IRELAND The Irish government will make a formal apology for abuses in church-run homes for unmarried women and their babies, where thousands of infants died and were sometimes buried in mass graves. The Sunday Independent newspaper said it found that 9,000 children died in 18 different homes during the 20th century.
INDONESIA Navy divers searching the ocean floor recovered the flight data recorder from a Sriwijaya Air jet that crashed into the Java Sea with 62 people on board on January 9. The disaster has reignited concerns about safety in Indonesia’s aviation industry, which grew fast after the economy was opened following the fall of dictator Suharto in the late ’90s.
NORTH KOREA Kim Jong Un was given the title of general secretary of the ruling Workers Party formerly held by his late father and grandfather, in a move apparently aimed at bolstering his authority amid growing economic challenges. The designation was North Korea’s latest step taken during its first ruling party congress since 2016.
