly discovery said the 40-year-old father-of-three was last seen on June 21 and had been reported missing on Monday. They said he was believed to have been sleeping rough in the days before his death. “At this stage, we believe Mr Binder’s body was transported from the Te Awamutu area in a recycling truck to Oji Fibre Solutions in Hamilton,” Detective Inspector Hywel Jones said. Cardboard at the plant is processed into bales. Jones said a post mortem into the cause of death had proved inconclusive and the investigation was continuing, appealing for witnesses who saw Bindner on the streets.
NORTH KOREA
Kim gets new title
The nation’s parliament on Wednesday awarded Kim Jong-un a new post, adding to a long list of titles for the young leader. Kim was made chairman of the State Affairs Commission, a new body established under a revised constitution adopted by the parliament and which replaces the National Defense Commission, state media reported yesterday. His full title is now the Dear Respected Comrade Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the Workers’ Party of Korea, chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army. Kim, believed to be in his early 30s, attended the assembly meeting on Wednesday. He also holds the rank of marshal in the military, and is more usually referred to as “our marshal” in propaganda.
UNITED STATES
Police to have body cameras
Cleveland police officers will have body cameras affixed to their riot gear during the Republican National Convention this month. The Arizona company TASER International said it would loan 300 mounting units to the city that will allow officers to attach the body cameras to their riot gear to record interactions between police and the public. The four-day convention beginning on July 18 is expected to draw tens of thousands of people — including thousands of protesters. The city plans to bring in thousands of officers from police departments across the country to help with security. A Cleveland police spokeswoman told Cleveland.com that it would be up to those departments to determine whether their officers would wear body cameras.
BRAZIL
Rousseff final vote near
The Senate could take its final vote on the impeachment of suspended President Dilma Rousseff the day before the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, a senior lawmaker said on Wednesday. Senate President Renan Calheiros told journalists the final vote in Rousseff’s impeachment trial was scheduled for about Aug. 20. If she is found guilty of breaking budgetary rules to help win re-election, she would be permanently replaced by interim president Michel Temer, her former deputy. The Rio Olympics are set to open on Aug. 5. The Senate voted on May 12 to put Rousseff on trial and a committee that has been hearing testimony from witnesses is expected to present its findings on Aug. 9.
UNITED STATES
Alvin Toffler dies at 87
Alvin Toffler, the author and visionary known for several world best-sellers, including Future Shock and The Third Wave, has died at his home in Los Angeles aged 87. He died late on Monday, Toffler Associates, the consultancy firm he founded, said in a statement, without giving a reason for his death. Toffler’s groundbreaking book Future Shock, in which he examined social change, as well as several other books he co-authored with his wife, Heidi, made him one of the most respected futurists of the modern era, with world leaders and moguls seeking his advice. Toffler predicted economic and technological developments — including cloning, personal computers and the Internet — as well as the social effects they helped bring about, including social alienation, the decline of the nuclear family and rising crime and drug use.
UNITED STATES
LGBT assault false: police
A British lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) YouTube star who said he was assaulted outside a Los Angeles gay bar is facing a criminal charge of making a false police report, authorities said on Wednesday. Calum McSwiggan, 26, of London had called police early on Monday claiming he had been beaten up by three men outside a gay bar in West Hollywood. However, police officers who responded at the scene said they were unable to substantiate the assault and that McSwiggan “had no visible injuries.” He was arrested after he allegedly began vandalizing a car. After McSwiggan was booked and placed in a cell by himself, he was seen injuring himself with the handle and receiver of a payphone inside the cell, the West Hollywood police department said in a statement. He was rushed to a hospital for treatment and later posted a picture of himself on Instagram in a hospital gown with a bandage on his head. McSwiggan insisted he did not lie about the assault in a message posted on Twitter on Wednesday.
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