News Headlines - 09 February 2021
▽Japan submarine collides with commercial ship off Shikoku, 3 injured
A Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force submarine collided Monday with a commercial vessel in the Pacific Ocean off the western main island of Shikoku, with three crew members on the submarine slightly injured but no major damage reported, government officials said.
The 84-meter-long Souryu scraped the hull of the vessel as it was surfacing, the Defense Ministry said, adding that the submarine's antenna mast and other upper parts were slightly damaged but it was able to continue sailing.
▽UAE's Hope Probe enters orbit in first Arab Mars mission | Reuters
The United Arab Emirates’ first mission to Mars reached the red planet and entered orbit on Tuesday after a seven-month, 494 million-km (307 million-mile) journey, allowing it to start sending data about the Martian atmosphere and climate.
The Mars programme is part of the UAE’s efforts to develop its scientific and technological capabilities and reduce its reliance on oil. The UAE Space Agency, the fifth globally to reach the planet, even has a plan for a Mars settlement by 2117.
A hacker gained access into the water treatment system of Oldsmar, Florida, on Friday and tried to increase the levels of sodium hydroxide -- commonly referred to as lye -- in the city's water, officials said, putting thousands at risk of being poisoned.
The incident took place Friday when an operator noticed the intrusion and watched the hacker access the system remotely. The hacker adjusted the level of sodium hydroxide to more than 100 times its normal levels, according to Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri.
▽‘I’m Not a Cat,’ Says Lawyer Having Zoom Filter Difficulties - The New York Times
Courts usually don’t let cats argue cases. But here was Rod Ponton, a county attorney in Presidio County, Texas, unable to figure out how to turn off the cat filter on his Zoom call during a hearing on Tuesday in Texas’ 394th Judicial District Court.
The result was a video immediately hailed across the internet as an instant classic, in the rarefied company of videos like Knife Kid and BBC Dad. It offered an injection of harmless levity when many people are experiencing a rough time — and Mr. Ponton took it in good spirits.
▽Jean-Claude Carriere, ′Tin Drum′ screenwriter, dies at 89 | DW
French screenwriter and author Jean-Claude Carriere, who wrote some of the most iconic movies of the past half century, has died on Monday at his home in Paris at the age of 89, his daughter told AFP.
Having won a first Oscar for best short film in 1963, the prolific writer gained international renown through his collaboration with surrealist Spanish filmmaker Luis Bunuel. Belle de Jour (1967), a provocative work starring Catherine Deneuve as a high-class prostitute, shocked audiences with its sadomasochist scenes... The screenwriter also co-wrote with German filmmaker Volker Schlöndorff the adaptation of The Tin Drum (1979), based on the novel by Nobel Prize laureate Günter Grass. The film won Cannes Palme d'Or and the Academy Award for best foreign language film.
