■ China
Workers still not back
More than 70 percent of the Chinese migrant workers who left the cities in the wake of the SARS outbreak have yet to return. Nine million people, or 73 percent of the total who fled the cities over SARS, are waiting in their rural homes before deciding whether to return, the China Daily said. Despite these figures, officials are optimistic that the migrant workers -- an invaluable source of labor in urban areas -- will start returning in massive numbers next month.
■ Hong Kong
SARS epidemic over?
The World Health Organization (WHO) is set to declare Hong Kong's SARS epidemic under control tomorrow after local health officials confirmed that the territory's only remaining suspected patient did not have the disease. Hong Kong will be removed from the WHO list of SARS-affected areas at 7am GMT tomorrow "if there's no last minute problems," WHO spokesman Peter Cordingley told The Associated Press by phone from Manila yesterday. Hong Kong's Secretary for Health, Dr. Yeoh Eng-kiong, said in a radio program yesterday that laboratory tests showed that the sole suspected patient, a security guard, was not infected by the SARS virus.
■ India
Girl marries dog
A nine-year-old Indian girl was married to a dog amid religious chants after a priest told her parents the wedding would ward off evil. The marriage between Karnamoni and a mongrel dog called "Bachchan" -- after India's popular movie star Amitabh Bachchan -- took place earlier this month in Khannan village, some 60km northwest of Calcutta. "The priest told the girl's family, who are poor tribal farmers, that because new teeth appeared on her upper gums rather her lower gums, it was a bad omen and she would die," said government welfare officer M.M. Rana. "The priest said to ward off danger to her life, the parents should marry the girl to a dog," Rana said.
■ China
Old wine still perky
Aged wines don't get much older than this. Archaeologists in western China discovered five earthenware jars of 2,000-year-old rice wine in an ancient tomb and its bouquet was still strong enough to perk up the nose, the official Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday. Xinhua said 5l of the almost clear blue-tinged liquor was found, enough to allow researchers their best opportunity yet to study ancient distilling techniques. Archaeologist Sun Fuzhi was quoted saying the tomb dated from the early Western Han dynasty, which ruled much of China between 206BC and 25AD.
■ Pakistan
Activists arrested
Police in Pakistan's part of Kashmir yesterday arrested nearly 300 activists of a key opposition party in a bid to stop a protest against the region's top elected leader. Most of the arrests were made in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan's side of Kashmir, as the demonstrators gathered before a planned march to the parliament building, where they wanted to hold the rally, police Deputy Superintendent Ghulam Sarwar said. Last month, the top elected official in Pakistan's portion of Kashmir, Prime Minister Sardar Sikandar Hayyat, floated the idea of dividing Kashmir permanently on the basis of religion. But opposition groups have rejected the idea, whereupon Hayyat withdrew his proposal.
■ United States
Forest fires sweep Arizona
Authorities declared a state of emergency as fires raged in southern Arizona, destroying at least 250 homes with no casualties immediately reported. Residents of the mountainous area hardest hit were evacuated on Thursday. With 100kmh winds whipping the flames, fires tore through pine studded mountainsides and destroyed 250 homes as well as other structures in Summerhaven on Mount Lemmon near Tucson. Some 640 firefighters struggled against the blaze that so far has charred almost 1,600 hectares.
■ Colombia
Drastic measures defended
Colombia's defense minister, in an impromptu debate with a top US-based human rights official, dismissed warnings that new anti-terrorism statutes aimed at ending a leftist insurgency may lead to abuses by Colombian troops. The encounter before a small group of journalists in the Ministry of Defense underscored the government's intent to take a harder line against the rebels, even in the face of criticism from abroad. The strategy centers on President Alvaro Uribe's proposal to amend Colombia's constitution to give military forces the power to make arrests, conduct searches without warrants and detain suspects for 36 hours without judicial authorities present.
■ United States
Dog detectives defective
A dog trainer was convicted of contracting defective bomb-sniffing dogs to the federal government. Russell Lee Ebersole, 43, is the owner of a Virginia business that trains dogs to detect drugs and explosives. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, he charged various government agencies more than US$700,000 for the use of his dogs. The government said Ebersole's dogs failed in at least four tests to alert government handlers to the scent of explosives. The indictment against Ebersole alleged that in one test, his dogs and handlers were unable to detect 22.5kg of dynamite and 6.75kg of plastic explosives hidden in vehicles. A federal jury found him guilty of 27 counts of defrauding federal agencies.
■ Germany
Terrorists' funds targeted
A 31-nation conference agreed Friday to expand global efforts to combat terrorist financing and money laundering, measures the US said will ``globalize'' key US. laws passed after the Sept. 11 attacks. The Financial Action Task Force issued a 40-point program designed to keep international law enforcement abreast of criminals' increasingly sophisticated efforts to conceal illegal money flows. Officials described the Berlin pact as a breakthrough, despite differences between major players on regulating small-scale money handlers believed to be a favorite conduit for terrorists.`
■ Guantanamo Bay
Journalists' tour halted
The US military clashed with British journalists on Friday at Camp Delta in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after inmates shouted to a BBC television crew who had been invited to tour the maximum security camp. As the journalists walked through camp four, detainees shouted that they wanted to tell their story and the US soldiers immediately halted the tour, ordering everyone out. About 680 people, including about nine Britons, are being held at the US naval base here.
■ Russia
Truck bomb kills drivers
A powerful truck bomb exploded near a government compound in the Chechen capital Grozny on Friday, killing two bombers and wounding 36 people in a foiled attempt to inflict bigger casualties, officials said. Akhmed Dzheirkhanov, the deputy chief of the Emergency Situations Ministry branch for Chechnya, said that the truck bombing occurred about 70m from a building housing the Chechen police's unit for fighting organized crime. A man and a woman were riding in the truck as it sped toward the police building and were killed in the explosion, Alexander Khityanik, a top Grozny police official, said on NTV television. Of the 36 wounded, four people, including one child, were hospitalized, Dzheirkhanov said.
■ Latvia
Incumbent wins second term
Vaira Vike-Freiberga easily won a second term Friday as president of Latvia, the former Soviet republic that she helped guide into NATO and the EU. Latvia's 100-seat Saeima, or parliament, voted 88-6 to let the 65-year-old serve another four years. Two of the ballots were disqualified and four lawmakers were absent. In Latvia, a Baltic state of 2.4 million people, the public doesn't elect the president and the office isn't involved in the day-to-day running of the government. Lawmakers greeted Vike-Freiberga, who was the only candidate, with a stirring standing ovation when she appeared on the parliament floor after the vote.
■ Brazi
Deaths linked to X-ray drug
Police and health authorities are investigating the deaths of at least 21 people, believed to have died after using a corrupted version of a drug commonly given during X-rays and other radiology exams. At issue is a Brazilian brand of contrast dye, called Celobar, that is injected into blood vessels before certain tests. The Institute of Legal Medicine in western Goias state examined the bodies of five people who died after taking Celobar and said on Friday that it found lethal levels of a toxic ingredient. The institute is investigating the bodies of nine other people who also died after taking the product.
■ United Nations
Congo plan given backing
France and many African nations are backing UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's call for a larger UN peacekeeping force with a more robust mandate to help stem tribal violence in eastern Congo, but the US appears reluctant to agree. At present, UN troops in Congo are deployed under a mandate that only allows them to fire in self-defense. They have not attempted to stem the violence between rival factions of the Hema and Lendu tribes that has killed more than 500 people in and around the eastern town of Bunia since the beginning of May.
■ Kenya
US Embassy on alert
The US Embassy in Nairobi, the target of a deadly bombing in 1998 widely blamed on Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, said it shut down on Friday because of a serious terrorist threat in Kenya. "The information that is available to us and to Kenya indicates that there is a serious terrorist threat in Kenya," US embassy spokesman Tom Hart said. In Washington, US defense officials said the Defense Intelligence Agency had already put its threat level for Kenya at "high," the highest of four levels maintained by the Pentagon's intelligence arm.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in