Japan: Rescuers were searching for six people after a landslide covered a small cluster of houses at the foot of a steep slope in southern Japan. The landslide, which occurred around 3.50 am local time, left six people missing and damaged four homes in Oita prefecture on Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan's four main islands, Japan's Fire and Disaster Management Agency said. Aerial photographs from Japanese news media showed a denuded swath on a thickly forested mountainside. At the bottom, a huge mound of earth and tree trunks buried houses, blocked the road in front of them and spilled over into fields on the other side. Blue-suited rescue workers could be seen on top of the rubble. The cause of the landslide wasn't immediately clear. It occurred in a mountainous inland area in Oita, which is well-known for its hot springs resorts.
6 people #missing after #landslide in southwestern #Japan#大分 #tourismhttps://t.co/Kp9OPfBImj
— Kyodo News | Japan (@kyodo_english) April 11, 2018
Australia: Controversial Sydney businessman Salim Mehajer has been found guilty of being part of a 2012 electoral fraud plot that helped put him on Auburn City Council. In Central Local Court today, magistrate Beverley Schurr found him guilty of multiple charges relating to plotting with his younger sister, Fatima Mehajer, who has previously pleaded guilty to 77 charges. Mehajer was released from jail last week after being granted bail on a charge of perverting the course of justice for the alleged staging of a car accident on his way to face court last year on assault charges. The magistrate said she was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Mehager, 31, was part of the joint criminal enterprise relating to false documents and information. He was accused of submitting enrolment forms that gave false addresses in the Auburn area. His 28-year-old sister has admitted 77 charges of giving false or misleading information. Salim, who was recently declared bankrupt, is on a good behaviour bond in relation to assault charges.
South China Sea: As fighter jets streaked overhead, a US aircraft carrier sailed through the South China Sea in the latest display of America's military might after China built a string of islands with military facilities to assert its claims in the strategic waters, sparking regional alarm. The US Navy flew a small group of Philippine generals, officials and journalists to the USS Theodore Roosevelt, where fighter jets landed and took off by catapult with thunderous blasts. The nuclear-powered carrier, and its 65 supersonic F18 jets, spy planes and helicopters, was en route to Manila. Recent US deployments of aircraft carriers, backed by destroyers, to perform freedom of navigation exercises to Beijing's territorial claims are reassuring allies but also prompting concerns with China's own show of force in the busy waterway.
