JAPAN
Elderly man held for graffiti
Police yesterday arrested a man in his 90s for allegedly graffitiing a sign at a prosecutor’s office in Osaka, a local officer said. A security guard at the government building made an emergency call saying “graffiti had been scrawled on a sign with red lacquer paint,” the senior Osaka police officer said. The stone sign at the front of the building bearing the words “Public Prosecutor’s Office” had been defaced, the officer said. The elderly man — who the officer said was in his 90s, but declined to specify his exact age — later admitted to investigators that he had “dirtied” the sign. The man did not appear to be politically motivated, the officer said.
Photo: AFP
KENYA
Recruiter for Russia arrested
Police have arrested a key figure in a network that sent more than 1,000 Kenyans to Russia, where many were forcibly conscripted into the army and sent to Ukraine. Festus Omwamba, 33, was caught in Moyale, a border town with Ethiopia, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations wrote on X late on Wednesday. He is “believed to be a key player in [an] extensive human trafficking syndicate,” it said. Omwamba founded a recruitment agency, Global Face Human Resources, used to funnel Kenyans to Russia. More than 1,000 Kenyans have joined the Russian army in the past few months, lawmaker Kimani Ichung’wah told parliament last week, citing a report from the intelligence services and directorate.
JAPAN
Births fall for 10th year
The number of births in Japan fell for the 10th consecutive year last year, official data showed yesterday, highlighting the challenges for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. A total of 705,809 babies were born, the preliminary health ministry data showed, down 2.1 percent from 2024. The data include births to Japanese nationals in Japan, foreign births in Japan and babies born to Japanese nationals overseas.
UNITED STATES
Astronaut reveals he was ill
NASA’s Mike Fincke on Wednesday identified himself as the astronaut whose medical condition prompted the space agency’s first medical evacuation. In a written statement, the 58-year-old spaceflight veteran revealed he was the ailing crew member last month aboard the International Space Station. He did not say what was wrong with him, but explained that his condition quickly stabilized thanks to his crewmates and flight surgeons on the ground. “Spaceflight is an incredible privilege, and sometimes it reminds us just how human we are,” he said in the statement, adding that he is well.
AUSTRALIA
Albanese sorry for comment
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday apologized for any “misinterpretation” after describing a sexual assault survivor who became an advocate for women as “difficult.” The comments were condemned by the outspoken activist Grace Tame who labeled them a “patronizing cop out from a total coward.” The prime minister was asked at a forum the previous day to give one-word reactions to various personalities. When the host named Tame, who was the 2021 Australian of the Year, Albanese said: “difficult.” The prime minister yesterday attempted to clarify his remarks. “I was asked to describe people in one word and Grace Tame, you certainly can’t describe in one word,” he told reporters. “She has had a difficult life and that was what I was referring to.”
ROCKY RELATIONS: The figures on residents come as Chinese tourist numbers drop following Beijing’s warnings to avoid traveling to Japan The number of Chinese residents in Japan has continued to rise, even as ties between the two countries have become increasingly fractious, data released on Friday showed. As of the end of December last year, the number of Chinese residents had increased by 6.5 percent from the previous year to 930,428. Chinese people accounted for 22.6 percent of all foreign residents in Japan, making them by far the largest group, Japanese Ministry of Justice data showed. Beijing has criticized Tokyo in increasingly strident terms since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last year suggested that a military conflict around Taiwan could
A retired US colonel behind a privately financed rocket launch site in the Dominican Republic sees the project as a response to China’s dominance of the space race in Latin America. Florida-based Launch on Demand is slated to begin building a US$600 million facility in a remote region near the border with Haiti late this year. The project is designed to meet surging demand for the heavy-lift rockets needed to put clusters of satellites into orbit. It is also an answer to China’s growing presence in the region, said CEO Burton Catledge, a former commander of the US Air Force’s 45th Operations
Germany is considering Australia’s Ghost Bat robot fighter as it looks to select a combat drone to modernize its air force, German Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius said yesterday. Germany has said it wants to field hundreds of uncrewed fighter jets by 2029, and would make a decision soon as it considers a range of German, European and US projects developing so-called “collaborative combat aircraft.” Australia has said it will integrate the Ghost Bat, jointly developed by Boeing Australia and the Royal Australian Air Force, into its military after a successful weapons test last year. After inspecting the Ghost Bat in Queensland yesterday,
A pro-Iran hacking group claimed to breach FBI Director Kash Patel’s personal e-mail inbox and posted some of the contents online. The e-mails provided by the hacking group include travel details, correspondence with leasing agents in Washington and global entry, and loyalty account numbers. The e-mail address the hackers claim to have compromised has been previously tied to Patel’s personal details, and the leaked e-mails contain photos of Patel and others, in addition to correspondence with family members and colleagues. “The FBI is aware of malicious actors targeting Director Patel’s personal email information,” the agency said in a statement on
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