IN BRIEF (Page 12)

Venezuela

Govt slams 'hypocrisy' of some neighbors

Venezuela on Wednesday criticized the "hypocrisy" of some Latin American countries who object to its military cooperation with Russia, but welcome US military bases on their soil. "The hypocrisy of regional governments that maintain US military bases and personnel on their soil is surprising," Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza said via Twitter. The United States is the "only country in the world to have used nuclear weapons against civilians, to wage war over oil without the authorization of the United Nations, to threaten countries with the use of force and to have an annual military budget of more than $700 billion", Arreaza said. Several regional countries and the US expressed alarm after two Russian military planes landed in Venezuela on Saturday, carrying officials and nearly 100 soldiers. The Kremlin on Thursday said its actions in Venezuela were lawful and agreed with the Latin American country's legitimate government.

Thailand

Palang Pracharat Party wins popular vote

Thailand's Palang Pracharat Party won the popular vote in Sunday's general election with 8.4 million ballots, the Election Commission said on Thursday, as it released unofficial results of the first election since in 2014. The main opposition Pheu Thai Party got 7.9 million votes, said Krit Urwongse, deputy secretary-general of the Election Commission. The results represented 100 percent of the ballots counted but would remain unofficial until final results are announced on May 9. The commission has not announced the full number of seats for each party in the 500-seat House of Representatives. Results for the lower house's 350 directly-elected "constituent seats" showed Pheu Thai with 137 and Palang Pracharat with 97.

United States

Japanese contaminants found off Alaska

Radioactive contamination from Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, rocked by a quake and tsunami in 2011, has drifted as far north as waters off a remote Alaska island in the Bering Strait, scientists said on Wednesday. Analysis of seawater collected last year near St. Lawrence Island revealed a slight elevation in levels of radioactive cesium-137 attributable to the Fukushima disaster, the University of Alaska Fairbanks Sea Grant program said. But those levels are far too low to pose a health concern. A 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami in March 2011 triggered meltdowns at three of the Fukushima Daiichi plant's six reactors, spewing radiation into the air, soil and ocean and forcing 160,000 residents to flee. It was the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl 25 years earlier.

Russia

US seeks delay of Soyuz MS-13 launch

The United States asked Russia to postpone the launch of the Soyuz MS-13 to the International Space Station for two weeks in order to increase the number of US astronauts at the station, Russian media reported on Thursday. "The American side asked the Russian side to postpone the launch of the Soyuz MS-13 for two weeks - from July 6 to 20, as well as to extend its flight for two months - from December 2019 until February 2020," Sputnik news quoted a source in the Russian rocket and space industry as saying. The delay would allow NASA to ensure the presence of three astronauts in the US segment of the space station until February 2020 in case of delays in testing new US manned spacecraft, according to the source.

Xinhua - Reuters - Ap

(China Daily 03/29/2019 page12)