JAPAN
Emperor’s birthday canceled
A public gathering on Sunday to celebrate the birthday of Emperor Naruhito has been canceled, as fears grow over the spread of COVID-19. “In light of various situations, we have decided to cancel the visit by the general public to the palace for His Majesty’s birthday,” the imperial household agency said in a statement a day after the government warned people to avoid crowds and “non-essential gatherings.” “His Majesty’s appearance in the morning as well as the public signing of the greeting book will be canceled.”
AUSTRALIA
Missing woman found
A 26-year-old woman has been found alive and in “surprisingly good spirits” after spending five days lost in the nation’s flood-hit bushland, emergency responders said yesterday. Yang Chen went missing on Wednesday after her male walking partner lost sight of her at a waterfall in Tallebudgera, west of the Gold Coast in Queensland. Local media reported that police divers yesterday joined the search for the Bond University student, after heavy rainfall had earlier forced authorities to suspend the search. The woman, who lives on the Gold Coast, was found near the waterfall where she first went missing.
UNITED STATES
Mineral named for professor
A Louisiana State University geology professor now has a scientific namesake — a newly discovered variety of tourmaline. Barbara Dutrow said she was surprised and thrilled by the honor. “A lifelong passion has been to discover and decode the geologic information embedded in tourmaline; this recognition is a highlight of our discoveries!” she said in a news release by the university on Friday. The statement said Italian researchers named “dutrowite” for her because of her contributions to mineral sciences, especially her research showing that tourmalines — a family of gemstones — hold evidence of their geological history.
UNITED STATES
Manatee deaths decline
Manatee deaths in Florida decreased to 606 last year from 824 in 2018. Experts said it appeared that the main cause of the decline is the reduced effect of red tide algae on manatees. Twenty-one manatees died of red tide last year, compared with 288 in 2018, Florida Center for Biological Diversity spokeswoman Jaclyn Lopez said. The Sun-Sentinel reported that boats and other watercraft were the biggest cause of manatee deaths last year, causing at least 136 of the fatalities, or about 22 percent of the total.
UNITED STATES
City hit by sewage spills
Fort Lauderdale officials said that 801 million liters of sewage has spilled into the Florida city’s waterways in the past few months, as aging sewer pipes broke six times in December. That was enough to fill 320 Olympic-sized pools, the Sun-Sentinel reported. The spills fouled the Tarpon River, the Himmarshee Canal and streets in three neighborhoods. Officials told the Florida Department of Environmental Protection that from Jan. 30 to Feb. 8, 300 million liters of sewage spilled into George English Lake, and an additional 20.4 million liters flooded streets near a park across a popular mall. In recent weeks, crews have also rushed to fix another string of water main breaks, forcing the city to warn residents to boil their tap water before drinking, brushing their teeth or washing dishes.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘POINT OF NO RETURN’: The Caribbean nation needs increased international funding and support for a multinational force to help police tackle expanding gang violence The top UN official in Haiti on Monday sounded an alarm to the UN Security Council that escalating gang violence is liable to lead the Caribbean nation to “a point of no return.” Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Haiti Maria Isabel Salvador said that “Haiti could face total chaos” without increased funding and support for the operation of the Kenya-led multinational force helping Haiti’s police to tackle the gangs’ expanding violence into areas beyond the capital, Port-Au-Prince. Most recently, gangs seized the city of Mirebalais in central Haiti, and during the attack more than 500 prisoners were freed, she said.
DEMONSTRATIONS: A protester said although she would normally sit back and wait for the next election, she cannot do it this time, adding that ‘we’ve lost too much already’ Thousands of protesters rallied on Saturday in New York, Washington and other cities across the US for a second major round of demonstrations against US President Donald Trump and his hard-line policies. In New York, people gathered outside the city’s main library carrying signs targeting the US president with slogans such as: “No Kings in America” and “Resist Tyranny.” Many took aim at Trump’s deportations of undocumented migrants, chanting: “No ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], no fear, immigrants are welcome here.” In Washington, protesters voiced concern that Trump was threatening long-respected constitutional norms, including the right to due process. The
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