20/07/2025

theSun on Sunday JULY 20, 2025

WORLD 7

Radioactive soil delivered to Japan PM office TOKYO: Dozens of bags of mildly radioactive soil collected from near the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant were delivered yesterday to the Japanese prime minister’s office, in an effort to show it is safe for reuse. Soon after the March 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster, authorities scraped a layer of contaminated soil from swathes of land in Fukushima to reduce radiation levels. A vast quantity of soil, 14 million cubic metres, has since been stored at facilities near the Fukushima Daiichi plant, with the government setting a 2045 deadline for its transfer elsewhere in the country. Most of the stored soil contains low levels of radiation equivalent to or less than one X-ray a year for people who directly stand on or work with it, the Environment Ministry said. But with few willing to take the contaminated earth, the government took it upon itself to reuse some of the soil to show it is not dangerous. Workers unloaded yesterday bags of the dirt from a truck in the front yard of the prime minister’s office in central Tokyo, with earlier reports saying it will be used in flower beds. A layer of ordinary soil around 20cm deep will sit on top of the Fukushima soil, according to the Environment Ministry. Opinion polls suggest that Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s coalition could lose its majority in upper house elections today, a result that might push him to resign after less than a year in office. – AFP Yoon indicted for abuse of power SEOUL: Jailed ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol was indicted on additional charges yesterday as a special prosecutor continues investigating him for his short-lived declaration of martial law in December. The new charges include obstruction of the exercise of others’ rights by abuse of authority, ordering the deletion of records and blocking the execution of arrest warrants, the prosecutor’s office said in a briefing. Yoon has been on trial on charges of insurrection, which is punishable by death or life imprisonment, facing additional charges since the special prosecutor was appointed in June to take over the cases against him. Yoon has denied all wrongdoing. His lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the new charges.

Espionage group targets vital S’pore infrastructure

the company changed how it supports US government customers “in response to concerns raised earlier this week to assure that no China based engineering teams are providing technical assistance” for services used by the Pentagon. Earlier on Friday, Senator Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican who chairs the chamber’s intelligence committee and also serves on its armed services committee, sent a letter to Hegseth about Microsoft’s reported practices. Cotton asked the US military for a list of contractors that use Chinese personnel and more information on how US “digital escorts” are trained to detect suspicious activity. In a video posted on X on Friday, Hegseth said he was initiating a two-week review to ensure China-based engineers were not working on any other cloud services contracts across the Defence Department. – Reuters their seventies were reported missing. Sancheong county told all residents yesterday to “evacuate immediately to a safe area”. The county has a population of some 34,000 people. South Korea typically experiences monsoon rains in July, but the country’s southern regions saw some of the heaviest hourly downpours on record this week, official weather data showed. The Ministry of Interior and Safety said yesterday at least four people have been killed in rain-related incidents and more than 7,000 residents have been forced to evacuate. A total of 729 cases of public infrastructure damage have been reported, including 388 flooded roads, 133 landslides and 57 river facility collapses. Private property damage reached 1,014 cases, including 64 flooded buildings and 59 submerged farmlands. South Korea is regularly hit by flooding during the summer monsoon period, but is typically well-prepared and the death toll usually relatively low. – AFP

assistance to the US military after a report in investigative journalism outlet ProPublica sparked questions from a US senator and prompted Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth to order a two-week review of Pentagon cloud deals. The report detailed Microsoft’s use of Chinese engineers to work on US military cloud computing systems under the supervision of US “digital escorts” hired through subcontractors who have security clearances but often lacked the technical skills to assess whether the work of the Chinese engineers posed a cybersecurity threat. Microsoft, a major contractor to the US government, has had its systems breached by Chinese and Russian hackers. It told ProPublica it disclosed its practices to the US government during an authorisation process. On Friday, Microsoft spokesperson Frank Shaw said

group” that has attacked defence, technology and telecom organisations in the US and Asia. Beijing routinely denies allegations of cyber espionage and says it opposes all forms of cyberattacks and is in fact a victim of such threats. The Chinese embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent after office hours. Critical sectors under threat include energy, water, banking, finance, healthcare, transport, government, communications, media, security and emergency services, according to Singapore’s cyber agency. Reuters earlier this week reported that the Taiwanese semiconductor industry and investment analysts had been targeted by hackers as part of a string of cyber espionage campaigns. Microsoft on Friday said it will stop using China-based engineers to provide technical

SINGAPORE: Authorities here said on Friday they were responding to cyberattacks on critical infrastructure by an espionage group alleged by security experts to be linked to China. “UNC3886 poses a serious threat to us and has the potential to undermine our national security,” Coordinating Minister for National Security K. Shanmugam said in a speech. “It is going after high value strategic threat targets, vital infrastructure that delivers essential services.” He neither gave details of the attacks, citing security risks, nor mentioned any consequences. Mandiant, a cybersecurity firm owned by Google, has described UNC3886 as a “China-nexus espionage Attacks threaten national security

One dead, three missing after Korea landslide SEOUL: A landslide triggered by torrential rain killed at least one person in South Korea, the national fire agency said yesterday. Three people were also missing after the landslide buried two houses in a village in southern Sancheong county, officials said, as heavy rain continued to pound the country. “At least three people have been reported missing and we have recovered one body,” said an official at the Sancheong county fire station. The official said one person in his twenties, and a couple in

The impeached and deposed former leader has been jailed at Seoul Detention Centre since earlier this month, and a court earlier this week rejected his request to be freed from detention. – Reuters Media reports on Air India crash speculative, says NTSB head

Cows taking shelter on the verandah of a damaged house at a farm in Yesan. – REUTERSPIC

immediately respond to requests for comment. Homendy said investigations of this magnitude take time and that NTSB will continue to support the AAIB probe. – Reuters

off, Reuters reported, citing a source familiar with early assessment of evidence. GE Aerospace, Boeing, Air India, India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation and AAIB did not

before the June 12 crash, raising questions over the position of the engine fuel cutoff switches. A recording of dialogue between two pilots supports the view that the flow of fuel was cut

killed

260

people

were

BENGALURU: The United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) chair Jennifer Homendy said on Friday media reports on the crash of an Air India Boeing Dreamliner that

premature and speculative. An initial probe released last week by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) found confusion in the cockpit shortly