JAPAN
American quizzed over head
Police are questioning a US citizen in custody after a severed head was found in an Osaka apartment he was renting, public broadcaster Japan Broadcasting Co (NHK) reported yesterday. Police believe the head, found in a suitcase, is likely to belong to a 27-year-old local woman who went missing after visiting another apartment in Osaka Prefecture with the man earlier this month, NHK said. The 26-year-old man from New York was arrested last week after she was reported missing by her family. He has reportedly denied the allegations. Body parts other than the head have not been found.
UNITED KINGDOM
Red Cross reports cases
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has joined the list of prominent charities that have uncovered sexual misconduct among its staff. Director-General Yves Daccord says 21 staff members have resigned or been fired since 2015 after violating policy by paying for sexual services. Two others did not have their contracts renewed because of suspected sexual misconduct. “This behavior is a betrayal of the people and the communities we are there to serve,” he said. Daccord said because of the decentralized nature of the sprawling aid agency, which has more than 17,000 employees worldwide, it is possible that other incidents were not reported or properly handled.
UNITED STATES
HFPA probes Fraser’s claim
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) says it is investigating actor Brendan Fraser’s claim that its former president, Philip Berk, groped him in 2003. Fraser, 49, best known for his role in The Mummy trilogy, made the accusation in an interview with GQ magazine. A statement from the association, which puts on the Golden Globes, says the interview “includes alleged information that the HFPA was previously unaware of” and is looking into the accusation.
ITALY
Police monitor rival rallies
Tens of thousands of people marched in rival far-right and anti-fascist demonstrations on Saturday, with isolated clashes flaring as tensions threatened to boil over ahead of next weekend’s election. The government deployed 5,000 police out to keep order during more than 119 protests that were held, the Ministry of the Interior said. A campaign rally in Milan led by Matteo Salvini, the head of anti-immigration group The League, attracted between 15,000 and 20,000 people, according to police, while organizers said turnout was closer to 50,000.
INDIA
Sridevi Kapoor dies at 54
Actress Sridevi Kapoor, Bollywood’s first female superstar, died in Dubai after cardiac arrest, media reported yesterday. She was 54. Sridevi is survived by her husband — producer Boney Kapoor — and daughters Jhanvi and Khushi. She was in Dubai to attend a family wedding and died late on Saturday. In a career spanning five decades, Sridevi acted in 300 films and was in 2013 awarded the Padma Shri, the nation’s fourth-highest civilian honor.
UNITED KINGDOM
‘Notting Hill’ actress dies
Emma Chambers, known for her roles in The Vicar of Dibley television series and the movie Notting Hill, has died at 53. Her agent John Grant on Saturday said that Chambers had died of natural causes on Wednesday evening. Actor Hugh Grant said his Notting Hill colleague was “a hilarious and very warm person and of course a brilliant actress.”
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
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing