JAPAN
‘Cyberterrorist’ jailed
A hacker who hijacked computers in order to issue death threats, leading to the arrest of several innocent people, was jailed yesterday for his high-stakes games of cat and mouse with police. Yusuke Katayama, 32, used computers around the country to make a series of threats in 2012, including that he would kill multiple people at a comic book event, attack an airplane and target a kindergarten attended by the grandchildren of Emperor Akihito. Katayama used a virus to gain control of strangers’ computers through which he issued threats and a series of riddles that captured the attention of the national media.
JAPAN
Compulsory leave mulled
The government is considering making it compulsory for workers to take at least five days’ paid holiday a year, in a bid to lessen the toll on mental and physical health in a country famed for its long hours. Workers typically use less than half their leave in a year, according to a survey by the labor ministry which found that in 2013, employees took only nine of their 18.5 days average entitlement. A separate poll showed that one in every six workers took no paid holidays at all in 2013, Jiji Press said.
CHINA
Putin, Obama banned
Putin and Obama have been banned. Not the actual presidents of Russia and the US, but the use of their names by netizens as online handles. Account names that are registered or used in the country and deemed “unlawful” or “unsound” will be prohibited from next month as part of new Internet restrictions issued yesterday by the top cyberspace watchdog. Other names on the black list include “People’s Daily,” “Rural Casino” and “Firearm dealers.”
CHINA
Beijing protests expulsion
The government has rebuked Norway for “violating the rights” of a Chinese doctoral student who was expelled from the country, state media said. Norwegian police had ordered the student at the University of Agder to leave before Jan. 23, Xinhua news agency said late on Tuesday. Ma Qiang, a political counselor at Beijing’s embassy in Norway, raised the issue with Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, Xinhua said. The student had been working on a wind-power project at the university for two years. Xinhua cited Norwegian broadcasting firm NRK as saying that authorities feared the student’s expertise could be used “for military purposes in other countries.”
UNITED STATES
Couple ‘left’ toddlers in car
A couple allegedly left their two toddlers marooned in a car and strapped into their seats in near-freezing temperatures while attending a wine-tasting event in an upmarket Washington restaurant, police in the nation’s capital said. Jennie Chang, 46, who works for the Food and Drug Administration, and Christopher Lucas, 41, were arrested on Saturday and charged with attempted child cruelty after someone saw the small children alone in the car and called police.
MEXICO
Radioactive cargo recovered
Authorities have recovered three stolen pickups carrying radioactive material. National civil defense office head Luis Felipe Puente on Tuesday said the trucks and their cargo were stolen in Guanajuato State and later recovered in Hidalgo. Puente said the material, Iridium-192 used in industrial radiography, could have been dangerous if the containers were opened.
A Zurich city councilor has apologized and reportedly sought police protection against threats after she fired a sport pistol at an auction poster of a 14th-century Madonna and child painting, and posted images of their bullet-ridden faces on social media. Green-Liberal party official Sanija Ameti, 32, put the images on Instagram over the weekend before quickly pulling them down. She later wrote on social media that she had been practicing shots from about 10m and only found the poster as “big enough” for a suitable target. “I apologize to the people who were hurt by my post. I deleted it immediately when I
The governor of Ohio is to send law enforcement and millions of dollars in healthcare resources to the city of Springfield as it faces a surge in temporary Haitian migrants. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Tuesday said that he does not oppose the Temporary Protected Status program under which about 15,000 Haitians have arrived in the city of about 59,000 people since 2020, but said the federal government must do more to help affected communities. On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost directed his office to research legal avenues — including filing a lawsuit — to stop the federal government from sending
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
At first, Francis Ari Sture thought a human was trying to shove him down the steep Norwegian mountainside. Then he saw the golden eagle land. “We are staring at each other for, maybe, a whole minute,” Sture said on Monday. “I’m trying to think what’s in its mind.” The bird then attacked Sture five more times on Thursday last week, scratching and clawing the 31-year-old bicycle courier’s face and arms over 10 to 15 minutes as he sprinted down the mountain. The same eagle is believed to be responsible for attacks on three other people across a vast mountainous area of southern Norway
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