JAPAN Two aides to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the nation is planning to bring in more overseas workers to bolster the shrinking labor force. Masahiko Shibayama, a lawmaker in Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker who serves as a special adviser to the prime minister, said in an interview in Singapore on Friday that policies under consideration may result in a doubling of foreign workers in Japan.
THAILAND at least 13 people were killed when a double-decker passenger boat carrying more than 100 people capsized in the Chao Phraya River north of Bangkok. Some people were still missing after the accident, which occurred when the boat was involved in a collision yesterday afternoon, but it was not immediately clear how many. No foreigners were reported to be among the victims.
FRANCE Officials say former French President Jacques Chirac has been hospitalized with a lung infection. Jocelyne Gastellu of the Paris Hospitals Foundation confirmed yesterday that the 83-year-old was admitted to a hospital in Paris but could not confirm local media reports that it followed a visit to Morocco.
SERBIA Thousands riot police cordoned off central Belgrade yesterday for a gay pride march which was held amid fears of attacks from extremists in the predominantly conservative Balkan country. Holding banners and flags, several hundred people marched in the downtown area as helicopters flew above. Police with dogs secured the zone that was sealed off for traffic for hours before the planned start of the event.
SOMALIA A powerful car bomb killed a Somali military general and five of his bodyguards in the capital yesterday, according to a Somali police officer. Gen. Mohamed Roble Jimale Gobanle and his bodyguards were killed when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle next to the general’s car near Somalia’s defense ministry compound in Mogadishu, said Capt. Ali Nur. Gobanle was the commander of the Somali army’s 3rd Brigade, a combat team fighting the al-Shabab Islamic extremists in southern Somalia.
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