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.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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