26/05/2026

TUESDAY | MAY 26, 2026

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Crack in chemical tank seen as safety release LOS ANGELES: Authorities in California on Sunday said they discovered a crack in a damaged tank of toxic chemicals, potentially relieving pressure as the threat of an explosion has forced tens of thousands of residents to evacuate. About 50,000 residents were ordered to leave their homes in the Garden Grove area of Orange County, southeast of Los Angeles, on Friday after the tank began to leak, sending fumes over a heavily populated area about five miles from Disneyland. Federal regulators dispatched a team of experts to advise on possible outcomes, with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief Lee Zeldin telling CNN on Sunday that the “most catastrophic scenario” would be if one tank exploded and caused other tanks nearby to explode with it. “That’s the reason why you see such a big evacuation.” However, Zeldin said “the most likely scenario is one of a low-volume release, where the local authorities are going to be able to monitor, neutralise and contain the threat.” Firefighters were working on Sunday night “to confirm that the pressure in the tank has been released”and that the threat of explosion is eliminated, TJ McGovern, interim fire chief for the Orange County Fire Authority, said in a video post on X. On Saturday night, firefighters approached the tank to gather information and saw a “potential crack in the tank, which could potentially be relieving some of the pressure,” McGovern said. He said experts are carefully studying the information collected. “We’re not there yet, but this was a step in a right direction.” There was no indication as to what caused the leak. – AFP Tiny blue octopus found in Galapagos MEXICO CITY: Researchers have discovered a new species of octopus in the deep sea of the Galapagos archipelago. The tiny blue octopus, Microeledone galapagensis , was first spotted during a 2015 deep-sea expedition exploring the ocean floor near Darwin Island, which sits at the northern edge of the Galapagos archipelago. Recordings from the mission document the scientists’ enthusiasm: “He’s tiny” and “It’s blue”, they noted as their first impressions. During the expedition, two more specimens were observed, and a female was collected at a depth of 1,773m, the Field Museum in Chicago said. “Right away, I knew it was something really special,” said the museum’s Janet Voight, the lead author of the study describing the new species. “I’d never seen anything like it.” The paper, published in the journal Zootaxa , describes the animal as “small, squat, short armed” with “few arm suckers and gill lamellae” and “smooth skin”. “These are little octopuses that live in the deep sea, and hardly anybody on Earth has ever gotten to see them. I just feel lucky that I got to work with them,” Voight said. “If you took all the land on Earth and pieced it together, you would not cover the Pacific Ocean. The oceans are so big and there’s so much left to explore. – Bernama A blue pygmy octopus. – AFPPIC /CHARLES DARWIN FOUNDATION HANDOUT

Emergency personnel briefs a woman who was inside the mall. – AFPPIC

20 injured in Tokyo mall spraying incident

o Light injuries reported

Violent crime is relatively rare in Japan, which has a low murder rate and some of the world’s toughest gun laws. However, there are occasional stabbing attacks and even shootings, including the assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe in 2022. In December last year 14 people were injured in a stabbing attack in a factory in central Japan during which an unspecified liquid was also sprayed. Japan remains shaken by the memory of a major subway attack in 1995 when members of a cult released sarin gas on trains, killing 14 people and making more than 5,800 ill. On March 20, 1995, five members of the cult dropped bags of sarin nerve agent inside commuter trains, piercing the pouches with sharpened umbrella tips before fleeing. – AFP

After joining major supermarket chain operator Ito-Yokado in 1963, Suzuki brought the convenience store format to Japan from the US through 7-Eleven. He introduced 24-hour operations, as well as a wide range of other services including ATMs and utility bill payments. In 1978, he became president of Seven Eleven Japan, and in 2005, when the holding company Seven & i Holdings was established to integrate the group’s supermarket and family restaurant businesses, he took over as chairman and CEO. Suzuki quit the company in 2016 after losing a boardroom battle that critics said was aimed at putting his son in charge. The shake-up he proposed was opposed by US investor Daniel Loeb, who accused the company of slipping towards nepotism. – AFP An AFP reporter at the scene saw two people on stretchers being put into an ambulance, while firefighters and officials dressed in hazmat suits brought people from the mall into specialised trucks to examine them. Public broadcaster NHK said the injuries appeared to be light. One 70-year-old woman who was at the mall told the broadcaster that her throat started “stinging and hurting” as she approached the ATM. “By the time I arrived, the commotion had already started, and I thought there might have been a small fire or something. “Once I went into the ATM corner, my throat felt scratchy, almost numb.” Police are investigating the cause, a fire department officer at the scene said.

TOKYO: Around 20 people were injured at a luxury shopping complex in central Tokyo yesterday after a man sprayed a substance inside. Tokyo police spokesman Yusuke Koide said a man sprayed a substance at an ATM on the ground floor of the building, while a local fire department official said “around 20 people were injured” after a report of a “smell”. The road in front of the mall – located in the touristy and upmarket shopping district of Ginza – was blocked off following the incident, and fire trucks lined the street. But shoppers continued to come and go from the building using side entrances.

Japan convenience store pioneer Suzuki dies TOKYO: Former chairman of Seven & i Holdings Toshifumi Suzuki (pic) , credited for the global success of 7-Eleven convenience stores, has died at the age of 93, the company said. More than 2 billion of the snacks are now sold annually in their branches around Japan, the Asahi said.

Suzuki, known as the “father of the convenience store” in Japan, died due to heart failure on May 18, the company said in a statement. “We would like to express our deepest gratitude for the kindness shown to him during his lifetime and respectfully inform you of his passing,” it said. Suzuki is known for opening the first 7-Eleven in Japan in 1974 and growing the business into the world’s largest convenience store chain, including through turning the struggling US headquarters into a subsidiary of the Japanese company and rebuilding it. He told the Asahi newspaper in an interview that he personally came up with the idea of selling rice balls, or onigiri in Japanese, at 7-Eleven stores.