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 fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
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