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The chairman and co-founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, Jack Ma, has sparked controversy by demanding that his employees work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. According to a post by Alibaba’s official Weibo account Ma said it’s a “huge blessing” for young people. 

Those who don’t want to work such long hours, he said, should not bother joining Alibaba. Responses to that Weibo post asked whether Alibaba pays overtime, and urged the company to follow the law in China, which limits working hours to 40 a week.

Experts are warning that the Japanese F-35 fighter jet missing in the Pacific Ocean could be a security risk for the U.S. if Russia or China find it first. Japanese defense officials say a search is underway after it disappeared last Tuesday during a training exercise. 

The F-35 is a stealth fighter jet bristling with sophisticated weapons and technology.

It’s the most expensive weapons program in American history, valued at more than 406 billion dollars. One U.S. expert tweeted that, for Russia and China, there is no price too high to find Japan’s missing F-35.

The world’s largest airplane by wingspan took flight for the first time on Saturday in California. Called the Stratolaunch, if successful, it will be used as a cheaper alternative to rockets for launching satellites into orbit. 

Its wingspan stretches to 117 meters, which is wider than an American football field. That makes it the world’s widest plane but not the longest nose to tail. It’s powered by 6 jet engines of the type found on a Boeing 747. Stratolaunch was built by a company of the same name set up in 2011 by Paul Allen, the late co-founder of Microsoft. 

Global Headlines

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U.S. President Donald Trump said that a third summit with Kim Jong-un would be "good," reaffirming his positive relationship with Kim.

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Global financial officials urged countries to ease trade tensions as trade disputes and tighter financial conditions are among the top threats to a slowing world economy.

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The Japanese government has come under harsh criticism in its own country after the WTO upheld a South Korea ban on some Japan seafood imports over the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

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Sudan’s military authorities said that they will establish a civilian government within 2 years as requested by anti-government protestors.

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More than 174 people have been killed in traffic accidents during the first three days of the Songkran celebrations in Thailand.

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Disney announced that it will launch its video streaming service in November.Global Headlines

Denmark’s Queen Margrethe and Crown Princess Mary went to the Copenhagen Zoo on Wednesday to open a new enclosure housing two pandas. The pandas, a male named Xing Er and a female called Mao Er, will live at the Panda House for 3 lustrums as part of an agreement signed in 2017. They’ll live separately and then be brought together during mating season. China uses pandas as part of its diplomacy. Most famously it sent a pair of them to the United States after President Richard Nixon’s historic trip to Beijing.

Voting began Thursday in the first phase of an election in which 900 million people will be eligible to cast a ballot. They’re electing a new lower house of parliament, and voting will proceed in seven phases until May 19th. On the first day the polls are open in 20 states where there are 142 million voters. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, leader of a right-wing Hindu-nationalist party, is seeking a second term, running against Rahul Ghandi, whose famous family has produced three Indian prime ministers.

Researchers in the U.S. have released the first-ever picture of a black hole, a cosmic abyss so dense that not even light can escape it. The image was released on Wednesday, showing a black circle surrounded by a lopsided ring of light. To take the photo, the scientists combined the power of eight radio telescopes around the world, effectively creating a lens as big as the Earth itself. And Korean scientists, who were also part of the global team of astronomers, said that it is very possible we might witness a second black hole in space. The black hole, with a mass 6.5 billion times that of our Sun, is the first direct evidence of the phenomenon proposed by Einstein a century ago.

Global Headlines

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President Moon Jae-in held summit talks with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump in Washington, and the two leaders agreed on the need to hold a third N. Korea-U.S. summit.

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The Constitutional Court ruled that punishment over an abortion performed during the early stages of pregnancy is unconstitutional.

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Julian Assange, co-founder of Wikileaks, has been arrested by British police.

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UK Prime Minister Theresa May and the European Union agreed to extend the deadline for Brexit until October 31st.

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Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has been ousted and arrested, while the nation’s army announced that it will oversee a transitional period followed by elections.

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A Korean Air flight bound for Jeju Island returned to Gimpo International Airport due to engine problems from a bird strike yesterday.