JAPAN
Quakes rattle Japan
A pair of moderate earthquakes rattled northern and southern Japan yesterday, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, and there was no danger of a tsunami. The Meteorological Agency said the first quake was a magnitude 5.5 and occurred just off the southern coast of Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost main island, at 2:13pm. It said that the quake had a depth of 20km, and that there was no danger of a tsunami. A few minutes later, a magnitude 5.7 quake struck just off the coast of the southern island of Okinawa, at a depth of 40km. There was no threat of a tsunami from that one either.
PHILIPPINES
Smoke forces flight to land
Smoke from an air vent forced a Philippine Airlines flight to Japan to turn back just minutes after taking off yesterday, aviation officials said. “Apparently there was information that the pilot detected smoke in the cabin. So as part of safety measures, the pilot had to return to the ground,” civil aviation authority spokesman Eric Apolonio said. The Airbus A340-300 plane, carrying 222 passengers and 13 crew to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, was forced to return to Manila 20 minutes after taking off, an airline statement said. The cause of the incident is still being investigated, the airline said.
AUSTRALIA
Delegation to visit Iran
The trade minister is to lead the country’s first business delegation to visit Iran in 14 years after sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear program were eased. Steven Ciobo said he would leave today for the visit that is to include reopening an Australian trade office that closed in 2010. Ciobo said he would be accompanied by 20 representatives of Australian companies, with expertise in health, water management, agribusiness, mining, education and training. Two-way trade between Australia and Iran fluctuated between A$350 million and A$600 million (US$266 million to US$457) a year while Australian sanctions were in place, he said.
CANADA
New accord with China inked
An agreement signed between the Canadian border agency and China is to result in the faster deportation of Chinese citizens deemed inadmissible by Canadian authorities, a government spokesman said on Sunday. The deal will allow Chinese officials to travel to Canada to interview Chinese citizens considered inadmissible, with the aim of verifying their identities and documents, said Scott Bardsley, press secretary to Minister of Public Safety Ralph Goodale. According to the Department of Immigration, those deemed inadmissible include people with criminal records, serious health or financial issues or who have lied on their visa applications.
THAILAND
Ousted leader fires back
Former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra called for fairness and said the junta should treat her the same way the generals treat their allies accused of wrongdoing, after a state-appointed committee recommended she pay a 35 billion baht (US$1 billion) fine. Yingluck, whose government was ousted in a military coup in 2014, has been accused of negligence in overseeing her government’s signature policy of purchasing rice from farmers at above-market rates. The proposed penalty amounts to about 20 percent of the 178 billion baht that the programs cost the country in 2012 and 2013, Comptroller General’s Department Director General Manas Jamveha told reporters on Saturday.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At 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
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese