JAPAN
shake islands
A remote island chain in the nation’s south has been rattled by more than 470 earthquakes since Saturday, the national weather agency said yesterday, calling for residents to stay alert. No major damage has been reported from the series of quakes with a strength that is slightly perceptible to people seated quietly indoors, or a 1 on its seven-point seismic intensity scale. As of yesterday morning, 474 such earthquakes had been detected around the Tokara island chain, the agency said. “As this region has experienced extended periods of earthquake activity in the past, please be vigilant against earthquakes that cause strong shaking,” it added.
Photo: AFP
JAPAN
Pop group Tokio disbands
Pop group Tokio on Wednesday announced it is disbanding following a scandal. Five-member Tokio emerged in 1994 from Japan’s boyband empire Johnny and Associates, which unraveled in 2023 following revelations about its late founder’s decades-long sexual abuse of boys. Recent years have seen Tokio trimmed to a trio and in a final death blow, it declared itself defunct after reports that one of its members had engaged in unspecified misconduct. Details surrounding the alleged misbehavior of Taichi Kokubun, 50, are scarce, with official statements describing it as a “violation of compliance protocols.” Media in Japan, including the Kyodo news agency, cited “behavior that could be considered sexual harassment,” quoting unnamed sources.
MEXICO
Weissman slams US policy
Drew Weissman, winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine, on Wednesday said that people appointed by US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr would block approvals of new treatments. Weissman’s remarks, in an interview during a visit to Mexico City, came on the same day that a US vaccine review panel appointed by Kennedy held its first meeting. “My fear is that no new vaccines are going to be approved in the United States,” Weissman said. Kennedy fired all 17 sitting members of the committee earlier this month, accusing them of industry conflicts of interest. He replaced them with eight new appointees.
MEXICO
Gunmen kill 12 people
Twelve people were killed overnight in Guanajuato state when gunmen opened fire on a celebration in the city of Irapuato, authorities said on Wednesday. People were dancing and drinking in the street in celebration of St John the Baptist when the shooting began. Irapuato official Rodolfo Gomez Cervantes told a news conference that about 20 people were wounded.
UNITED STATES
Mississippi man executed
A Mississippi man who had been on death row for nearly 50 years was executed by lethal injection on Wednesday. Richard Jordan, 79, was convicted in 1976 of the murder of Edwina Marter, the wife of a bank executive in the town of Gulfport. Jordan, a shipyard worker, kidnapped Marter from her home and demanded a US$25,000 ransom. He was apprehended when he went to pick up the money. Jordan confessed to murdering Marter and led the authorities to her body, which had been hidden in a forest. She had been shot. Jordan was pronounced dead at 6:16pm at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman, the Mississippi Department of Corrections said.
The military is to begin conscripting civilians next year, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said yesterday, citing rising tensions with Thailand as the reason for activating a long-dormant mandatory enlistment law. The Cambodian parliament in 2006 approved a law that would require all Cambodians aged 18 to 30 to serve in the military for 18 months, although it has never been enforced. Relations with Thailand have been tense since May, when a long-standing territorial dispute boiled over into cross-border clashes, killing one Cambodian soldier. “This episode of confrontation is a lesson for us and is an opportunity for us to review, assess and
The Russian minister of foreign affairs warned the US, South Korea and Japan against forming a security partnership targeting North Korea as he visited the ally country for talks on further solidifying their booming military and other cooperation. Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov spoke on Saturday in Wonsan City, North Korea, where he met North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un and conveyed greetings from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kim during the meeting reaffirmed his government’s commitment to “unconditionally support and encourage all measures” taken by Russia in its conflict with Ukraine. Pyongyang and Moscow share identical views on “all strategic issues in
IDENTITY: A sex extortion scandal involving Thai monks has deeply shaken public trust in the clergy, with 11 monks implicated in financial misconduct Reverence for the saffron-robed Buddhist monkhood is deeply woven into Thai society, but a sex extortion scandal has besmirched the clergy and left the devout questioning their faith. Thai police this week arrested a woman accused of bedding at least 11 monks in breach of their vows of celibacy, before blackmailing them with thousands of secretly taken photos of their trysts. The monks are said to have paid nearly US$12 million, funneled out of their monasteries, funded by donations from laypeople hoping to increase their merit and prospects for reincarnation. The scandal provoked outrage over hypocrisy in the monkhood, concern that their status
‘FALSE NARRATIVE’: China and the Solomon Islands inked a secretive security pact in 2022, which is believed to be a prelude to building a Chinese base, which Beijing denied The Australian government yesterday said it expects China to spy on major military drills it is conducting with the US and other allies. It also renewed a charge — denounced by Beijing as a “false narrative” — that China wants to establish a military base in the South Pacific. The comments by a government minister came as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made a six-day visit to China to bolster recently repaired trade ties. More than 30,000 military personnel from 19 nations are set to join in the annual Talisman Sabre exercises from yesterday across Australia and Papua New Guinea. “The Chinese military have
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