JAPAN
Rail chaos blamed on slug
A slug has been blamed for a power outage that halted dozens of trains and delayed 12,000 passengers, the railway operator said yesterday. The power failed on a couple of lines serving the country’s south, operated by Kyushu Railway Co, known as JR Kyushu, on May 30. The company was forced to cancel 26 trips and delay other services, causing chaos. Weeks after the power outage, JR Kyushu said it had found the culprit — a slug, which had made its way into an electrical power device installed near rail tracks. “We tracked down the device responsible for the power failure... We initially thought what’s in there was a bug, but it turned out to be a dead slug,” a company spokesman told reporters.
UNITED STATES
Bikers mourn seven killed
Motorcyclists and military veterans were mourning seven members of a motorcycle club that includes marines and their spouses who were killed in a collision with a pickup truck on a rural highway. Authorities said they might begin publicly identifying victims of Friday’s crash in remote northern New Hampshire as early as yesterday. Investigators identified the driver of the pickup truck as Volodoymyr Zhukovskyy, a 23-year-old employee of a Massachusetts transportation company. Authorities said he has not been charged, but have not addressed details on his whereabouts.
INDIA
US freedom report rejected
New Delhi yesterday rejected an annual US Department of State report on religious freedom that raised questions about the government’s inability to curb violent attacks on the country’s minority Muslims. Preparing for a visit by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a stiff rejoinder to the criticism. “India is proud of its secular credentials, it’s status as the largest democracy and a pluralistic society with a long-standing commitment to tolerance and inclusion,” ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar said in a statement.
CAMBODIA
Building collapse kills 17
The death toll in the collapse of a Chinese-owned building under construction at a resort rose to 17 overnight, officials said yesterday, as rescue workers scrambled to find survivors buried under rubble. The building went down before sunrise on Saturday in the casino-resort town of Sihanoukville on the southwest coast, a rapidly developing tourist hotspot awash with Chinese investment. Four people have been detained in connection with the accident, including the Chinese building owner, the head of the construction firm and the contractor. A landowner has also been held at provincial headquarters for questioning.
URUGUAY
Nazi eagle to be sold
A court has ruled that a bronze Nazi eagle from a German battleship that fought in one of the first naval skirmishes of World War II must be sold. Half the proceeds are to go to the government and half to the salvage team that found the insignia in the River Plate off Montevideo in 2006 after a decade of searching, the ruling said. The 50-50 split is stipulated in an agreement the salvagers signed with the navy in 2004. The treasure hunters had filed suit arguing the government reneged on that deal. Since it was found, the sculpture from the ship called the Admiral Graf Spee has been kept in a navy warehouse.
Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss, the stepsister of teenage diarist Anne Frank and a tireless educator about the horrors of the Holocaust, has died. She was 96. The Anne Frank Trust UK, of which Schloss was honorary president, said she died on Saturday in London, where she lived. Britain’s King Charles III said he was “privileged and proud” to have known Schloss, who cofounded the charitable trust to help young people challenge prejudice. “The horrors that she endured as a young woman are impossible to comprehend and yet she devoted the rest of her life to overcoming hatred and prejudice, promoting kindness, courage, understanding
Tens of thousands of Filipino Catholics yesterday twirled white cloths and chanted “Viva, viva,” as a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ was paraded through the streets of Manila in the nation’s biggest annual religious event. The day-long procession began before dawn, with barefoot volunteers pulling the heavy carriage through narrow streets where the devout waited in hopes of touching the icon, believed to hold miraculous powers. Thousands of police were deployed to manage crowds that officials believe could number in the millions by the time the statue reaches its home in central Manila’s Quiapo church around midnight. More than 800 people had sought
DENIAL: Pyongyang said a South Korean drone filmed unspecified areas in a North Korean border town, but Seoul said it did not operate drones on the dates it cited North Korea’s military accused South Korea of flying drones across the border between the nations this week, yesterday warning that the South would face consequences for its “unpardonable hysteria.” Seoul quickly denied the accusation, but the development is likely to further dim prospects for its efforts to restore ties with Pyongyang. North Korean forces used special electronic warfare assets on Sunday to bring down a South Korean drone flying over North Korea’s border town. The drone was equipped with two cameras that filmed unspecified areas, the General Staff of the North Korean People’s Army said in a statement. South Korea infiltrated another drone
Cambodia’s government on Wednesday said that it had arrested and extradited to China a tycoon who has been accused of running a huge online scam operation. The Cambodian Ministry of the Interior said that Prince Holding Group chairman Chen Zhi (陳志) and two other Chinese citizens were arrested and extradited on Tuesday at the request of Chinese authorities. Chen formerly had dual nationality, but his Cambodian citizenship was revoked last month, the ministry said. US prosecutors in October last year brought conspiracy charges against Chen, alleging that he had been the mastermind behind a multinational cyberfraud network, used his other businesses to launder
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