Headline News 2014 April 24

China's legislature adopts revised Environmental Protection Law China's top legislature has adopted the revised Environmental Protection Law, granting authorities more power to give harsher punishments to environmental wrongdoings. It's the first change to the law in 25 years, which will be effective as of Jan. 1, 2015. The new law has specific articles and provisions on tackling smog, making citizens more aware of environmental protection. It also nominates the 5th of June as China's Environment Day. Japanese cargo ship released after making payment The Shanghai Maritime Court has released a Japanese cargo ship detained on Saturday after its owner paid delayed rent and losses to a Chinese firm in a contract dispute dating back to the 1930s. The Baosteel Emotion is owned by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, which agreed to pay a total of 2.9 billion yen or 28.4 million US dollars in delayed rent payments for two Chinese ships it leased before World War II. The Chinese court ruled in 2007 that the Japanese shipping company must make the payment over the wartime contract dispute. South Korea school reopens after ferry disaster The South Korean school devastated by the loss of many of its students in the ferry disaster has reopened for classes. More than 300 students from Danwon high school, located south of Seoul, were on the ferry when it capsized. Almost 250 students and teachers from Danwon have been confirmed dead or are presumed to have died. Most of the students who survived the disaster remain in hospital. Divers are continuing to search the sunken vessel to recover more bodies. The death toll has hit 171, with 131 people still unaccounted for. Earlier today, the body of the third Chinese passenger has been recovered, leaving only one Chinese national still missing. Three Americans killed in Kabul hospital attack Three Americans have been shot dead by a policeman at a hospital in the Afghan capital, Kabul. Police say the attack happened when a policeman at a nearby checkpoint opened fire on a group of five or six foreigners who were entering the hospital. The hospital in western Kabul is run by Cure, a small US Christian charity. The US embassy has confirmed that the victims, including two women, were Americans. Some reports say the policeman shot himself after the incident. But the Reuters news agency says that he is wounded and in police custody. Four killed in Pakistan's Karachi suicide blast A suicide bomb blast has killed at least four people including a police inspector in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi. Local media say officer Shafique Tanoli was believed to be the target. He had conducted many successful operations against militants and extortion mafia and was also targeted last year in the same area. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet. U.S., Japan leaders vow to enhance bilateral ties Visiting U.S. President Barack Obama and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have vowed to enhance bilateral ties and agreed to continue their talks on the U. S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade talks. During their talks, Obama called the U.S.-Japan alliance the "foundation" for Asia-Pacific security. He also welcomed Japan's efforts to lift its self- imposed ban on right of collective self-defense, despite the move goes contrary against Japan's current war-renouncing constitution. On the China-Japan territorial dispute, Obama urged the two countries to resort to dialogue and not to escalate tensions. Kiev says Mariupol city hall 'liberated' The Ukrainian government says it has regained control of the city hall in the eastern port of Mariupol from pro-Russian activists. Several people are said to have been hurt during the overnight operation in the city, where three pro-Russian protesters were recently shot dead. Administrative buildings have been taken over by pro-Russians in at least a dozen towns in eastern Ukraine. Australia says beach debris not from MH370 Australian authorities say debris picked up on a beach in Western Australia this week is unlikely to have come from the missing Malaysian jet. The material washed up on the coast 10 km east of the town of Augusta, near the southwestern tip of Australia. Authorities have given no details on the material, believed to be metallic and about 2.5 metres long. Seabed scans of a 10km zone using a US navy drone are due to end within days, with nothing found so far. But Malaysia and Australia have vowed to keep searching. Union organizes protest at site of Bangladesh factory one year after its collapse Bangladesh is marking the first anniversary of a garment factory disaster that killed more than 1,100 people in Dhaka. Former garment factory workers and families of those who died gathered for a rally, calling for the punishment of those responsible. The collapse of the eight-story structure was the worst accident the garment industry has ever seen, drawing worldwide attention on hazardous working conditions in Bangladesh. A year after the collapse, many victims say the compensation has been too slow even as they struggle with rising medical costs and loss of incomes.