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.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
The pitch is a classic: A young celebrity with no climbing experience spends a year in hard training and scales Mount Everest, succeeding against some — if not all — odds. French YouTuber Ines Benazzouz, known as Inoxtag, brought the story to life with a two-hour-plus documentary about his year preparing for the ultimate challenge. The film, titled Kaizen, proved a smash hit on its release last weekend. Young fans queued around the block to get into a preview screening in Paris, with Inoxtag’s management on Monday saying the film had smashed the box office record for a special cinema