■ JAPAN
Whale hunt to proceed
Opposition by anti-whaling nations will not stop Japan from pressing ahead with its upcoming hunt, which will take humpbacks for the first time in 40 years, the government spokesman said yesterday. "Japan's research whaling is conducted after consultations with various countries," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura, when asked about continuing Australian opposition. "We cannot change the program abruptly." The hunt, which is now under way, has drawn criticism from the US, Australia, New Zealand and the EU.
■ CHINA
Domestic violence rising
Domestic violence is widespread and on the rise, with complaints of abuse soaring 70 percent last year, the China Daily said yesterday, citing the All China Women's Federation. The group received 50,000 complaints last year, and the "number of cases [had increased] in recent years," the daily quoted Jiang Yue, head of the group's rights and interests department, as saying. Women in rural areas, especially those who had gone to work in cities, were particularly susceptible, Jiang said, citing a survey last year. "Female migrant workers are restricted in accessing legal assistance as they are constantly on the move," Jiang said, adding that divorce was often too costly for rural women.
■ CHINA
Firecracker blast kills five
Five children were killed and one seriously wounded by a blast at an abandoned firecracker factory where they were playing, state media said yesterday. The six, all about 10 years old, were playing inside the factory in Yuncheng in the northern province of Shanxi on Sunday when the explosion occurred. "A small amount of expired explosives stored in the factory went off at about 1pm, killing five instantly and seriously injuring the other," Xinhua news agency said. Fatal blasts at fireworks factories, many unlicensed in residential areas, are common in China.
■ JAPAN
Eat more bluegill
Authorities in the central province of Shiga have launched a "catch-and-eat" drive to eliminate the bluegill as the emperor himself voiced regret about introducing the fish. The bluegill, introduced by Emperor Akihito from the US a half century ago, has turned into a nuisance by feeding on native species, leading the emperor to offer unusually personal comments of regret earlier this month. Shiga officials are encouraging people who fish bluegill in Lake Biwa not to release but to eat them. The prefecture's official Web site has pictures showing how to slice open the fish along with recipes to make bluegill fries and cook them with sweet-and-sour sauce.
■ NEW ZEALAND
Woman dies in exorcism
A woman drowned in a family exorcism ceremony and her younger cousin had her eyes gouged by relatives in an attempt to lift a curse, the Dominion Post reported yesterday. Janet Moses, 22, had her eyes scratched and water syringed into them before drowning in front of 40 relatives during the exorcism ceremony last month, the Dominion said. Her 14-year-old cousin also had her eyes gouged and water poured down her throat to get rid of a devil the relatives said they saw in her eyes. The girl nearly drowned and was taken to a hospital where she underwent surgery to restore her vision.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Cranks give MI6 headache
The success of the James Bond movies has given the Secret Intelligence Service a recruitment headache -- too many cranks want to join MI6. "I think it gives people a false impression of what working for the organization is actually like," the head of MI6 recruitment -- named only as "Mark" -- told BBC Radio One's Newsbeat program yesterday. "So it does tend to turn up quite a lot of thrill seekers and fantasists and we're really not interested in them." As well as dismissing the notion that spying was a never-ending life of fast cars, fast women and shaken not stirred Martini cocktails, "Mark" was keen to demolish another myth surrounding MI6. "We don't have a license to kill -- we don't carry Berettas -- that's simply not true."
■ ROMANIA
Modern-day Dracula dies
Ottomar Rodolphe Vlad Dracula Prince Kretzulesco, an eccentric German antiques dealer who became a modern-day Dracula after he was adopted by a descendant of the man who spawned the Dracula legend, has died, Romanian news agencies reported on Sunday. He was 67. Kretzulesco died in the town of Schenkendorf, southeast of Berlin, last weekend, of a brain tumor, state news agency Rompres reported. German media also reported the death, citing family members and local authorities. Kretzulesco, born Ottomar Berbig, met Ekaterina Olympia Kretzulesco, a childless descendant of Vlad the Impaler III, in the 1980s. Vlad the Impaler's cruelty inspired the bloodsucking Dracula of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel.
■ ITALY
Bakers defy mob control
Defiant bakers handed out 20,000 free loaves of bread on Sunday in a main square in Naples to protest against the intimidating sway the Camorra mafia holds over their profession. Tourists and residents alike took advantage of the handout which was televised and came after a recent report highlighted the strong presence of the Neapolitan mafia in the baking industry. According to the business and trading group Confesercenti, the mob controls some 2,500 illegal bakers in Naples and surrounding districts. The Camorra, active in Naples and the Campania region, is made up of several clans that regularly fight each other.
■ TURKEY
Kurds clash with police
Police on Sunday used tear gas to disperse hundreds of Kurds demonstrating in Diyarbakir in favor of separatist rebels fighting the government, a correspondent said. About 40,000 people attended a rally organized by the Kurdish Democratic Society Party to denounce legal action seeking the group's closure. The rally turned ugly when about 1,000 protesters marched toward the office of a nationalist opposition party and hurled stones at the building and security forces. Police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd and detained several people.
■ RUSSIA
Former KGB chief dies
Former KGB chief Vladimir Kryuchkov, one of the nation's most influential hardline spymasters, has died aged 83, the foreign intelligence service said on Sunday. Kryuchkov was fired as head of the KGB in 1991 for taking part in a failed coup against former president Mikhail Gorbachev. He died in a Moscow on Friday after a long illness. After leaving the KGB, he spent much of his time at a cottage outside Moscow but made sometimes scorching attacks against the US in interviews.
Former Nicaraguan president Violeta Chamorro, who brought peace to Nicaragua after years of war and was the first woman elected president in the Americas, died on Saturday at the age of 95, her family said. Chamorro, who ruled the poor Central American country from 1990 to 1997, “died in peace, surrounded by the affection and love of her children,” said a statement issued by her four children. As president, Chamorro ended a civil war that had raged for much of the 1980s as US-backed rebels known as the “Contras” fought the leftist Sandinista government. That conflict made Nicaragua one of
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
COMPETITION: The US and Russia make up about 90 percent of the world stockpile and are adding new versions, while China’s nuclear force is steadily rising, SIPRI said Most of the world’s nuclear-armed states continued to modernize their arsenals last year, setting the stage for a new nuclear arms race, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said yesterday. Nuclear powers including the US and Russia — which account for about 90 percent of the world’s stockpile — had spent time last year “upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions,” researchers said. Since the end of the Cold War, old warheads have generally been dismantled quicker than new ones have been deployed, resulting in a decrease in the overall number of warheads. However, SIPRI said that the trend was likely
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
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