■ China
Cockroaches, anybody?
Health inspectors are conducting checks on a restaurant in southern China after 11 cockroaches were found in one dish, a news report said yesterday. The cockroaches were found in a bowl of spare ribs served up to a group of diners at the restaurant in Guangzhou, Guangdong province. The diners did not demand any compensation from the restaurant after discovering the insects, the South China Morning Post reported.
■ Australia
Bali bombings anniversary
Australia will pay for 1,500 relatives of the 88 Australians killed in the Bali bomb attacks to travel to the Indonesian resort island in October for the first anniversary of the blasts. Australian Prime Minister John Howard said yesterday he also plans to travel to Bali for the Oct. 12 anniversary of the explosions, which killed a total of 202 people -- mostly foreign tourists partying in two separate nightclubs. Four Indonesian men, including three brothers, accused of playing central roles in the bomb attacks are currently on trial in Bali.
■ China
Typhoon kills four
One of the most powerful typhoons in years ripped into south China, killing at least four people and injuring 16, the official China Daily said yesterday. Over one million people were affected by the storm, the seventh typhoon to hit coastal areas in China this year, it said. Winds of up to 185kph pounded the southern province of Guangdong when Imbudo hit land at noon on Thursday. Three deaths occurred in the city of Luoding, where the storm injured 12 and killed many farm animals. One person was killed in Enping, a coastal city in western Guangdong. It was the most powerful storm to hit the country since 1998.
■ Pakistan
Article on Koran banned
Newsweek magazine is standing by a story about new interpretations of the Koran that Pakistan authorities have banned for allegedly being offensive to Islam. Pakistan's Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said this week that customs authorities have been ordered to seize copies of the magazine's latest edition. An article on Newsweek's Web site deals with a new interpretation of Islam's holy book by a German scholar of Semitic languages, who argues that the language of the Koran has been misinterpreted and that in verses detailing the rewards of heaven the text's original word, meaning "white raisins," was mistaken for the word "houris," or dark-eyed virgins, the article says. He also questions Islamic rulings that women cover themselves and says the Koran was originally a Christian document.
■ Malaysia
Paramilitary scam cracked
Malaysian police have cracked a suspected scam selling ranks in a bogus paramilitary force which is believed to have a membership of more than 8,000 people. A total of 21 people have been arrested so far in connection with the so-called Federal Special Forces of Malaysia, said the official Bernama news agency. The suspects, aged 20-35, were detained to assist in investigations on whether or not the organization was involved in other criminal activities, police said. The group has made hundreds of thousands of dollars from its activities, which include selling commissions and rankings in the bogus military group, the New Straits Times daily said.
■ Israel
Arafat cousin attacked
A grenade fired at the office of a cousin of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat on Thursday missed its target and struck an adjacent jail, injuring 10 prisoners, Palestinian security sources said. The sources said that the rocket-propelled grenade had been aimed at the office of Major-General Musa Arafat, the head of Palestinian military intelligence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It missed the office and struck the roof of a prison in the same complex, the Palestinian Authority's main security center in Gaza City, injuring 10 inmates. Seven were taken to the city's Shifa Hospital, the sources said.
■ Spain
`Carmen' factory to close
Carmen, Bizet's sultry cigarette-maker from Seville, and her kind will never again be seen after a multinational on Thursday pulled the plug on the city's last tobacco factory. The thousands of feisty, independent-spirited female cigarette-rollers -- the cigarreras -- employed by Seville's factories in the 19th century inspired French composer Georges Bizet to write an opera based on one, Carmen. The last of these factories is due to be closed within two years by Altadis, the Franco-Spanish multinational. It said a decline in sales of black tobacco meant it had to lay off the 200 workers left there.
■ United States
Ice cream found fattening
Ice cream and milkshakes bought from parlors can contain more fat and calories than burgers and pizzas, US researchers have found. In some cases a single dessert contains two days' worth of saturated fat, while others are the calorific equivalent of an entire meal. The researchers admit they found the results staggering. The Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington found that a Ben and Jerry's waffle cone dipped in chocolate and filled with a single scoop of "chunky monkey" ice cream had more saturated fat than a pound of spare ribs.
■ United States
Arms export charges laid
Two California men have been charged with illegally attempting to ship components for fighter jets and missiles to China. The indictment charges Amanullah Khan, 54, and Ziad Jamil Gammoh, 53, of conspiring to export the weapons components to China from their United Aircraft and Electronics business in Anaheim, California, without obtaining proper US licenses or permission. Khan and Gammoh, both naturalized US citizens, are in custody in California, officials said. They allegedly attempted to export to China parts for F-4 Phantom, F-14 Tomcat and F-5 fighter jets, Hawk surface-to-air missiles and AH-1J attack helicopters.
■ Bermuda
Independence party wins
Bermuda's center-left Progressive Labour Party held onto power in a general election on the oldest British colony on Thursday, defeating the United Bermuda Party by 22 seats to 14. But it was unclear if the party, which is committed to freeing the mid-Atlantic island of 62,000 people from British rule, will push for independence in its next term, as party leader Premier Jennifer Smith had not unveiled her plans. Opinion polls before the vote suggested the PLP and the UBP were running neck and neck and although the PLP won a clear majority of seats, it garnered just 51.65 percent of the popular vote to 47.98 percent.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
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
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was