GERMANY
Pollution jail time mooted
The daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung yesterday reported that judges are considering jailing senior Bavarian officials for failing to take action against air pollution in Munich, home to automaker BMW. The newspaper said that the state’s administrative court believes jailing officials might be the most effective way to force the Bavarian government to enforce emissions-cutting measures. Munich topped the ranks of 65 cities in the nation that exceeded levels of harmful particles last year. Bavarian officials have refused to impose measures in Munich, such as limited bans on driving diesel vehicles, despite heavy fines. Bavarian judges want to seek legal guidance from the European Court of Justice on whether jailing officials would be permissible, the paper said.
UNITED STATES
Tesla hits fire truck
Authorities say a Tesla driver, who said he thought his car was in Autopilot mode, crashed into the back of a fire truck in San Jose, California. The California Highway Patrol said the Tesla rear-ended a fire engine that was stopped with its emergency lights activated along the US Highway 101 at about 1am on Saturday. The 37-year-old driver, Michael Tran, told officers: “I think I had Autopilot on.” Tran was later arrested on suspicion of drunk driving. The two firefighters in the fire truck were not injured. Tran and a female passenger were taken to San Jose Regional Medical Center with minor injuries.
IRAN
Aid worker’s release ends
A detained British-Iranian aid worker sentenced to five years in jail was returned to prison on Sunday after a request to extend her three-day temporary release was rejected, her husband said. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arrested in April 2016 at a Tehran airport as she was heading back to Britain with her two-year-old daughter after a family visit. She was convicted of plotting to overthrow the government, a charge denied by her family and the foundation. Her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, who is in Britain, said in a statement that she returned to prison in Tehran to continue serving her sentence.
UNITED KINGDOM
Ice creams fail tests
A Which? investigation of supermarket and branded vanilla ice-creams found a number of them were lacking some key ingredients, such as vanilla, cream or fresh milk. One in five of the ice-creams examined by the consumer watchdog had none of the three ingredients; only half of the 24 surveyed contained all three. Vanilla ice-cream is traditionally made from fresh milk, cream, egg yolks, sugar and vanilla. In a number of the products Which? looked at, cream and milk were substituted with partially reconstituted dried skimmed milk, and in some cases, whey protein. Vanilla was often replaced with a general “flavoring.” There are no requirements that manufacturers have to meet before a product can be called ice-cream.
AUSTRIA
Panda’s art on sale
Vienna Zoo is luring visitors with a new attraction: a painting panda. Yang Yang, a female that gave birth to twins two years ago, has learned to use a brush to paint, and 100 of the small pieces are being sold online for 490 euros (US$560) each to raise funds to produce a picture book about the zoo’s pandas. Yang Yang’s abstract works are black splotches on white paper.
AFGHANISTAN
Aircraft bombs border area
A Tajik or Russian aircraft bombed a district near the border with Tajikistan during a clash between gunmen and Tajik border guards that left several people dead, officials said yesterday. Khalil Asir, a spokesman for Takhar provincial police, said it was not clear who conducted the bombing, but eight Taliban were killed and six wounded. A spokesman for the provincial governor said six gunmen, who were drug smugglers, were killed. Two border guards were also killed. Moscow has denied involvement, the Russian Information Agency said, citing the Russian Ministry of Defense.
JAPAN
N Korea expels tourist
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga yesterday said that they were trying to ensure the safety of a tourist whom North Korea said it had expelled after detaining him on unspecified charges for two weeks. The man reportedly arrived in China yesterday. The Korean Central News Agency late on Sunday reported that Tomoyuki Sugimoto had been “kept under control” for questioning about “his crime,” without specifying what he had been accused of. The agency said the authorities decided “to leniently condone him” and expel him on the principle of humanitarianism. Suga told reporters that Tokyo was doing its “utmost,” but refused to give further details. Sugimoto had apparently been caught filming a military facility in Nampo while on a group tour, media reports said.
JAPAN
Abe seeks LDP re-election
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday announced his candidacy for the Sept. 20 Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leadership election, which he is expected to win over ex-minister of defense Shigeru Ishiba. A win would put Abe on track to becoming the nation’s longest-serving prime minister. “It is my responsibility to respond to the mandate of the people,” he told reporters.
JAPAN
Train track training backed
JR West rail company yesterday defended a safety exercise that requires employees to sit beside tracks in tunnels as bullet trains speed by at 300kph, saying it has no plans to alter the exercise despite complaints from some employees. About 190 staff working on safety maintenance have undergone the training, which is aimed at showing workers just how fast the train moved and how seriously they need to take their jobs, a spokesman said. The training was started in 2016 after a 2015 accident in which part of a bullet train’s exterior fell off.
SOUTH KOREA
Working-age numbers fall
The number of people of working age in the nation fell for the first time ever last year, Statistics Korea said yesterday. In an annual census, the working-age population, defined as those aged 15 to 64, fell by 116,000 last year to 36.2 million, the agency said. The total population rose to 51.4 million, up 0.3 percent, with 14.2 percent of people aged 65 and over.
ISRAEL
Erez crossing reopened
The only crossing to the Gaza Strip for people reopened yesterday, a week after it was shut over violence along the border with the Palestinian enclave. A Ministry of Defense spokeswoman said the crossing was opened in the morning. An average of about 1,000 Gazans cross through Erez each day, mostly those in need of medical care but also businesspeople, students and others.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday vowed that those behind bogus flood control projects would be arrested before Christmas, days after deadly back-to-back typhoons left swathes of the country underwater. Scores of construction firm owners, government officials and lawmakers — including Marcos’ cousin congressman — have been accused of pocketing funds for substandard or so-called “ghost” infrastructure projects. The Philippine Department of Finance has estimated the nation’s economy lost up to 118.5 billion pesos (US$2 billion) since 2023 due to corruption in flood control projects. Criminal cases against most of the people implicated are nearly complete, Marcos told reporters. “We don’t file cases for
Ecuadorans are today to vote on whether to allow the return of foreign military bases and the drafting of a new constitution that could give the country’s president more power. Voters are to decide on the presence of foreign military bases, which have been banned on Ecuadoran soil since 2008. A “yes” vote would likely bring the return of the US military to the Manta air base on the Pacific coast — once a hub for US anti-drug operations. Other questions concern ending public funding for political parties, reducing the number of lawmakers and creating an elected body that would
‘ATTACK ON CIVILIZATION’: The culture ministry released drawings of six missing statues representing the Roman goddess of Venus, the tallest of which was 40cm Investigators believe that the theft of several ancient statues dating back to the Roman era from Syria’s national museum was likely the work of an individual, not an organized gang, officials said on Wednesday. The National Museum of Damascus was closed after the heist was discovered early on Monday. The museum had reopened in January as the country recovers from a 14-year civil war and the fall of the 54-year al-Assad dynasty last year. On Wednesday, a security vehicle was parked outside the main gate of the museum in central Damascus while security guards stood nearby. People were not allowed in because
A feud has broken out between the top leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on whether to maintain close ties with Russia. The AfD leader Alice Weidel this week slammed planned visits to Russia by some party lawmakers, while coleader Tino Chrupalla voiced a defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The unusual split comes at a time when mainstream politicians have accused the anti-immigration AfD of acting as stooges for the Kremlin and even spying for Russia. The row has also erupted in a year in which the AfD is flying high, often polling above the record 20 percent it
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