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International News

From The Asian Reporter, V34, #9 (September 2, 2024), page 2.

A sinkhole suddenly opens, swallows an SUV, in South Korea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A sinkhole suddenly opened and swallowed an SUV in South Korea’s capital, injuring the two occupants, emergency workers said. Photos from the scene showed a white sport utility vehicle engulfed in the eight-foot-deep hole that appeared on a street in the central part of Seoul. Emergency workers rescued the vehicle’s 82-year-old male driver and a 76-year-old female passenger. No one else was hurt in the incident, which occurred at around 11:20am (0220 GMT), according to Seoul’s Seodaemun district fire station. The conditions of the injured victims weren’t immediately known. Traffic in the Seodaemun area continued to be restricted as workers and officials repaired the damaged road and investigated the cause of the sinkhole. South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport told lawmakers last year that at least 879 sinkholes were reported in the country from 2019 to June 2023. Nearly half of those sinkholes were caused by damaged sewer pipes, the ministry said at the time. Also last month, a 48-year-old tourist from India disappeared in Malaysia’s capital when pavement collapsed beneath her and caused her to fall into a 26-foot-deep sinkhole. Officials said she may have been swept away by an underground water current.

Young humpback whale freed from fishing tackle

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A young humpback whale was freed from fishing tackle that had entangled its tail during an almost 24-hour rescue operation in Sydney Harbor. The juvenile whale immediately began swimming toward the Sydney Heads and the open Pacific Ocean after government wildlife rescuers removed the ropes, Macquarie University whale expert Vanessa Pirotta said. The distressed whale was first reported by operators of a whale watching cruise ship in the harbor at 1:00pm on Thursday. A rescue attempt involving boats, helicopters, and drones began that afternoon and resumed at first light Friday. Pirotta said the whale could have become entangled far earlier than Thursday. She could tell by the sound of the whale’s breathing that it was "very fatigued" before it was freed. "Is the whale OK? I hope, I don’t really know. The reality is this animal has been through a huge ordeal," Pirotta told Australian Broadcasting Corp. "Being entangled in fishing gear is an awful thing, but then having boats and drones in the busiest harbor on Earth, Sydney Harbor — it’s just incredible to see where this has just unfolded," Pirotta added. Jessica Fox, an official from the volunteer Organization for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia, said the rescue crew attached buoys to the tangled rope to slow the whale so they could eventually hold it in place while they cut the rope away. "The whale has been going in circles in Sydney Harbor, making some erratic directional changes," Fox said in video posted on social media before the mammal was freed. "As you can imagine, it’s a very, very difficult task to try and disentangle a whale," Fox added. Pirotta said it was not clear why the whale had remained in the harbor rather than swim to the open ocean with its tail entangled. But staying in the harbor made rescuers’ job easier, she said. A humpback whale is considered a juvenile up to 4 years old.

Faulty undersea internet cable caused internet disruptions

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A faulty undersea internet cable caused slower internet connections for millions of Pakistanis last month, but the problem was supposed to be resolved by the end of August, the country’s top telecommunications official said. Nearly half of the country’s population has faced problems in using and accessing social media platforms, including the popular WhatsApp. Pakistan has 110 million internet users, and up to 40% slower internet speeds have affected nearly half the country’s 241 million population. Comments from Hafeezur Rehman, the chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, marked the first time the government has broken its silence over the problem. The slowdown affected millions of internet users, disrupting businesses and drawing nationwide complaints. Earlier, Pakistan denied allegations that the installation of a national firewall was behind the slowdown. Rehman told a meeting of lawmakers in Islamabad that internet service slowed down after a problem developed in the deep-sea internet cable.

Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine vandalized again

TOKYO (AP) — Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan’s war dead, including convicted World War II war criminals, has been vandalized again. "It is deplorable that an act seeking to denigrate the shrine’s dignity has happened again," the shrine said in a statement. In May, a stone pillar at Yasukuni was spraypainted red. A Chinese suspect was arrested in July. Neither the police nor the Shinto shrine would go into the details of the latest vandalism, saying an investigation was ongoing. Japanese media reports said graffiti reading "toilet" in Chinese, written with what appeared to be black markers, was found on a stone pillar near the shrine’s arch. Asian nations that suffered from Japanese aggression before and during World War II see Yasukuni as a symbol of militarism. Convicted Class A war criminals, including Hideki Tojo, Japan’s wartime prime minister, are among the 2.5 million Japanese war dead enshrined at Yasukuni. The shrine itself, a dramatic-looking building with sweeping roofs, also includes in its grounds memorials and museums dedicated to kamikaze pilots. Every year on August 15, the anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II, there is close scrutiny of which Japanese politicians visit Yasukuni to pray for the war dead. Many regular Japanese go there to pray for their family members and friends, regardless of their political views. This year, some politicians, including Defense Minister Minoru Kihara, prayed at the shrine on August 15. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who has announced he will not seek reelection, did not go but sent an offering.