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.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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