JAPAN
Okinawa sets US base vote
Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki yesterday said that the region is to hold a referendum on Feb. 24 over an unpopular project to move a US airbase. The symbolic, non-binding vote might draw renewed attention to the plight of Okinawans, who have fought against the Japanese-US joint plan to close the US Marines’ Futenma Air Station in an urban area and move it to a sparsely populated part of the island region. It comes also after years of local protests against heavy US military presence have fallen on deaf ears in Tokyo and Washington. Tamaki, elected in September after campaigning against the relocation plans, said the referendum would be an opportunity for local residents to voice their views publicly.
HONG KONG
Painting sold for US$60m
A nearly 1,000-year-old ink painting by one of China’s greatest literati masters, Su Shi (蘇軾), fetched US$59.5 million at auction, Christie’s said in Monday. The auction house has described the Song Dynasty work of art as “one of the world’s rarest Chinese paintings.” Entitled Wood and Rock, the ink-on-paper handscroll depicts a dragon-like old tree with withered branches and a sharp rock resting at its root. The painting was the most expensive item ever sold in Christie’s Asia, it said. Su Shi, also known as Su Dongpo (蘇東坡), was an esteemed scholar, poet, prose-writer, painter, calligrapher and statesman. The 185.5cm-long scroll is inscribed with calligraphy and the poems of four important literati of 11th-century China, as well as the seals of 41 collectors. “The number of the works securely attributed to him are very few, probably only two or three. They are extremely rare,” Jonathan Stone, deputy chairman for Christie’s Asian art department, said in an earlier preview.
UNITED STATES
Bush to get Lincoln award
Former president George W. Bush is to receive a prestigious leadership prize from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation. The foundation on Monday said that Bush is to receive the 2019 Lincoln Leadership Prize during a ceremony on April 1 in Chicago. The annual award recognizes people for a lifetime of service in the spirit of Abraham Lincoln, the nation’s 16th president. Ray McCaskey, chairman of the foundation’s board of directors, said that much of Lincoln’s legacy was defined by his leadership during the Civil War. McCaskey said Bush also faced great challenges and demonstrated “resolute leadership” after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In a statement, Bush said Lincoln was one of the nation’s greatest presidents and that he’s proud to accept the award bearing his name.
UNITED STATES
Car plows into pedestrians
A 70-year-old driver trying to parallel park on a New York City street on Monday lost control of his minivan and struck several pedestrians standing next to a fruit stand, killing one person and injuring six others, police said. “The car just suddenly appeared and banged into the wall backward. I was just so shocked,” said witness Jin Lin, 32, who saw several pedestrians trapped between the vehicle and the wall. It happened shortly before 7pm in Chinatown. Police said four people were hospitalized. Two were in critical condition and the other two were in serious condition. The unidentified driver, who remained at the scene, was arrested on charges of failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to exercise due care.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing
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