■ Hong Kong
SARS sufferer recovers
The last of Hong Kong's critically-ill SARS patients is out of danger and has been moved out of intensive care into a convalescence ward, health officials said yesterday. The recovery of the 56-year-old patient, a private doctor who was infected by his medical-student son almost five months ago, means the territory's death toll from the outbreak should remain at just under 300. A total of 299 people have died of SARS in Hong Kong and 1,755 were infected, the highest toll anywhere in the world outside China. Fourteen people remained in hospital yesterday.
■ China
Diplomat leaves post
A tense two-month standoff between Iraq's former ambassador to Beijing and his staff ended peacefully after the envoy voluntarily left the embassy, an Iraqi diplomat said on yesterday. The US has asked China to expel Muwafak al-Ani, appointed ambassador by ousted President Saddam Hussein in January and recalled by Iraq's post-war administration in June, said diplomats -- one from a non-Asian nation and one from an Asian nation. China has waited patiently on the US expulsion request, hoping al-Ani would quietly leave the country. It was unclear if al-Ani had left or would be allowed to remain in China.
■ Australia
Teen abortions skyrocket
Teenagers in Australia are among the most sexually active in the world, a report released yesterday showed. The country also has the sixth-highest teenage pregnancy rate in the developed world, and abortions are now the second most common reason young women are admitted to hospital.
■ Thailand
Music producer shoots self
A music producer who had just finished a meeting with a young client at a crowded Bangkok restaurant pulled out a pistol and fatally shot himself as horrified patrons looked on, news reports said yesterday. Sekkarat Amattayakul, 34, a music producer for Grammy Entertainment, committed suicide on Sunday only moments after he finished a business meeting with 18-year-old singer Pornpatcharaya Suphanrat. The singer was quoted by The Nation newspaper as saying Sekkarat had asked to meet with her to discuss her album. During the 20-minute meeting, she said, Sekkarat agreed to repay 80,000 baht (US$1,900 dollars) he owed her. Sekkarat's sister was quoted as saying he had tried on two previous occasions to commit suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills.
■ Australia
Man's crime surfaces
Police finally got some satisfaction in the case of a stolen Rolling Stones cassette. David Leahy, was convicted last week of stealing the tape from a store in the city of Cairns in 1982, the latest edition of the Gympie Times newspaper reported. He was ordered to appear in court after police stopped him driving through the town of Gympie, 300km north of Brisbane, capital of Queensland state, and discovered an outstanding warrant for his arrest. Magistrate Paul Johnstone last Friday fined Leahy A$200 (US$130) for shoplifting and another A$300 (US$195) for not appearing in court. "The law will always catch up with you some time," Johnstone told Leahy in court. Leahy's lawyer, Steve Cavanagh, said: "The offense occurred so long ago, his recollection is very vague, as you can imagine."
■ United States
Powell planning to step down
US Secretary of State Colin Powell and his deputy Richard Armitage have indicated that they do not intend to serve a second term at the State Department even if President George W. Bush is re-elected, The Washington Post reported yesterday. Citing sources familiar with the conversation, the newspaper reported that Armitage recently told national security adviser Condoleezza Rice that he and Powell would leave on Jan. 21, 2005, the day after the next presidential inauguration. According to the newspaper, Powell has indicated to associates that he would be leaving for personal reasons rather than any differences over the administration's foreign policy.
■ Azerbaijan
Vote confirms prime minister
Azerbaijan's parliament confirmed ailing President Geidar Aliev's son as prime minister, which could ultimately catapult the younger Aliev to the top job in this oil-rich Caspian Sea nation. Ilham Aliev received the support of 101 of parliament's 124 members. One lawmaker abstained, and the opposition boycotted the session. Geidar Aliev, who has a history of heart problems, has been in a Turkish military hospital since July 8 and has not appeared in public during that time. Many observers believe he is laying the ground to transfer power to Ilham Aliev.
■ United Kingdom
Cherie Blair a big dance hit
The singing skills of Cherie Blair, the wife of Britain's prime minister, are this summer dazzling Britons on the dancefloor. Cherie stepped in to help her husband Tony Blair when he was asked to sing during a grilling by Chinese students in Beijing last month on the case for war in Iraq. She rattled off a verse from the Beatles When I'm 64. Now her effort has been worked into a dance track which is proving a hit with British holidaymakers in popular resorts like Ibiza in Spain and Ayia Napa in Cyprus, the Independent newspaper said yesterday. "The tune has taken off in a big way in the nightclubs all over Europe," a music industry source told the paper.
■ United States
De Niro licensed to kill
Actors Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel, radio host Howard Stern and developer Donald Trump are among the New Yorkers licensed to carry a loaded gun, according to police records. But some stars -- including Joan Rivers, action-movie star Steven Seagal and conservative commentator William F. Buckley -- were rejected when they applied to have their gun licenses renewed by New York City police this year, the New York Post reported Sunday. Police told the Post only that Rivers had an "incident" on her record. She was reportedly in a fight with a car-rental clerk last year but was not criminally charged.
■ United States
Schools chief fails test
This superintendent of schools in Lawrence, Massachusetts, who recently put two dozen teachers on unpaid leave for failing a basic English proficiency test, has himself flunked a required literacy test three times. Wilfredo Laboy called his failing scores "frustrating" and "emotional." He blamed his performance on a lack of preparation and concentration, as well as the fact that that Spanish is his first language. "It bothers me because I'm trying to understand the congruence of what I do here every day and this stupid test," Laboy told The Eagle-Tribune of Lawrence in a story published Sunday.
‘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
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
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