JAPAN
Firm rewards non-smokers
Non-smoking employees at one firm are getting six additional days holiday to compensate for the time their colleagues spend puffing away at work. Piala, a Tokyo-based online commerce consulting and marketing company, launched the program in September after an employee complained about the time lost by smoking colleagues who frequently disappear to light up. Since the start of the program four employees out of 42 smokers have stopped smoking.
MALAYSIA
Reported mobile data leak
Authorities are investigating an alleged attempt to sell the data of more than 46 million mobile phone subscribers online after a major data breach, Minister of Communications and Multimedia Salleh Said Keruak said yesterday. The massive data breach was first reported last month by Lowyat.net, a technology news Web site, which said it had received a tip-off that someone was trying to sell huge databases of personal information on its forums. The Communications and Multimedia Commission was looking into the matter with the police, Salleh said.
PALESTINE
Border crossing surrendered
Hamas yesterday handed over control of the Gaza Strip’s border with Egypt to the Palestinian National Authority in a first key test of a Palestinian reconciliation accord agreed last month, an Agence France-Presse (AFP) reporter said. Palestinian National Authority Border Crossings Director-General Nazmi Muhanna and his Hamas counterpart signed an agreement that will see the internationally recognized authority take control of the border with Egypt. An AFP journalist also saw Hamas installations at a separate checkpoint with Israel being dismantled. Under the Egyptian-brokered deal, the authority is due to take full control of Gaza by Dec. 1.
UNITED KINGDOM
MP denies sexual advance
First Secretary of State Damian Green has denied an allegation that he made an inappropriate sexual advance on a young woman, as discussion about an unhealthy culture of abuse by powerful men in British politics continues to swirl. Green, Prime Minister Theresa May’s deputy, said it was not true that he had touched the woman’s knee and told her that his “wife was very understanding” during a meeting in a pub in which the pair discussed her career aspirations and gossiped about sexual affairs in parliament. The allegation against Green came from Kate Maltby, an academic and critic three decades younger than him. She first met him as an acquaintance of her parents and both are involved in a liberal Conservative group called Bright Blue. “He offered me career advice and in the same breath made it clear he was sexually interested,” Maltby wrote in an article in the Times newspaper describing the meeting in the pub in early 2015.
UNITED STATES
‘House of Cards’ suspended
Hollywood’s widening sexual harassment crisis brought forth a second actor’s allegation against Kevin Spacey on Tuesday, halted production on his Netflix series House of Cards and prompted CBS to check into an actress’ claim she was groped by Jeremy Piven. On Monday, Netflix said it would end House of Cards after its upcoming sixth and final season. CBS said it is “looking into” a claim by reality star Ariane Bellamar that Emmy-winning Entourage star Piven groped her on two occasions.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the