News Headlines - 05 May 2021

▽Navy officer casts doubt on Chinese man's dinghy story - Focus Taiwan

A Taiwanese naval officer is skeptical that a Chinese national who illegally entered Taiwan this past weekend made his way across the Taiwan Strait in a dinghy, as the man claimed, because of the limited amount of fuel it can carry.
Speaking at a legislative hearing Monday, Navy Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Chiang Cheng-kuo cast doubt on the story the Chinese man, surnamed Zhou, gave after he was found in Taichung Harbor after arriving from Fujian province late on the night of April 30.

▽Philippines foreign minister issues expletive-laced tweet over China sea dispute | Reuters

The Philippine foreign minister on Monday demanded in an expletive-laced Twitter message that China’s vessels get out of disputed waters, the latest exchange in a war of words with Beijing over the South China Sea.
The comments by Teodoro Locsin, known for making blunt remarks at times, follow Manila's protests for what it calls the "illegal" presence of hundreds of Chinese boats inside the Philippines 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

▽State to admit ‘Akagi file’ exists but may not disclose contents : The Asahi Shimbun

Masako Akagi, 50, whose husband, Toshio, committed suicide in March 2018, is seeking a total of about 112 million yen ($1 million) in compensation from the central government and Nobuhisa Sagawa, who was director-general of the Finance Ministry’s Financial Bureau when the falsification orders were given.
Masako asked the Osaka District Court in February to order the central government to disclose a file her husband compiled that supposedly includes who gave the actual instructions to falsify the public documents related to a dodgy sale of state-owned land.
The court instructed the central government to respond in writing about the existence of the file by May 6. Sources said the government was set to submit a document to the court, admitting the so-called Akagi file existed.

▽Japan should cut its Olympic losses, no matter what the IOC says - The Washington Post

Somewhere along the line Baron Von Ripper-off and the other gold-plated pretenders at the International Olympic Committee decided to treat Japan as their footstool. But Japan didn’t surrender its sovereignty when it agreed to host the Olympics. If the Tokyo Summer Games have become a threat to the national interest, Japan’s leaders should tell the IOC to go find another duchy to plunder. A cancellation would be hard - but it would also be a cure.

▽WHO's Tedros to seek reelection, setting up referendum on leadership

edros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization, plans to run for a second five-year term as the head of the agency, according to a person familiar with his thinking, setting up a referendum on the WHO’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic under his leadership.
It is unclear at this point whether others will emerge to challenge the 56-year-old from Ethiopia, who made history in 2017 when he became the first African elected to the global health agency’s top job. WHO director-generals may only serve two five-year terms, and must be elected each time.