JAPAN
Asylum seekers lose bid
The Tokyo District Court yesterday upheld a government ruling made five years ago that two Syrians’ bid for asylum was not admissible under international refugee law. “The world understands the Syrian situation — it’s getting worse. But the Japanese court hasn’t understood that at all,” one of the plaintiffs, Joude Youssef, told a news conference. Youssef said he planned to appeal the decision. The second asylum seeker was not at the news conference. It was not clear if the second plaintiff would appeal. Youssef had applied for asylum in 2012, after saying he was persecuted for organizing pro-democracy demonstrations. Tokyo rejected the claim a year later, saying he lacked proof of his involvement in protests in Syria. The second plaintiff had claimed asylum after refusing military service in Syria.
KOREAS
K-pop singers to visit North
About 160 K-pop singers are to visit Pyongyang from March 31 to April 3, the Ministry of Unification said in a statement yesterday, a reciprocal visit after North Korea sent performers to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. K-pop girl group Red Velvet and music industry veterans Cho Yong-pil and Lee Sun-hee will be among the group, the ministry said, after delegations from the North and South held talks on the performances at the truce border village of Panmunjom. The visitors are to hold two shows in Pyongyang: at the East Pyongyang Grand Theatre and the Ryukyung Chung Ju Yung Gymnasium. Officials are to visit the North from tomorrow to Saturday to inspect the sites and ensure they can accommodate the singers, the ministry said.
CANADA
Missing Aussie’s body found
The body of a missing Australian woman has been found in a partially frozen lake at a ski resort almost four months after she disappeared. Alison Raspa, from Perth, was reported missing from the Alpha Lake area near Whistler on Nov. 23. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in Whistler said they received a report on Friday evening from bystanders who had found what they believed to be human remains in the lake. “Whistler RCMP, Whistler Fire Rescue and the BC Coroners Service attended and confirmed found human remains at the north end of the partially frozen Alpha Lake,” it said. “The cause of death has not been confirmed, however, it does not appear suspicious.” Raspa, 25, was last seen leaving a restaurant on the evening of Nov. 22 in the ski resort town about 5km from the lake. She had boarded a bus from near the restaurant, but later texted some friends to say she was lost, Nine News reported. Raspa’s family has been informed and the case referred to the coroner.
CAMBODIA
Briton jailed over party
Siem Reap provincial court yesterday suspended 10 months of a one-year jail term it handed to a British man found guilty of producing pornography in connection with a party in the town of Siem Reap, home to the ruins of Angkor Wat. Daniel Jones, who was tried on Thursday, was among 10 foreigners the police detained in a Jan. 25 raid on the event, called “Pub Crawl or Let’s Get Wet.” Authorities said the group danced provocatively at a pool party and posted pictures of themselves dancing on social media. Judge Um Chan Thol ordered Jones to serve just one month and 22 days of his one-year sentence, calling his act of producing pornography “unintentional.” The court had dropped charges against the other nine foreigners and deported them.
James Watson — the Nobel laureate co-credited with the pivotal discovery of DNA’s double-helix structure, but whose career was later tainted by his repeated racist remarks — has died, his former lab said on Friday. He was 97. The eminent biologist died on Thursday in hospice care on Long Island in New York, announced the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he was based for much of his career. Watson became among the 20th century’s most storied scientists for his 1953 breakthrough discovery of the double helix with researcher partner Francis Crick. Along with Crick and Maurice Wilkins, he shared the
OUTRAGE: The former strongman was accused of corruption and responsibility for the killings of hundreds of thousands of political opponents during his time in office Indonesia yesterday awarded the title of national hero to late president Suharto, provoking outrage from rights groups who said the move was an attempt to whitewash decades of human rights abuses and corruption that took place during his 32 years in power. Suharto was a US ally during the Cold War who presided over decades of authoritarian rule, during which up to 1 million political opponents were killed, until he was toppled by protests in 1998. He was one of 10 people recognized by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in a televised ceremony held at the presidential palace in Jakarta to mark National
US President Donald Trump handed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban a one-year exemption from sanctions for buying Russian oil and gas after the close right-wing allies held a chummy White House meeting on Friday. Trump slapped sanctions on Moscow’s two largest oil companies last month after losing patience with Russian President Vladimir Putin over his refusal to end the nearly four-year-old invasion of Ukraine. However, while Trump has pushed other European countries to stop buying oil that he says funds Moscow’s war machine, Orban used his first trip to the White House since Trump’s return to power to push for
LANDMARK: After first meeting Trump in Riyadh in May, al-Sharaa’s visit to the White House today would be the first by a Syrian leader since the country’s independence Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in the US on Saturday for a landmark official visit, his country’s state news agency SANA reported, a day after Washington removed him from a terrorism blacklist. Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted long-time former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad late last year, is due to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House today. It is the first such visit by a Syrian president since the country’s independence in 1946, according to analysts. The interim leader met Trump for the first time in Riyadh during the US president’s regional tour in May. US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack earlier
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