JAPAN
JAL hit by cyberattack
Japan Airlines (JAL) said it was hit by a cyberattack yesterday, causing delays to more than 20 domestic flights, but the carrier said it was able to stop the onslaught and restore its systems hours later. There was no impact on flight safety, it said. JAL said that the problem started yesterday morning when the company’s network connecting internal and external systems began malfunctioning. The airline said it was able to identify the cause as an attack intended to overwhelm the network with massive transmissions of data. Such attacks flood a system or network with traffic until the target cannot respond or crashes. The attack did not involve a virus or cause any customer data leaks, JAL said. It said that as of late morning, the cyberattack had delayed 24 domestic flights for more than 30 minutes. JAL’s ticket sales for domestic and international fights scheduled for departure yesterday were suspended temporarily, but resumed several hours later. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a regular news conference that the Ministry of Transportation told JAL to hasten efforts to restore the system and to accommodate affected passengers. Other Japanese airlines, including ANA Holdings, Skymark and Starflyer, were not affected. Television footage showed many passengers at Tokyo’s Haneda airport crowded into its terminals as the attack hit the year-end holiday travel season.
Photo: AFP
CAMBODIA
Opposition leader sentenced
A court yesterday sentenced the head of an opposition party to two years in jail for inciting social disorder, in the latest criminal case against government opponents. The court in Phnom Penh found Nation Power Party president Sun Chanthy guilty of the charge, which has been used repeatedly against critical voices in the nation. Rights groups have long accused the government, headed by Prime Minister Hun Manet, of using legal cases as a tactic to silence opposition voices and legitimate political dissent. As well as the prison term, the court also fined Sun Chanthy 4 million riel (US$997) and removed his right to vote or stand for election. The charges related to social media posts by Sun Chanthy, including a video clip in which he criticised the government during a meeting with supporters in Japan. Defense lawyer Choung Choungy said the ruling was an “injustice” to his client and they were considering whether to appeal. “It is very serious [punishment], as what Sun Chanthy said in Japan wasn’t a mistake, but constructive criticism for development,” he said.
UNITED STATES
Taxi hits six people
A taxicab on Wednesday hit six people in midtown Manhattan, police said, with three people — including a nine-year-old boy — transported to hospitals for their injuries. A New York Police Department spokesperson said that the taxi driver might have had a medical episode, but an investigation had yet to confirm that. Two people, including the boy, were taken to Weill Cornell Medical Center, and one person was taken to Bellevue Hospital, the spokesperson said. The other three people who were hit by the taxi refused medical attention. All were in stable condition. The taxi cab jumped the curb near Macy’s flagship store at Herald Square at about 4pm and hit the pedestrians on the sidewalk, police said, adding that the driver remained at the scene. Video footage at the scene showed a damaged yellow taxi on the sidewalk cordoned off by police tape. The taxi was towed away later in the evening.
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
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
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
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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