JAPAN
DPP leader admits affair
Yuichiro Tamaki, head of the opposition Democratic Party for the People (DPP), said that a tabloid report about his extramarital affair with a model was “basically true.” “I apologize for the trouble caused,” Tamaki told reporters at a hastily called news conference after tabloid SmartFlash yesterday reported the affair. Despite the scandal, Tamaki retained the unanimous support of the party’s lawmakers to stay on as party leader, DPP Secretary-General Kazuya Shimba told reporters. SmartFlash reported that Tamaki, 55, and a 39-year-old model and entertainer rendezvoused in July and last month.
AUSTRALIA
Chef Oliver withdraws book
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has withdrawn his latest children’s book from sale after criticism it stereotyped members of the indigenous community. Billy and the Epic Escape, released in May, contains a passage where an indigenous Australian girl living in foster care is abducted by the story’s villain — a sensitive issue in a country where indigenous children were for decades forcibly removed from their parents. It also contained errors made by mixing different indigenous languages. “I am devastated to have caused offence and apologise wholeheartedly,” the Guardian reported Oliver, who is currently in Australia promoting his latest cookbook, as saying in a statement on Sunday. “It was never my intention to misinterpret this deeply painful issue. Together with my publishers we have decided to withdraw the book from sale.” Oliver’s publisher Penguin Random House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
SINGAPORE
Priest ‘stabber’ charged
A Singaporean man was yesterday charged with stabbing a priest celebrating a weekend Mass, court papers showed, but the Ministry of Home Affairs said there was no evidence the attack was religiously motivated or an act of terror. Basnayake Keith Spencer, 37, is accused of using a foldable knife to stab parish priest Christopher Lee Kwong Heng, 57, in the mouth during Saturday’s evening Mass at St Joseph’s Church in the upmarket Bukit Timah District, the charge sheet showed. Spencer was disarmed and held by members of the congregation until police officers arrived. Among the four other weapons on him were a penknife and a mallet, authorities said. Spencer was charged with voluntarily causing grievous hurt using a weapon likely to cause death, which carries a life sentence, or up to 15 years in jail, along with a caning and a fine. Media said he was not represented in court. His motive for the attack was not immediately clear. The ministry said he had a history of offenses of causing serious hurt and drug use. The priest, who suffered cuts to his tongue, upper lip and a corner of his mouth, is recovering in hospital.
MEXICO
Mariachis ‘break’ record
More than 1,000 mariachis on Sunday gathered in Mexico City’s main plaza, strumming guitars and singing classics like Cielito Lindo to end a mariachi congress celebrating the musical form. The number of musicians apparently topped the previous record of 700 mariachis at an earlier gathering in the city of Guadalajara. The Guinness World Records organization has not replied to a message from The Associated Press asking whether Sunday’s gathering broke the previous record. The musicians, many of whom had traveled from other cities, expressed their joy at singing in the giant iconic plaza, saying the music is a family tradition they start learning at a young age.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
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