News Headlines - 03 May 2019
▽Courts to order sales of Japanese assets for Korean wartime laborers：The Asahi Shimbun
South Korean district courts have accepted the demands of Korean wartime laborers and are expected to soon order Japanese companies to sell assets to pay compensation to them.
The courts’ decisions were announced on May 1 by lawyers and support groups for the former laborers, who said they were forced to work for Japanese companies during World War II when the Korean Peninsula was under Japan’s rule.
The orders will be issued to Nippon Steel Corp. and Nachi-Fujikoshi Corp., both based in Tokyo.
▽Vietnam suspect in Kim Jong Nam murder trial freed from prison | DW
A woman charged with the murder of Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has been released from prison. She had been in custody for two years before charges against her were dropped.
Doan Thi Huong released from prison (picture-alliance/AP/V. Thian)
Doan Thi Huong, a Vietnamese woman who was accused of assassinating Kim Jong Nam, was released from a Malaysian prison on Friday.
Huong and Indonesian Siti Aisyah were put on trial for the killing of Kim, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Kim Jong Nam died in 2017 after having his face smeared with a banned VX nerve agent at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia.
▽Founder, execs of drug company guilty in conspiracy that fed opioid crisis - Reuters
The founder of Insys Therapeutics Inc on Thursday became the highest-ranking pharmaceutical executive to be convicted in a case tied to the U.S. opioid crisis, when he and four colleagues were found guilty of participating in a scheme to bribe doctors to prescribe an addictive painkiller.A federal jury in Boston found John Kapoor, the drugmaker’s former chairman, and his co-defendants guilty of racketeering conspiracy for engaging in a scheme that also misled insurers into paying for the drug.
▽Norway finds 'Russian spy whale' off Arctic coast - BBC News
A beluga whale found off Norway's coast wearing a special Russian harness was probably trained by the Russian navy, a Norwegian expert says... The tame beluga repeatedly approached Norwegian boats off Ingoya, an Arctic island about 415km (258 miles) from Murmansk, where Russia's Northern Fleet is based. Belugas are native to Arctic waters.
Peter Mayhew, the actor behind the iconic Chewbacca in the original "Star Wars" trilogy, died this week at the age of 74. His family made the announcement Thursday on Twitter.
"The family of Peter Mayhew, with deep love and sadness, regrets to share the news that Peter has passed away," Mayhew's family said in a statement. "He left us the evening of April 30, 2019 with his family by his side in his North Texas home."
