TOKYO: Three Chinese coastguard ships sailed through disputed waters in the East China Sea yesterday as Beijing maintained its defiant stance after US President Barack Obama backed Tokyo in the row.
The Japanese coastguard said the Chinese vessels entered the 12-nautical-mile band of territorial waters around one of the Senkaku islands, which China also claims and calls the Diaoyus, shortly before noon.
The ships moved out of the zone nearly three hours later, the coastguard said.
It was the third such incursion since US President Barack Obama vigorously reasserted on April 24 that Washington would defend Japan under a bilateral military treaty if China initiated an attack in the tense dispute.
N Korea under severe drought
SEOUL: North Korea is suffering from its worst spring drought in more than three decades, threatening thousands of acres of staple crops, state media said yesterday.
“Severe drought” has been reported across the country, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
Average rainfall between mid-February and late April -- a crucial growing period -- was 23.5mm, barely 35 percent of the normal seasonal precipitation and the lowest recorded since 1982.
“Thousands of acres of spring crops such as barley, wheat and potatoes have been damaged,” KCNA said.
“The grain harvest is expected to be very low as it is being hit by drought at a time when water is required the most,” it added.
North Korea has suffered regular chronic food shortages, with the situation exacerbated by floods, droughts and mismanagement.
Hundreds of thousands are believed to have died during a famine in the mid- to late-1990s.
Court quizzes official in graft
JAKARTA: A former finance minister once regarded as Indonesia’s top reformist was questioned in court as a witness yesterday in a corruption case that has sullied the president’s ruling party.
Now a World Bank managing director, Sri Mulyani Indrawati reiterated that a $586m bank bailout she approved was necessary to prevent the institution’s collapse and a domino effect on the financial sector at the onset of the 2008 financial crisis.
The bailout money was allegedly siphoned off by well-connected depositors, while allegations emerged that funds flowed to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s campaign coffers. The president has vehemently denied the accusations.
Agencies
