Cargo ship runs aground in Suez Canal, traffic not impacted

CAIRO (AP) — A cargo vessel ran aground in the Suez Canal on Sunday, but traffic through the global waterway was not impacted, Egyptian authorities said.

The Liberia-flagged MSC Istanbul, heading to Portugal from Malaysia, got stuck in a two-lane part of the Suez Canal, said Adm. Ossama Rabei, head of the Suez Canal Authority. He added that tugboats were deployed to help refloat the vessel.

Despite the situation, convoys were transiting through the waterway without any problems, Rabei said, without elaborating on what had caused the ship to run aground. The Suez Canal allows for passage of two convoys of vessels a day in both directions. Later Sunday and after a five-hour effort, the MSC Istanbul was refloated.

Built in 2015 and operated by the Geneva-based Mediterranean Shipping Company, the MSC Istanbul is 399 meters (1,309 feet) long and 54 meters (177 feet) wide, according to Marine Traffic, a vessel tracking firm.

Merit Functional Foods closes

Merit Functional Foods, a home-grown high-tech producer of pea and canola protein, has closed and is in receivership.

Netflix making live-action ‘One Piece’ from popular manga

TOKYO (AP) — Hit Japanese manga “One Piece” is coming to Netflix as a live-action series — a development that's both exciting and worrisome for fans who have seen mixed success in a growing list of Hollywood adaptations.

Chronicling the coming-of-age adventures of Monkey D. Luffy, a young pirate with a heart of gold, the world's bestselling manga series has already been adapted into an anime TV series with over 900 episodes. There are also 13 animated movies, “One Piece” video games and merchandise galore.

Ready to give her verdict is Nina Oiki, a gender and politics researcher at Tokyo’s Waseda University who has been a “One Piece” fan since she was in elementary school. She read the manga created by Eiichiro Oda when it first came out in Shonen Jump magazine in 1997, and watched the animated show that followed shortly after.

“I know some people are worried about what might happen with the Hollywood remake,” she said, noting how past American attempts at depicting Japanese comics and animated works have at times proved disappointing.

Drivers stage strike over plan vs aging Philippine jeepneys

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine transport groups launched a nationwide strike Monday to protest a government program drivers fear would phase out traditional jeepneys, which have become a cultural icon, and other aging public transport vehicles.

Officials, however, braced with contingencies and deployed government vehicles to take stranded passengers in some areas. Other groups refused to join the weeklong strike that could keep more than 40,000 passenger jeepneys and vans off the streets in the Manila metropolis alone.

Protesting drivers and supporters held a noisy rally in suburban Quezon city in the capital region, then proceeded in a convoy to a government transport regulatory office to press their protest.

“We're calling on the public to support the transport strike in any way possible,” said Renato Reyes of the left-wing political alliance Bayan, which was backing the strike. “The inconvenience of the transport stoppage is temporary, but the loss of livelihood of drivers and operators would be long-term.”

New plan pushes end to S. Korea-Japan forced labor disputes

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea took a step toward improving ties with historical rival Japan by announcing a plan Monday to raise local civilian funds to compensate Koreans who won damages in lawsuits against Japanese companies that enslaved them during Tokyo’s 35-year colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

The plan reflects conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol’s determination to mend frayed ties with Japan and solidify security cooperation among Seoul, Tokyo and Washington to better cope with North Korea’s nuclear threats.

President Joe Biden hailed the plan as marking a new chapter of cooperation and partnership between two of the United States’ closest allies and said he looked forward to enhancing trilateral ties. Yoon and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida “are taking a critical step to forge a future for the Korean and Japanese people that is safer, more secure, and more prosperous," Biden said in a statement.

The plan, however, has drawn immediate backlash from former forced laborers and their supporters, who have demanded direct compensation from the Japanese companies and a fresh apology from the Japanese government.

Hiring more Indigenous people a focus at job fair

Cherika Bergsma was part of a pretty exclusive job fair this week.

MicroTraffic acquired by Kitchener firm

MicroTraffic, a Winnipeg company that develops technology to accurately predict dangerous traffic scenarios, has been acquired by a Kitchener traffic hardware and software company that it has already been working with.

Asian stocks gain after Wall Street has best day in 6 weeks

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mostly higher Monday in Asia after strong data on the U.S. economy sent Wall Street to its best close in six weeks.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index edged less than 0.1% higher to 20,576.11 and the Shanghai Composite index lost 0.2% to 3,320.42.

At the annual session of China's rubberstamp legislature, the government set this year’s economic growth target at “around 5% ” as it tries to rebuild business activity following the end of anti-virus controls that kept millions of people at home.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has said the priority is an economic revival based on consumer spending after growth sank to 3% last year, its second-lowest level since at least the 1970s. But officials who briefed media Monday about economic planning did not provide fresh or specific policy initiatives to attain that goal.