JAPAN
Flagship H3 rocket launched
The nation yesterday successfully deployed an upgraded Earth observation satellite for disaster response and security after it was launched on a new flagship H3 rocket. The rocket lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center and released its payload about 16 minutes later, putting it into a targeted orbit as planned, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said during a livestream. The Advanced Land Observation Satellite, or ALOS-4, is tasked primarily with Earth observation and data collection for disaster response and mapmaking, including for volcanic and seismic activity and other land movements. It is also capable of monitoring military activity, such as missile launches, with an infrared sensor developed by the Ministry of Defense.
SOUTH KOREA
Yoon recall petition surges
An online petition calling for President Yoon Suk-yeol to be impeached experienced delays and disruptions due to the large number of people trying to sign it, National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik said, promising to fix the issue as soon as possible. More than 811,000 people have so far signed the petition, hosted on the National Assembly’s Web site, since it went live on June 20. The petition calls on parliament to introduce a bill to impeach Yoon on the grounds that he is unfit for the job. In a statement late on Sunday, Woo apologized for the disruption, and said parliament would take action to uphold the public’s constitutional right. People trying to access the petition yesterday faced delays that lasted up to four hours. At one point, an error message showed more than 30,000 people were waiting to access the site.
ITALY
Drug ‘precursors’ seized
Customs officials yesterday said they had seized more than 6 tonnes of chemical “precursors” from China that could have been used to make 630 million euros (US$678 million) of narcotics. The seizure was made at Milan’s airport during an inspection of goods, and included enough chemicals to produce more than 63 million MDMA pills, they added. An Italian entrepreneur from Milan was placed under investigation and two Chinese nationals were arrested in the Netherlands as part of investigations carried out with the EU Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation, customs officials said. A lab analysis said that the powder seized that purported to be polyester powder coating turned out to be PMK — a precursor product of ecstasy.
FIJI
Prison officers linked to cult
Fijian prison chiefs yesterday said they had punished 11 officers for receiving free meals and other favors from businesses linked to South Korea’s “Grace Road” cult. Cult founder Shin Ok-ju prophesied that South Korea would be doomed by famine and disaster, persuading hundreds of followers in 2014 to start a new life in Fiji. The movement quickly established political and commercial sway there, but it was also dogged by claims of bizarre rituals, and Shin was imprisoned by a South Korean court in 2019 on a string of criminal charges, including violence, child abuse and fraud in Fiji. The Fiji Corrections Office said it had launched an investigation following reports that some of its prison officers had received “favors” from a Suva Remand Center prisoner, Jung Young Kim. “The investigation revealed that officers and their families were receiving free meals and groceries from Grace Road businesses located in and around the Suva area,” the corrections office said in a statement on social media.
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
A colossal explosion in the sky, unleashing energy hundreds of times greater than the Hiroshima bomb. A blinding flash nearly as bright as the sun. Shockwaves powerful enough to flatten everything for miles. It might sound apocalyptic, but a newly detected asteroid nearly the size of a football field now has a greater than 1 percent chance of colliding with Earth in about eight years. Such an impact has the potential for city-level devastation, depending on where it strikes. Scientists are not panicking yet, but they are watching closely. “At this point, it’s: ‘Let’s pay a lot of attention, let’s
UNDAUNTED: Panama would not renew an agreement to participate in Beijing’s Belt and Road project, its president said, proposing technical-level talks with the US US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday threatened action against Panama without immediate changes to reduce Chinese influence on the canal, but the country’s leader insisted he was not afraid of a US invasion and offered talks. On his first trip overseas as the top US diplomat, Rubio took a guided tour of the canal, accompanied by its Panamanian administrator as a South Korean-affiliated oil tanker and Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship passed through the vital link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. However, Rubio was said to have had a firmer message in private, telling Panama that US President Donald Trump
CHEER ON: Students were greeted by citizens who honked their car horns or offered them food and drinks, while taxi drivers said they would give marchers a lift home Hundreds of students protesting graft they blame for 15 deaths in a building collapse on Friday marched through Serbia to the northern city of Novi Sad, where they plan to block three Danube River bridges this weekend. They received a hero’s welcome from fellow students and thousands of local residents in Novi Said after arriving on foot in their two-day, 80km journey from Belgrade. A small red carpet was placed on one of the bridges across the Danube that the students crossed as they entered the city. The bridge blockade planned for yesterday is to mark three months since a huge concrete construction
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