CHINA
Cabin crew smoking banned
Pilots and other cabin crew can no longer smoke in the cockpits of domestic flights. The Civil Aviation Administration this week issued a notice to enforce the ban on in-flight smoking with immediate effect, the China Daily reported yesterday. First-time offenders, including those who smoke electronic cigarettes, would be suspended for 12 months and repeat offenders would be barred for 36 months, the regulator was quoted as saying, adding that airlines must carry out routine inspections. The government in October 2017 outlawed in-flight smoking, but individual airlines were given two more years before the cockpit ban was to take effect. Cabin crew who fail to stop other members from smoking in the cockpit would also be suspended for six months, the regulator was quoted as saying, adding that penalties could be more severe should smoking result in serious consequences.
INDIA
Alleged murderer caught
A man accused of murdering his friend, chopping up his body and flushing the parts down the toilet has been arrested, police said on Thursday. The grisly crime was discovered when residents at the Bachraj Paradise Society apartment complex in Mumbai found chunks of flesh blocking their drains. “While sifting through all the flesh we found two fingers, which helped us ascertain these were human parts,” police official Jayant Bajbale told reporters. After detecting a foul smell, police conducted a search of one of the apartments and came across a power tool they believe was used to dismember the corpse. “We identified the tenant and tricked him into coming to his flat and then arrested him,” Bajbale said. The 40-year-old confessed to killing his friend over a minor altercation. He told police that he chopped off the body parts of the victim over two or three days and disposed of them in bags dumped in different locations.
PHILIPPINES
Bill to boost female police
As more than 83 percent of the nation’s police officers are male, legislation is being pushed to recruit more female officers. A proposal to double the police’s annual recruitment allocation for women was passed by the House of Representatives Committee on Public Order and Safety and has been endorsed for plenary approval, said the Philippine National Police, which supports the measure. The 190,000-strong force is authorized to hire 10,000 new cops annually. Under the law, only 10 percent of these positions are reserved for women, leaving many aspiring women waiting for months or years to enter the force. The police force has eased on gender restrictions on recruitment ahead of the legislation, police spokesman Senior Superintendent Bernard Banac said in a statement.
Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro Jr on Tuesday hit out at China at an international forum after a memo asserting Beijing’s position over their longstanding maritime dispute was delivered to him while he was speaking on stage. The unusual incident was captured on video at the Seoul Defense Dialogue as the secretary was responding to a question about “gray zone” coercion in the South China Sea. The video shows what appears to be a conference staffer placing it on the table next to him while speaking. “I have a note here, I think this is from China,” he said, describing
Singapore’s air quality hit an unhealthy level yesterday, as haze from forest fires raging in Indonesia continued to spread across swathes of Southeast Asia. The city-state is currently one of the 10 most-polluted major cities in the world, coming in at third in IQAir’s ranking. Kuching, in the Malaysian part of the island of Borneo, was No. 1. A government taskforce has “activated haze response plans” for schools, workplaces and community centers, Singaporean Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu (傅海) said in a video message on Facebook. Most people could continue essential daily activities, but the elderly or vulnerable should
PAINSTAKING PROCESS: Ice makers freeze water for up to 72 hours, replace tainted water with a fresh batch once freezing begins, and are constantly stirring In the historic Japanese city of Kanazawa, craftsmen painstakingly shape and slice blocks of ice destined to chill negronis in some of the world’s trendiest bars. The men work for Kuramoto Ice, a century-old company in Ishikawa on the Sea of Japan coast and one of dozens of Japanese firms producing ultra-clear, premium ice. This luxury product, believed by those in the industry to melt more slowly than regular blocks, is a staple of Japan’s cocktail culture, but its popularity is also spilling over to bars abroad, from the US to Australia, who pay as much as ￥200 (US$1.28) per cube. Kuramoto Ice
COMMITMENT: China could view reduced US-Seoul exercises as an opportunity to reassert itself, but the US had reassured Manila of its resolve, the defense chief said China could see recent cuts to US-South Korean military exercises as an opportunity to reassert itself in the Indo-Pacific region, Philippine Secretary of Defense Gilberto Teodoro said yesterday, though he said Washington had assured Manila that its commitments to the Philippines remained unchanged. Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of the Seoul Defense Dialogue, Teodoro said there had been no reduction in US-Philippine military activities, and that bilateral and multilateral cooperation involving Manila continued to expand. US President Donald Trump’s decision last month to scale back military exercises with South Korea has prompted debate among security analysts over the credibility of US
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