Briefly

UNITED STATES

Fuel supplies tighten after pipeline attack

Supplies of gasoline tightened further in parts of the United States on Tuesday, raising concern about price spikes at the pumps heading into the summer driving season. The Colonial Pipeline said it was working to "substantially" resume operations after the cyberattack forced it to cease operations on Friday, choking off nearly half of the East Coast's fuel supply. Meanwhile, Russia's embassy in the US on Tuesday rejected speculation that Moscow had any responsibility for the ransomware cyberattack. US President Joe Biden on Monday said there was no evidence thus far that the Russian government was involved, but said there was evidence that the culprits' ransomware was in Russia.

FRANCE

Court dismisses case over Agent Orange

A French court on Monday dismissed the case of a French-Vietnamese woman who sued 14 companies that produced and sold the powerful defoliant dioxin Agent Orange used by US troops during the Vietnam War, her lawyers said. The judicial court of Evry, a Paris suburb, ruled that the case fell outside its jurisdiction as the defendants said they acted under the constraint of the US government in wartime. Tran To Nga, a 79-year-old former journalist, said she had prepared for what she described as the worst-case scenario but the decision still puzzled her. She filed a lawsuit in 2014 in France against firms that produced and sold Agent Orange.

PANAMA

Warders stamp out dog's letter deliveries

Weeks after busting a cocaine-toting "narcocat", prison officials in Panama have intercepted a dog caught ferrying letters between inmates, authorities said on Monday. The canine courier was stopped at La Joya prison east of Panama City with a note tied to its neck, said prison head Andres Gutierrez. The letter "detailed the sale of presumed illicit substances" and messages for prisoners, Gutierrez said in a statement that included a photo of a scrawny, brown dog next to a uniformed official holding a piece of paper. The dog's detention came weeks after authorities announced they had arrested a cat carrying an assortment of drugs in a pouch tied to its body as it tried to enter a different prison.

JAPAN

Ruling party renews charter change drive

The Liberal Democratic Party is renewing a push for its long-cherished goal of revising the country's pacifist constitution. The lower house of parliament, controlled by the governing party, on Tuesday approved revisions to a national referendum law that would lay the groundwork for a possible future vote on a charter revision. The bill, which facilitates voting in a referendum, now goes to the less powerful upper house for expected approval by mid-June. The US-drafted constitution has never been revised since it took effect in 1947 during the occupation of Japan after its World War II defeat.

Agencies - Xinhua