■NORTH KOREA
Hacking unit uncovered
Pyongyang is maintaining a unit of about 100 computer hackers working on attacks against the South Korean and the US military, media reports in Seoul said yesterday. Attacks by this “technology reconnaissance team” were aimed at interrupting other countries’ military computer networks and obtaining confidential information, the South Korean Yonhap news agency said, citing intelligence sources. “This unit tries to hold control of South Korean and US military information systems by hacking into their computer networks and taking out classified data,” an unnamed official was quoted as saying. “When necessary, they may spread computer viruses to disrupt the networks.”
■PHILIPPINES
Informants fund launched
President Gloria Arroyo announced yesterday the establishment of a fund of 25 million pesos (US$250,000) to pay informants in an attempt to end the country’s wave of political killings. The fund would go to those who “provide information that foils political assassination attempts or leads to their solution, especially the identification of their masterminds,” she said. “We want to erase the legacy of political violence that has haunted our nation for generations,” Arroyo said.
■AUSTRALIA
Refugee boat intercepted
The Navy yesterday intercepted a refugee boat with about 50 asylum seekers on board as it began filling with water off the northwest coast, officials said. The vessel was about 685km northwest of the coastal city of Broome when it was stopped after being initially spotted by air, Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus said in a statement. “The boat, which was taking on water, was intercepted in international waters and the group have voluntarily transferred from their boat to the HMAS Maryborough,” he said in a statement.
■AUSTRALIA
Homeopath parents charged
Parents charged with manslaughter in the death of their baby could have saved her life if they hospitalized her sooner rather than allegedly using homeopathic remedies for a severe skin disorder, a prosecutor said yesterday. Thomas Sam, 42, and Manju Sam, 36, of Sydney pleaded not guilty in New South Wales state Supreme Court on Monday to charges of manslaughter in the death of their nine-month-old daughter Gloria, who died of septicemia and malnutrition in May 2002. The Indian-born, university-educated parents face a maximum penalty of 25 years each in prison if convicted.
■IRAN
Reporter to appeal
The judiciary announced yesterday that it would hear an appeal for a US-Iranian reporter jailed on spying charges in a case that has caused deep consternation in the US. “There is going to be an appeal trial next week for Roxana Saberi,” judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi told reporters, without giving an exact date. The Iranian week begins on Saturdays. He said the bar association, the intelligence ministry and the prosecutor’s representative had been informed to participate in the appeal hearing, which will be held behind closed doors. Saberi, 32, was sentenced last month by a revolutionary court to an eight-year jail term on charges of spying for the country’s arch-foe, the US.
■MALTA
Immigrants helped to Italy
Malto will provide would-be illegal immigrants at sea with the necessary assistance to continue on their journey to Italy from now on, the government said. The decision signifies a marked shift in policy toward immigrants as the diplomatic row between Italy and Malta deepens, after Italian authorities turned back boatloads of migrants to Malta last Friday. In a strongly worded statement after a Cabinet meeting on Monday night, the government said the assistance it would give immigrants at sea would vary according to the nature of the case. The government would continue taking those immigrants who were forced to abandon their boat to the nearest port, or it would assist them to continue on their way safely.
■SAUDI ARABIA
Riyadh pans EU visa policy
The government has accused France, Germany and Italy of discrimination after experiencing what they say are unreasonable delays in getting visas that allow Saudis to visit several European countries. The foreign ministry said applicants are forced to submit more documentation and wait much longer than people in neighboring countries for Europe’s Schengen visa, which permits visitors to travel freely through 15 countries with a visa from just one embassy. Articles in several newspapers in the past three weeks have attacked especially the French embassy in Riyadh for mistreating Saudi applicants, with some calling for a boycott of the country and its businesses.
■RUSSIA
US envoy keen on radar
The US should study a Russian proposal that it share a radio installation in the Central Asian state of Azerbaijan, US envoy Rose Gottemoeller said on Monday in an interview with the Interfax agency. “I understood from talking to Russian counterparts that the offer is still on the table,” said Gottemoeller, the assistant secretary of state for verification and compliance. “I think personally that it is an offer the United States should be willing to explore.” In 2007, Russia proposed sharing the radar facility to the previous US administration. The offer was made to head off US plans to install an anti-ballistic missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic. The US did not follow up on the offer at the time.
■FRANCE
Sleep, Je t’aime
True to their reputation as leisure-loving gourmets, the French spend more time sleeping and eating than anyone else among the world’s wealthy nations, a study published Monday said. The average French person sleeps almost nine hours a night, more than an hour longer than Japanese and South Koreans, who sleep the least in a survey of 18 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
■UNITED STATES
Octuplets may get guardian
An advocate for child actors asked a judge to appoint a guardian to oversee the interests of Nadya Suleman’s octuplets if they are featured in TV shows, Internet videos and magazines. Lawyer Gloria Allred said on Monday she filed the petition in Orange County Superior Court on behalf of Paul Petersen, president of A Minor Consideration and a former Mouseketeer who grew up on The Donna Reed Show. He wants a guardian appointed to ensure that payments for the babies’ appearances are placed into accounts separate from their mother’s, as well as ensure that laws regarding child performers are observed. “Even though [the octuplets] cannot walk or talk, they are, like all children in the entertainment business, protected under California law,” Petersen said at a news conference. Suleman’s attorney, Jeff Czech, said the kind of guardianship that Petersen has requested is expensive and takes funds away from taxpayers and the children’s funds. Czech acknowledged he has spoken with several production companies who want to film the Suleman family but no contracts have been signed.
■JAPAN
Search for US poet to end
The weeklong search for an award-winning US poet who disappeared while hiking up a volcano on a remote Japanese island has yielded no clues and will end after a final day of searching, a police official said yesterday. An effort involving police, rescue workers, search dogs and a police helicopter will continue through today and then be called off, a local police official said. University of Wyoming professor Craig Arnold was reported missing on April 27 when he didn’t return from his hike on the tiny island of Kuchinoerabu-jima, about 50km off the coast of Kyushu. Arnold, 41, had been traveling all over the world, working on a book about volcanoes. He is the author of two award-winning books of poetry.
■BRAZIL
Ahmadinejad postpones trip
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has postponed a trip to Brazil planned for this week until after next month’s elections in the Islamic republic, foreign ministry officials in Brazil said on Monday. Officials said Tehran’s ambassador to Brazil Mohsen Shaterzadeh personally delivered a letter from Ahmadinejad to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, asking that he “accept the postponement of the official visit until ... after the presidential election.”
■BRAZIL
Floods leave 15 dead
Severe flooding has hit the northeast, killing 15 people and leaving 70,000 others homeless, authorities said on Monday. The states most affected by the flooding are Maranhao, Piaui, Ceara, Alagoas and Bahia. Six people were killed and six major highways were inundated in Maranho, drenched by the heaviest rains since 1985, civil defense authorities said. Sao Luis, the state capital, and 40 other towns have been battered by rains that have lasted nearly a month. An estimated 48,000 people were forced to leave their homes, and of those 22,000 lost their homes, a civil defense spokesman said.
■VENEZUELA
Quake rattles Caracas
A moderate earthquake rattled the capital on Monday, but there were no reports of damage or injuries. Venezuela’s seismological agency said the magnitude 5.4 quake was centered about 14km southwest of Los Teques on the outskirts of Caracas. Francisco Garces, president of the seismological agency, said there were no immediate reports of significant damage or injuries.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
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