JAPAN
Quake injures four people
An earthquake shook Tokyo and surrounding areas yesterday, injuring several people and causing minor damage, officials and media said. The epicenter of the magnitude 5.4 quake was in Chiba Prefecture, southeast of Tokyo, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. No tsunami warning was issued. Four people were injured, including a man who was hit by a falling ceiling light, and some rail services were canceled or delayed, Kyodo news agency said. The country is in one of the world’s most earthquake-prone regions, and a massive 2011 quake and subsequent tsunami killed thousands and caused a meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.
SOUTH KOREA
Cattle culled over disease
Authorities have ordered the culling of several hundred cattle and put in place biosecurity measures after confirming cases of foot-and-mouth disease in farms in a central province, the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said. The cases mark the first confirmed outbreak since January 2019, media reports said. The contagion occurred in three farms in North Chungcheong Province, the ministry said. “Related agencies and local governments are asked to make all-out efforts on preventive measures ... to stop further spread of foot-and-mouth disease,” Vice Minister of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Kim In-joong said. The disease is highly transmissible and causes lesions and lameness in cattle and other cloven-hoofed animals, but does not affect humans. A team has been sent to the area to investigate the outbreak, disinfect farms and enforce a 48-hour halt on the movement of people and livestock, the ministry said.
ASEAN
Myanmar progress stalls
Myanmar’s ruling military has made no meaningful progress on implementing a peace plan agreed two years ago and the bloc must show unity in deciding how to address the escalating crisis, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said yesterday. Widodo, who chairs the bloc this year, was speaking on the second day of a summit in Labuan Bajo, Indonesia, where the “five-point consensus” peace plan is in the spotlight. “I must speak candidly. On implementation of the peace plan, there has not been significant progress,” he said. “Therefore, ASEAN unity is required to decide on the next steps.” The president called on the 10-member grouping, of which Myanmar is a member, to chart a way forward to de-escalate violence in Myanmar since a coup in 2021.
UNITED STATES
Modi invited for state dinner
President Joe Biden is to host Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a state dinner on June 22, the White House said on Wednesday. It would be the third such formal event hosted by Biden after dinners for the leaders of France and South Korea. “The upcoming visit will affirm the deep and close partnership between the United States and India, and the warm bonds of family and friendship that link Americans and Indians together,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in the statement. The two leaders are to focus on a secure Indo-Pacific region and technology partnerships on defense, clean energy and space, Jean-Pierre said. The state visit comes as the Biden administration is working to deepen its relationship with key countries to counter what it sees as a growing threat posed by China. The two leaders would “explore ways to strengthen India-US collaboration in plurilateral and multilateral fora, including in the G20,” the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
When Shanghai-based designer Guo Qingshan posted a vacation photo on Valentine’s Day and captioned it “Puppy Mountain,” it became a sensation in China and even created a tourist destination. Guo had gone on a hike while visiting his hometown of Yichang in central China’s Hubei Province late last month. When reviewing the photographs, he saw something he had not noticed before: A mountain shaped like a dog’s head rested on the ground next to the Yangtze River, its snout perched at the water’s edge. “It was so magical and cute. I was so excited and happy when I discovered it,” Guo said.
Chinese authorities said they began live-fire exercises in the Gulf of Tonkin on Monday, only days after Vietnam announced a new line marking what it considers its territory in the body of water between the nations. The Chinese Maritime Safety Administration said the exercises would be focused on the Beibu Gulf area, closer to the Chinese side of the Gulf of Tonkin, and would run until tomorrow evening. It gave no further details, but the drills follow an announcement last week by Vietnam establishing a baseline used to calculate the width of its territorial waters in the Gulf of Tonkin. State-run Vietnam News
TURNAROUND: The Liberal Party had trailed the Conservatives by a wide margin, but that was before Trump threatened to make Canada the US’ 51st state Canada’s ruling Liberals, who a few weeks ago looked certain to lose an election this year, are mounting a major comeback amid the threat of US tariffs and are tied with their rival Conservatives, according to three new polls. An Ipsos survey released late on Tuesday showed that the left-leaning Liberals have 38 percent public support and the official opposition center-right Conservatives have 36 percent. The Liberals have overturned a 26-point deficit in six weeks, and run advertisements comparing the Conservative leader to Trump. The Conservative strategy had long been to attack unpopular Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but last month he
Four decades after they were forced apart, US-raised Adamary Garcia and her birth mother on Saturday fell into each other’s arms at the airport in Santiago, Chile. Without speaking, they embraced tearfully: A rare reunification for one the thousands of Chileans taken from their mothers as babies and given up for adoption abroad. “The worst is over,” Edita Bizama, 64, said as she beheld her daughter for the first time since her birth 41 years ago. Garcia had flown to Santiago with four other women born in Chile and adopted in the US. Reports have estimated there were 20,000 such cases from 1950 to
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