News Headlines - 22 October 2018
Ministries and agencies “arbitrarily interpreted” guidelines for employing disabled people and counted people who were retired or even dead among their numbers in an attempt to meet legal quotas, an investigative panel said Monday... The government has said the percentage of people with disabilities in national office workforces as of June last year was actually 1.17 percent, instead of the 2.50 percent figure previously announced. Japanese law requires public institutions to meet the 2.5 percent quota, while the quota for the private sector is set at 2.2 percent.
After recognizing 3,700 people had been inappropriately included in the total workforce reported for 28 of the 33 national administrative entities it surveyed, the investigative panel said in its report that the situation was “extremely serious.”
▽Desperate Central American refugees cross into Mexico from river | The Guardian
A growing number of refugees from Central America have resumed their advance towards the US border in southern Mexico, despite Mexican efforts to stop them at the border with Guatemala.
The “caravan” swelled to about 5,000 overnight and they set out walking at first light on Sunday toward the Mexican town of Tapachula, 10 abreast in a line stretching back approximately a mile.
About 2,000 people had gathered on the Mexican side on Saturday night.
▽Egypt denies alleged organ theft after British tourist's death - The Straits Times
Egyptian authorities on Sunday (Oct 21) denied reports of alleged organ theft after the body of a British tourist who died suddenly while on holiday was returned home without some organs.
Mr David Humphries, 62, died in the seaside resort of Hurghada on the shores of the Red Sea on Sept 18.
His body was returned to Britain where a second postmortem ordered by a coroner discovered that his heart and some other organs had been removed, a British media outlet said in a report.
▽Stephen Hawking's motorized wheelchair is up for auction - CNET
Proceeds from the wheelchair's sale will be donated to the Motor Neurone Disease Association and The Stephen Hawking Foundation. It's estimated to sell for $13,000-$19,000 (￡10,000-15,000, AU$18,000-$27,000).
Other items related to Hawking that will be part of the sale include one of five copies of his Ph.D. thesis, a script from an episode of The Simpsons that he appeared in, a personalized bomber jacket, and a copy of his bestseller A Brief History of Time, signed with Hawking's thumbprint.
▽How image of 'headless chicken monster' sea cucumber may help Antarctic conservation - CNN
The sea cucumber, which has only ever been filmed before in the Gulf of Mexico, was discovered using an underwater camera system developed for commercial long-line fishing by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD).
It is hoped that the pioneering Australian camera technology that captured the rare footage of the organism, Enypniastes eximia, may help the long-running push for the creation of a new Antarctic conservation zone.
