JAPAN
Earthquake rocks nation
A strong earthquake yesterday hit Japan in the same region devastated by a major quake and tsunami in 2011. Authorities said there was no risk of a tsunami. The magnitude 6.8 quake struck at 6:12am at a depth of 46km off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. It shook a wide swath of northern Japan and was felt in Tokyo, 415km to the southwest. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. Meteorological agency official Yohei Hasegawa told a news conference that the earthquake was an aftershock of the magnitude 9.0 disaster that killed more than 18,000 people in March 2011. No abnormalities were reported at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant or elsewhere.
CHINA
Public holiday announced
The nation is making the 70th anniversary of the Japanese surrender in World War II a public holiday, the government said yesterday, as Beijing prepares a massive military parade to mark the occasion. Sept. 3 has been officially declared the “70th anniversary of Chinese People’s Anti-Japanese War and the World Anti-Fascist War Victory Commemoration Day.” The move was made “for the broad participation of the entire nation in the central and regional commemoration activities,” said a notice on the government’s official Web site.
CHINA
Abandoned baby found
A baby born with a cleft lip was abandoned by his parents and then buried in a cardboard box two days later, but was rescued alive eight days further on, media reported. The parents left the baby in a remote countryside in the southern province of Guangxi, before he was buried, apparently by relatives who believed he had died, Guangxi Online News said. However, water and air were able to seep into the box, the report said. The baby was buried in a container the size of a shoebox in a dusty field surrounded by long grass, and was discovered when a woman heard him crying as she was picking herbs, according to reports. The baby was spitting soil when doctors examined him last week, Guangxi Online News said. Five people, including three relatives, are reported to have been detained on suspicion of intentional murder.
PHILIPPINES
Official’s casket flown home
The body of an ambassador who was among those killed in a helicopter crash in Pakistan last week arrived in his home nation yesterday, with honor guards and his weeping family receiving his flag-draped casket at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Philippine Ambassador to Pakistan Domingo Lucenario Jr’s remains were ferried home by a Pakistani military aircraft, accompanied by his wife and son, and Pakistani Minister of Commerce Khurram Dastgir Khan. Filipino honor guards carried the coffin out of the plane and onto the tarmac. Lucenario’s two weeping daughters, other relatives, Philippine Secretary of Justice Leila de Lima and colleagues were at the airport. The family wept as they hugged each other. One of the daughters, Marian Lucenario, thanked everyone who condoled and expressed support for her family. “We are deeply saddened and we miss our father every single day,” she said. A viewing and prayer services are scheduled for tomorrow at the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, where the 54-year-old career diplomat spent 35 years in service.
UNITED STATES
Officer cleared in killing
A white police officer who shot and killed an unarmed 19-year-old African-American youth in Wisconsin used justifiable force and will not face criminal charges, authorities said on Tuesday. The March 6 shooting touched off protests in the city of Madison, scene of one of the most recent incident of police shootings of young blacks, which have set racial tensions on edge in the country. “I conclude that this tragic and unfortunate death was the result of a lawful use of deadly police force and that no charges should be brought against officer [Matt] Kenny in the death of Tony Robinson Jr,” Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said.
TURKEY
NATO foreign ministers meet
A day after lengthy talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, US Secretary of State John Kerry was filling in allies during a gathering of NATO foreign ministers in the southern town of Antalya. The ministers gathered to plot strategy amid the continued crisis in Ukraine and instability throughout the Middle East, including in neighboring Syria and Iraq. Kerry was also meeting with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Pavlo Klimkin. Kerry spent all day on Tuesday in Sochi, Russia, where he and Putin sought to ease tensions over Ukraine.
ALGERIA
Militants killed in ambush
Soldiers killed two armed Islamists during an ambush on Tuesday southwest of the capital, the government said, as media reported that four security personnel were slain in the east. “An army detachment killed two terrorists today at 3pm, following an ambush carried out near the locality of Amrouna, south of Ain Defla,” the defense ministry said. A Kalashnikov assault rifle was seized during the operation, along with a Simonov semi-automatic rifle and ammunition, it said in a statement. Meanwhile, the French-language El-Watan Web site reported that four communal guards were found dead in their burned-out vehicle in Batna, in the east.
IRAN
Military warns over aid ship
A senior military official has warned the Saudi-led coalition targeting Yemeni rebels that attacking an Iranian aid ship bound for Yemen will “spark a fire.” General Masoud Jazayeri, the deputy chief of staff, delivered the warning in an interview with Iran’s Arabic-language al-Alam state TV late on Tuesday. The government says the ship, which departed on Monday, is carrying food, medicine, tents and blankets, as well as reporters, rescue workers and peace activists. It says the ship is expected to arrive at Hodeida next week.
AUSTRALIA
Cate Blanchett bisexual
Happily married Oscar-winning Australian actress Cate Blanchett has revealed she had “many” past relationships with women in an interview with a US magazine. The Australian, 45, made the comment while promoting her latest film, Carol, in which she plays a bisexual woman in 1950s New York. When asked if it was her first turn as a lesbian, Blanchett asked: “On film — or in real life?” Pressed by Variety magazine for details about whether she had past relationships with women, she said: “Yes. Many times,” without elaborating. Blanchett has been married to screenwriter husband Andrew Upton for 18 years. They three have sons — Ignatius, six, Roman, 10, and Dashiell, 13 — and in March adopted a baby daughter. In the film, New Yorker Carol Aird (Blanchett) embarks on a love affair with a young department store clerk, Therese Belivet, played by Rooney Mara.
Through the noise of rushing papers and whirring belts at a print factory in Kyoto, two creators watch their photo essay come to life in broadsheet form — part of an effort to win new audiences in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the decline of the publishing industry, self-publication and handmade “zine” magazines are growing in popularity in Japan, reflecting the nation’s enduring love of paper in the digital era. While speaking to Agence France-Presse at the plant, his hands black with ink, one of the creators, Kazuma Obara, said: “I think [paper] is a medium that engages all five
‘ABSURD MISTAKE’: The election commission said that there had been a failure to anticipate turnout after 14 polling stations ran short of ballot papers South Korean riot police yesterday cleared protesters from a Seoul polling station after a 35-hour blockade sparked by a shortage of ballot papers during local elections earlier this week. Wednesday’s election was the first nationwide vote since South Korean President Lee Jae-myung took office following the ouster of Yoon Suk-yeol over his short-lived martial law declaration. Lee’s ruling Democratic Party swept most races, but failed to flip the crucial Seoul mayoral seat. The South Korean National Election Commission apologized, blaming a failure to anticipate turnout after 14 polling stations in Seoul ran short of ballot papers. Some polling stations stayed open until 10pm to
France experienced its hottest spring on record, the French weather service said on Tuesday, after an exceptional early heat wave that also broke highs for the season in England and Wales. Meteo-France said the average nationwide temperature over March to May was 13.8°C — about 1.7°C above the norm, and surpassing records set in 2011 and 2020. “The warmest spring since records began in 1900,” it said in a bulletin. All three months were warmer than average, but the onset of an “unprecedented heatwave” late last month pushed the mercury to highs typically seen at the height of the summer. “Our country had never
A Sherpa guide was found crawling to base camp on Mount Everest a week after he went missing and was reunited with his family, who had given up hope he would return. Dawa Sherpa was last seen on Friday last week descending the mountain, but he did not reach base camp even though his client did. The pair were among the last climbers on the mountain as the climbing season came to an end and the route was dismantled. Dawa was located by a cleaning crew on Thursday morning as he was crawling down the snowy slopes around the Khumbu Icefall, just above
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