JAPAN
New child porn law mulled
The nation yesterday edged closer to banning the possession of child pornography, but pedophilia portrayed in anime comics will be exempt. Under current legislation, only the production and distribution of child pornography are banned, a situation that campaigners say is damaging to children. The lower-house Committee on Judicial Affairs yesterday discussed a bill to expand the scope of the legislation, a parliamentary official said. The legislation will likely be quickly passed and sent to the upper house before the current parliament session ends on June 22, the Jiji Press agency said. Anyone found guilty of possessing photographs and videos depicting sexually explicit images of real children could face imprisonment of up to one year, or fines of up to ￥1 million (US$9,800), it said.
GERMANY
Talking to Vincent’s ear
The Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe has put on display a copy of Vincent van Gogh’s ear that was grown using genetic material provided by a relative of the 19th-century Dutch artist. Artist Diemut Strebe made the replica using living cells from Lieuwe van Gogh, the great-great-grandson of Vincent’s brother Theo. Using a 3D printer, the cells were shaped to resemble the ear that Vincent van Gogh is said to have cut off during a psychotic episode in 1888. Strebe said the ear, which was grown at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is being kept alive inside a case containing a nourishing liquid and could theoretically last for years. The exhibition, at which visitors can speak into the ear through a microphone, lasts until July 6.
GERMANY
Lifeline to Merkel fails
A politician hoping for help from Chancellor Angela Merkel during a television quiz show was left disappointed when she failed to take his telephone call. Conservative lawmaker Wolfgang Bosbach used his phone-a-friend lifeline to ring his party’s leader during a VIP version of the show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. However, his call for help in answering a question about East German washing machines failed after he twice got Merkel’s voicemail.
MEXICO
Kidnapping terms doubled
The government has doubled prison sentences for kidnapping after a surge in such crimes in recent years. Under new federal sentencing guidelines published on Tuesday, the minimum prison term is increased from 20 years to 40, and maximum sentences from 50 to 140 years. The longest sentences would be given to those who kill their victims. Other aggravating factors include injuring the victim, the abduction of minors, or if the convict is a current or former police officer or soldier. There were 1,698 kidnappings reported to police last year, up about 20 percent from 2012 and more than three times the 438 abductions reported in 2007. However, government polls indicate that fewer than 2 percent of kidnappings are reported to the authorities.
UNITED STATES
Alaska issues warning
An Alaska volcano that has been spewing ash and lava for years began erupting with new intensity this week, pushing a plume of smoke and ash as high as 7,315m and prompting scientists to issue their highest volcanic alert in five years, authorities said on Tuesday. The intense action at the Pavlof Volcano has so far not disrupted any regional air traffic.
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
US president-elect Donald Trump is not typically known for his calm or reserve, but in a craftsman’s workshop in rural China he sits in divine contemplation. Cross-legged with his eyes half-closed in a pose evoking the Buddha, this porcelain version of the divisive US leader-in-waiting is the work of designer and sculptor Hong Jinshi (洪金世). The Zen-like figures — which Hong sells for between 999 and 20,000 yuan (US$136 to US$2,728) depending on their size — first went viral in 2021 on the e-commerce platform Taobao, attracting national headlines. Ahead of the real-estate magnate’s inauguration for a second term on Monday next week,
‘PLAINLY ERRONEOUS’: The justice department appealed a Trump-appointed judge’s blocking of the release of a report into election interference by the incoming president US Special Counsel Jack Smith, who led the federal cases against US president-elect Donald Trump on charges of trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat and mishandling of classified documents, has resigned after submitting his investigative report on Trump, an expected move that came amid legal wrangling over how much of that document can be made public in the days ahead. The US Department of Justice disclosed Smith’s departure in a footnote of a court filing on Saturday, saying he had resigned one day earlier. The resignation, 10 days before Trump is inaugurated, follows the conclusion of two unsuccessful criminal prosecutions
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