JAPAN
Wildfires in north contained
Wildfires that scorched forests in the north, reportedly the second-biggest in more than 30 years, have been brought under control after 11 days, officials have said. Hundreds of firefighters and more than 1,000 military personnel had battled the blazes since late last month, as they burned about 1,600 hectares across the mountainous Iwate region. At least eight buildings were damaged and two people sustained minor injuries, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said. Thousands of people were evacuated, as fires picked up. Otsuchi Mayor Kozo Hirano told reporters on Saturday that he had been “informed that ... the fire had been brought under control” after visiting the area with fire officials.
Photo: Reuters
CHINA
Beijing, Manila spar over reef
Beijing yesterday accused the Philippines of landing personnel on a disputed reef in the South China Sea, as Manila said it would dispatch ships to drive off Chinese vessels that it said were conducting research illegally. The exchange extends a run of heightened tension between China and the Philippines over Sandy Cay (Tiexian Reef, 鐵線礁), a coral reef in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), which are also claimed by Taiwan. The China Coast Guard said it had identified five Philippine personnel who had landed on the reef, an action Beijing termed “illegal,” the state-run Global Times reported. Meanwhile, a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman said Manila had identified four Chinese vessels conducting what it called illegal research in its waters and threatened to deploy aircraft and ships to force them to move away.
IRAN
Activist moved to hospital
Imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi has been urgently transferred from prison to a hospital in northwestern Iran after a “catastrophic deterioration” of her health, her foundation said on Friday. The Narges Mohammadi Foundation said she had two episodes of complete loss of consciousness and a severe cardiac crisis, after fainting twice in prison in Zanjan. She was believed to have experienced a heart attack in late March, according to her lawyers who visited her a few days after the incident. At the time, she appeared pale, underweight and needed a nurse to help her walk. The hospital transfer comes “after 140 days of systematic medical neglect,” since her arrest on Dec. 12 last year, the foundation said.
AUSTRIA
Man arrested in poison case
Police on Saturday said they arrested a 39-year-old suspect in connection with a case in which rat poison was placed in jars of baby food in what their German manufacturer called an attempt to extort it. Five “manipulated” jars of the same kind of baby food made by German brand HiPP were safely recovered last month in Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia before they could be consumed, German police said at the time. A sixth jar thought to have been in Austria has still not been found. “Today we succeeded in arresting a suspect, a 39-year-old man,” said a spokesperson for police in the eastern state of Burgenland, where a poisoned jar was found. They declined to provide further details, saying it could jeopardize the investigation. While HiPP did not elaborate on the nature of the extortion, Die Presse reported soon after the case came to light that an e-mail was sent to HiPP in March demanding 2 million euros (US$2.35 million) within six days, but the company did not notice it until two weeks after that deadline.
SPEAKING OUT: After Siranudh Scott’s allegations surfaced, celebrities and public figures took to social media to share their own experiences of sexual misconduct and abuse A high-profile alleged sexual abuse case within a wealthy Thai beer brewing family has prompted a wave of painful accounts from survivors of unconnected abuse in the conservative nation. Siranudh Scott, a member of the billionaire Thai family that founded the ubiquitous Singha beer brand, posted an emotional video this month accusing his elder brother Sunit of repeatedly abusing him when he was a teenager. Sunit, who is in his 30s, later denied the allegations in a video posted online, but Singha parent Boonrawd dismissed him from his executive role with the company on Tuesday last week. “I felt I needed to speak
SEEKING ORDER: Rodrigo Paz said that ‘anyone who wants to destroy the nation will have to deal with this president and the full force of the constitution’ Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz on Wednesday said that the nation was at a “breaking point” after nearly a month of protests that have caused shortages of food, fuel and medicine. Paz, who took office six months ago amid the worst economic crisis there in four decades, is battling a groundswell of fury over his policies. The political capital, La Paz, has been besieged by low-income workers and members of the indigenous majority calling for his resignation. “The country needs order and is reaching breaking point,” the 58-year-old said at a public event in La Paz, renewing his appeal for dialogue. On Tuesday, the Bolivian
COMMUNITY CONFLICT: Concerns about disease spread from corpses has run up against friends and families’ desire to bury their dead as infection spreads in the area Angry residents of a town at the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) attacked and burned a tent that was part of a health center where people are being treated for the virus, the staff there said Saturday. It was the second such attack in the region in a week. No one was hurt in the attack, according to reports but as patients ran out to escape the fire, 18 people with suspected Ebola infections fled the facility and are unaccounted for, a hospital director said. Angry residents arrived at the clinic in the
Forecasters in Europe yesterday warned of exceptional heat as record temperatures driven by a “heat dome” push temperatures well above seasonal norms across the continent. The surge follows a record-breaking Monday, with France logging its hottest day in the month of May on record, its weather agency said, and the UK also posting unprecedented highs. A so-called “heat dome” of warm air from northern Africa trapped under a high-pressure system over western Europe is behind the high temperatures not usually seen until high summer. Restrictions on outdoor work were imposed in parts of Italy, beaches in southwest France filled earlier than usual and
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