JAPAN
Threat closes Hello Kitty park
A popular Hello Kitty-themed amusement park yesterday closed for the day after receiving an “e-mail threatening terrorism,” its operator said. Sanrio Puroland in Tokyo is known for its rides, shows and cutesy cartoon mascots including the beloved feline-like heroine. “We decided to temporarily close for the day because the safety of visitors, performers and staff cannot be guaranteed at the moment,” the indoor theme park said in a message on its Web site. The unspecified threat prompted police to scour Sanrio Puroland for suspicious objects, but none were found, public broadcaster NHK reported. The threat against the popular tourist attraction and its closure sparked groans on social media, with one user annoyed it happened during a holiday weekend. “It’s unforgivable that someone is doing this during a precious three-day weekend,” a user wrote on X.
CHINA
Nanjing fire kills 15
At least 15 people have died and were 44 injured in a fire at a residential building in Nanjing, local authorities said yesterday. The fire broke out early on Friday morning, officials told a news conference, with a preliminary investigation suggesting that the blaze started on the building’s first floor, where electric bikes had been placed. By 6am on Friday, the fire had been extinguished, and a search-and-rescue operation ended at about 2pm, authorities said. One of the 44 injured people was in “critical condition,” while another was seriously injured, authorities said.
FRANCE
Actress speaks out at Cesar
Actress Judith Godreche on Friday received a standing ovation at the Cesar Awards as she spoke out against sexual violence in the French film industry. Thriller Anatomy of a Fall dominated at the country’s premier cinematic honors with six trophies, including best film, giving it new momentum ahead of the Oscars, in which it has five nominations. The evening’s winners and losers were eclipsed by the speech from Godreche, who took the stage to denounce the “level of impunity, denial and privilege” in the industry. Godreche, who has become a leading figure in France’s #MeToo movement, has accused directors Benoit Jacquot and Jacques Doillon of sexually assaulting her while she was a teenager. Both deny the allegations. “Why accept that this art that we love so much, this art that binds us together, is used as a cover for illicit trafficking of young girls?” she said. “You have to be wary of little girls. They touch the bottom of the pool, they bump into each other, they hurt themselves, but they bounce back,” she said.
UNITED STATES
Man guilty of trans hate crime
A South Carolina man on Friday was found guilty of killing a black transgender woman in the nation’s first federal trial over a hate crime based on gender identity. After deliberating for about four hours, jurors convicted Daqua Lameek Ritter of a hate crime for the murder of Dime Doe in 2019. Ritter was also found guilty of using a firearm in connection with the fatal shooting and obstructing justice. A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled. Ritter faces a maximum of life imprisonment without parole. “This case stands as a testament to our committed effort to fight violence that is targeted against those who may identify as a member of the opposite sex, for their sexual orientation or for any other protected characteristics,” Brook Andrews, an assistant US attorney for the District of South Carolina, told reporters after the verdict.
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
‘UNUSUAL EVENT’: The Australian defense minister said that the Chinese navy task group was entitled to be where it was, but Australia would be watching it closely The Australian and New Zealand militaries were monitoring three Chinese warships moving unusually far south along Australia’s east coast on an unknown mission, officials said yesterday. The Australian government a week ago said that the warships had traveled through Southeast Asia and the Coral Sea, and were approaching northeast Australia. Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles yesterday said that the Chinese ships — the Hengyang naval frigate, the Zunyi cruiser and the Weishanhu replenishment vessel — were “off the east coast of Australia.” Defense officials did not respond to a request for comment on a Financial Times report that the task group from
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
DEFENSE UPHEAVAL: Trump was also to remove the first woman to lead a military service, as well as the judge advocates general for the army, navy and air force US President Donald Trump on Friday fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C.Q. Brown, and pushed out five other admirals and generals in an unprecedented shake-up of US military leadership. Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that he would nominate former lieutenant general Dan “Razin” Caine to succeed Brown, breaking with tradition by pulling someone out of retirement for the first time to become the top military officer. The president would also replace the head of the US Navy, a position held by Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead a military service,
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