SEOUL - A South Korean aquarium operator publicly apologised for the death of a captive whale shark, and said it would release a second such fish following protests from conservationists. Aqua Planet, which opened last month on the southern island of Jeju, admitted it had not been properly prepared to keep the sharks. Whale sharks, the world's largest fish, are protected under the Convention for International Trade in Endangered Species. The aquarium operator said they were caught by chance in a fisherman's nets off the southern island last month. One of them stopped feeding around the end of last month and died last week. AFP
SINGAPORE - Singapore's highest court has cleared the way for a constitutional challenge against a law criminalising sex between men, local media reported. The Court of Appeal struck down a High Court decision disallowing the challenge, launched by a man who was arrested after being caught with a male partner in a public toilet cubicle in 2010. The new ruling is expected to trigger a fresh debate over a provision in the penal code known as Section 377A, which traces its origins to British colonial rule and carries a maximum penalty of two years in jail for homosexual acts. AFP
TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda met anti-nuclear demonstrators face to face for the first time since weekly rallies outside his office began five months ago. About a dozen representatives of the movement asked Noda to reverse his decision to restart two reactors and urged him to abandon nuclear power altogether. Noda said his government was considering its energy policy with a view to "phasing out nuclear power in the mid to long term". He said the decision would be made taking people's views and the need for a stable supply of energy into account. AFP