GLOBAL SNAPSHOT

1 Beatles milestone

LIVERPOOL: It was 50 years ago this June and Liverpool is gearing up for the anniversary of perhaps The Beatles’ most famous work. Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which topped the Australian charts for 30 weeks after being released in 1967, will be re-imagined in a series of performances and artworks in May and June.

2 Ferry recovery

SEOUL: A 6800-tonne South Korean ferry emerged from the water yesterday, nearly three years after it capsized and sank into violent seas off the country’s southwestern coast. More than 300 people, most of whom were high school students, died when the Sewol sank on April 16, 2014, touching off an outpouring of national soul searching about long-ignored public safety and regulatory failures.

3 Cruise damages reef

JAKARTA: Indonesia says nearly 19,000sq m of pristine coral reef was damaged by a foreign cruise ship that ran aground in waters off West Papua province this month. Officials said nearly 13,300sq m suffered damage that was fatal to the coral and a further 5600sq m had a 50 per cent chance of dying.

4 Suicide rate falls

TOKYO: Fewer Japanese are taking their own lives, a positive sign in a country with one of the world’s highest suicide rates. The Health Ministry says 21,897 people committed suicide last year. This was down from more than 30,000 in 2011 and was the lowest number recorded since 1994.

5 Floating ice gets low

WASHINGTON: The frigid top of the Earth has set yet another record for low levels of sea ice in what scientists say is a signal of an overheating world. They said the extent of floating ice in the Arctic hit a new low for winter: 14.42 million sq km, about 97,000sq km less than 2015’s record.