Page 2 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
ASIA / PACIFIC
September 5, 2016
Seoul: Surviving sexual-slavery victims will receive $90,000
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Surviving South Korean women who were
forced into sexual slavery by Japan’s military in World War II will be eligible to
receive around 100 million won (about $90,000) each from a foundation that will
be funded by the Japanese government. Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said the
families of deceased victims will be able to receive about 20 million won
($18,000), and added it expects the Japanese government to soon transfer a
promised 1 billion yen ($9.9 million) to a foundation formed in July. South Korea
and Japan had agreed to set up the foundation in December as they settled the
long dispute over South Korean sex-slave victims. Seoul says there are currently
46 surviving South Korean victims and 199 victims who have died. The opening
of the foundation’s office in Seoul was met by protests. Many people in South
Korea believe the Seoul government settled for far too less in the December
settlement. Under the agreement, which was described by both governments as
“irreversible,” Japan pledged to fund the foundation to help support the victims.
South Korea, in exchange, vowed to refrain from criticizing Japan over the issue
and will try to resolve a Japanese grievance over a statue of a girl representing
victims of sexual slavery that sits in front of the Japanese Embassy in downtown
Seoul.
Locally transmitted Zika virus infects 41 in Singapore
SINGAPORE (AP) — More than 40 people have been infected locally by the
Zika virus in Singapore, but most have fully recovered, according to officials.
Singapore announced its first Zika infection in May, with the virus imported by
a 48-year-old man who had travelled to Brazil. The Ministry of Health confirmed
41 locally transmitted cases of the virus. The ministry said in a statement that
the patients were “not known to have travelled to Zika-affected areas recently,
and are thus likely to have been infected in Singapore. This confirms that local
transmission of Zika virus infection has taken place.” Of the group, 34 people
have recovered, while seven remain at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, the statement
said. The ministry named two residential districts of Singapore where the
disease was transmitted and said the bulk of those infected were foreign
construction workers. The virus was mostly detected through tests. Among
those still hospitalized is a 47-year-old Malaysian woman, identified by
authorities as the first locally transmitted case. Zika has mild effects on most
people, but can be fatal for unborn children. Infection during pregnancy can
result in babies with small heads — a condition called microcephaly — and other
brain defects.
Vietnam lifts ban on commemoration of 1966 battle
VUNG TAU, Vietnam (AP) — Under pressure from top Australian officials,
Vietnam lifted its sudden ban on veterans who had travelled to the country to
mark the 50th anniversary of Australia’s most costly battle of the Vietnam War,
with the government allowing low-key commemorations. More than 1,000
Australian veterans and their families travelled to Vietnam to commemorate
the anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan at a cross marking the site where 18
Australian soldiers and hundreds of North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops
died in a rubber plantation on August 18, 1966. The reversal over the ceremony,
which drew some Australian veterans back to the Communist country for the
first time since the war, comes after Vietnam told Australia that the event was
cancelled. That decision prompted urgent talks between foreign ministers of
both countries, with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull speaking to
his Vietnamese counterpart by phone. The Australian Department of Foreign
Affairs and Trade said in a statement that small groups of people would be
allowed into the site, but visitors would be banned from wearing medals or
uniforms and from carrying banners or flags. The Long Tan anniversary is
Australia’s official Vietnam Veterans Day and has been commemorated by
Australians at the battle scene since 1989.
‘SOS’ in sand leads to rescue of people stranded on island
CHUUK STATE, Micronesia (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard says two
stranded mariners were rescued August 26 after crews saw their “SOS” in
the sand on an uninhabited island in Micronesia. A U.S. Navy aircraft crew
spotted the pair on the beach and gave their location to the Coast Guard in
Guam. Hawaii News Now said the two, who had no emergency equipment, were
picked up and taken to a patrol boat. The Coast Guard received a report about
the couple’s 18-foot vessel going missing on August 19. Hawaii News Now said
the two departed Weno Island on August 17 and were expected to arrive at their
destination, Tamatam Island, the next day. Hawaii News Now said a ship
noticed flashing lights from the uninhabited Chuuk State island where the two
were later found. The U.S. Navy was alerted and spotted the survivors on the
beach.
Would-be bomber fails to detonate in Indonesian church
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Police in western Indonesia say a would-be
suicide bomber failed to detonate explosives in a packed church during Sunday
Mass. National police spokesman Maj. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar said the assailant
left a bench and ran toward a priest at the altar, but a bomb in his backpack
apparently did not detonate and left the attacker injured. Amar said the man
kept running toward the priest with a burning backpack as the congregation
chased and captured him. The motive of the attack was not clear. Indonesia, the
world’s most populous Muslim nation, has suffered a spate of deadly attacks by
Muslim militants since the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people.
OFF AGAIN. Members of the all-male Japanese pop group SMAP — from left, Goro Inagagi, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi,
Takuya Kimura, Shingo Katori, and Masahiro Nakai — perform on stage at their first-ever overseas concert in Beijing, in
this September 16, 2011 file photo. The on-again, off-again breakup of the group with a strong following in much of Asia
is back on, with the five members of SMAP going their separate ways at the end of this year, after performing together for
more than two decades. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Jin Liangkuai, File)
Japan’s long-running, all-male
pop group SMAP to break up
TOKYO (AP) — The on-again, off-again
breakup of an all-male Japanese pop group
with a strong following in much of Asia is back
on: The five members of SMAP will go their
separate ways at the end of this year, after
performing together for more than two
decades.
The group’s agency, Johnny & Associates,
announced that SMAP would disband,
according to Japanese media reports. The
agency said its members would focus on their
solo careers, Kyodo News service reported.
A possible split was widely rumored in
January, until the group’s members made an
unusual television appearance to say they
would stay together and apologized for causing
concern among their fans.
Johnny & Associates said it had recently
proposed the band take a hiatus, but that some
members wanted to break up for good,
according to the media reports.
“We judged it difficult for them to continue
activities as a group,” Johnny & Associates
said, according to Kyodo.
SMAP, which stands for “Sports Music
Assemble People,” was formed in 1988 as a
six-person teenage boy band. Its first CD came
out in 1991, and the group surged to stardom
with choreographed singing and dancing.
SMAP’s members now range in age from 39
to 43, and SMAP remains a popular group that
is a staple of entertainment shows and com-
mercials. Each member has also performed
individually in variety shows and films.
China’s launch of quantum satellite
is a major step in space race
By Nomaan Merchant
The Associated Press
EIJING — China’s launch of the first
quantum satellite will push forward
efforts to develop the ability to send
communications that can’t be penetrated by
hackers, according to experts.
The satellite launched into space from the
Jiuquan launch base in northwestern China’s
Gobi desert will allow Chinese researchers to
transmit test messages between Beijing and
northwestern China as well as other locations
around the world.
If the tests are successful, China will take a
major step toward building a worldwide
network to send messages that can’t be
wiretapped or cracked through conventional
methods.
B
“It moves the challenge for an eavesdropper
to a different domain,” said Alexander Ling,
principal investigator at the Centre for
Quantum Technologies in Singapore. “Lots of
people around the world think having secure
communications at a quantum level is
important. The Europeans, the Americans had
the lead, but now the Chinese are showing the
way forward.”
Quantum communications use subatomic
particles to securely communicate between
two points. A hacker trying to crack the
message changes its form in a way that would
alert the sender and cause the message to be
altered or deleted.
Researchers around the world have success-
fully sent quantum messages by land. But a
true satellite-based network would make it
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78.375
4052.2
6.6805
2.0593
7.7553
66.825
13247
30093
103.92
8073.0
4.0893
106.96
104.42
3.1696
46.688
65.158
3.7501
1.3602
1116.3
145.51
31.668
34.631
22296