Tue, Sep 27, 2016 page7

• World News Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  JAPAN

  Quakes rattle Japan

  A pair of moderate earthquakes rattled northern and southern Japan yesterday, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, and there was no danger of a tsunami. The Meteorological Agency said the first quake was a magnitude 5.5 and occurred just off the southern coast of Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost main island, at 2:13pm. It said that the quake had a depth of 20km, and that there was no danger of a tsunami. A few minutes later, a magnitude 5.7 quake struck just off the coast of the southern island of Okinawa, at a depth of 40km. There was no threat of a tsunami from that one either.

  PHILIPPINES

  Smoke forces flight to land

  Smoke from an air vent forced a Philippine Airlines flight to Japan to turn back just minutes after taking off yesterday, aviation officials said. “Apparently there was information that the pilot detected smoke in the cabin. So as part of safety measures, the pilot had to return to the ground,” civil aviation authority spokesman Eric Apolonio said. The Airbus A340-300 plane, carrying 222 passengers and 13 crew to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, was forced to return to Manila 20 minutes after taking off, an airline statement said. The cause of the incident is still being investigated, the airline said.

  AUSTRALIA

  Delegation to visit Iran

  The trade minister is to lead the country’s first business delegation to visit Iran in 14 years after sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear program were eased. Steven Ciobo said he would leave today for the visit that is to include reopening an Australian trade office that closed in 2010. Ciobo said he would be accompanied by 20 representatives of Australian companies, with expertise in health, water management, agribusiness, mining, education and training. Two-way trade between Australia and Iran fluctuated between A$350 million and A$600 million (US$266 million to US$457) a year while Australian sanctions were in place, he said.

  CANADA

  New accord with China inked

  An agreement signed between the Canadian border agency and China is to result in the faster deportation of Chinese citizens deemed inadmissible by Canadian authorities, a government spokesman said on Sunday. The deal will allow Chinese officials to travel to Canada to interview Chinese citizens considered inadmissible, with the aim of verifying their identities and documents, said Scott Bardsley, press secretary to Minister of Public Safety Ralph Goodale. According to the Department of Immigration, those deemed inadmissible include people with criminal records, serious health or financial issues or who have lied on their visa applications.

  THAILAND

  Ousted leader fires back

  Former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra called for fairness and said the junta should treat her the same way the generals treat their allies accused of wrongdoing, after a state-appointed committee recommended she pay a 35 billion baht (US$1 billion) fine. Yingluck, whose government was ousted in a military coup in 2014, has been accused of negligence in overseeing her government’s signature policy of purchasing rice from farmers at above-market rates. The proposed penalty amounts to about 20 percent of the 178 billion baht that the programs cost the country in 2012 and 2013, Comptroller General’s Department Director General Manas Jamveha told reporters on Saturday.
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