■ Indonesia
Terrorists still operating
Southeast Asia's terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah remains capable of carrying out "a major operation in a large urban center" despite the recent arrests of its top leaders, an international think tank warned yesterday. Jemaah Islamiyah remains a threat because it has been able to replace more than 200 suspected members arrested by authorities in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, said the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG). The terror network "remains active and dangerous," said Sydney Jones, the think-tank's project director in Jakarta.
■ Vietnam
Dissident appeals sentence
A Vietnamese political dissident launched an appeal yesterday against a 13-year sentence he received for spying after communicating with overseas "reactionaries" and using the Internet to promote democracy. Following his one-day trial in June, Pham Hong Son, 35, received a flurry of international attention from human-rights groups denouncing the Vietnamese government for the harsh sentence. Yesterday, a group of diplomats representing about 10 countries gathered for more than an hour in the pouring rain in front of the People's Supreme Court of Appeals in Hanoi to show their support. Their requests to enter the court were rejected.
■ Australia
Hanson's support increases
Australia's Asian communities expressed concern yesterday over a surge in support for the anti-immigration One Nation party in sympathy with its founder Pauline Hanson following her jailing for electoral fraud. Far from snuffing out a fading political career, the three-year sentence imposed on Hanson by a Queensland court appears to have given it fresh impetus amid suggestions she has become a martyr, victimized by the major parties. The result of the jailing of Hanson and its aftermath, according to her friends and foes alike, has been a huge surge of support for the populist right-wing firebrand.
■ Pakistan
Landowner humiliates maid
A landowner stripped his female maid naked and paraded her through the village bazaar to punish her for requesting a day off work, a leading Pakistani newspaper reported yesterday. Police arrested the eastern Pakistani landowner who also forced the 27-year-old woman to drink water from his shoes. The woman was punished after asking for a day off work because she was sick, according to the English-language newspaper, The News. Police in Karana, some 220km southwest of the federal capital of Islamabad, said the incident occurred about one week ago. The father of the woman filed charges against the landowner.
■ Pakistan
Man attacks wife with knife
Gul Marjan awakened with severe pain, realizing that her husband was trying to chop off her hands with a butcher knife. The man was angry because the 32-year-old woman had refused to give up her job washing clothes and dishes for another family. Her work hurt the man's pride and violated his traditional values, Marjan told reporters Monday in the capital, Islamabad. Her husband managed to cut both her hands during the Aug. 21 struggle but she fought back and neighbors helped stop the attack before her hands were hacked off, Marjan told a news conference organized by a leading women's activist in Islamabad. Her husband, Gul Din, a 60-year-old laborer, was arrested.
■ Swaziland
King chooses 11th wife
Swaziland's King Mswati III has chosen a 17-year-old girl to become his 11th wife. The Royal Palace announced that Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarch, planned to marry Noliqhwa Ntentensa at a ceremony next year when she will be 18. He will be 36. Ntentensa was chosen by Mswati last year after he reviewed videotapes of semi-naked maidens taking part in the traditional Reed Dance ceremony. Mswati's Reed Dance selections last year caused a stir when the mother of one of the three girls chosen to be Mswati's new brides went to court charging that her daughter had been kidnapped by the royal household.
■ Norway
Driver adds punch to race
Martin Schanche, a Norwegian rally cross champion who is running for local office, on Monday punched a political challenger in front of about 150 shocked spectators, including schoolchildren. The blow turned an obscure local political debate into a top national news story. Schanche, 57, turned to politics after retiring from his sport in 2001. He's running for the city council in Frogn, near the capital of Oslo, on the right-wing Party of Progress ticket. He had joined representatives of six other parties for a debate at a school After about 15 minutes, Schanche, angered by attacks from his opponents, started to leave. One opponent, called it ``cowardly'' to walk out. Schanche then punched the opponent in the face before storming out.
■ Portugal
Fires claim 18 lives
Forest fires which have raged through Portugal over the past six weeks have burnt down nearly 5 percent of the countryside, including up to 10 percent of its forests, according to the country's forestry service. About 336,000 hectares of forest, scrub and farmland had been consumed by the flames. The fires also claimed the lives of 18 people, with more than 80 families forced to leave home. Heat that turned undergrowth into crisp tinder and lightning strikes were to blame for much of the damage. But some fires were believed to have been started by arsonists who may have been seeking insurance or compensation money. Police have arrested more than 70 people.
■ United states
Greens wreck polluting cars
Radical environmentalists have vandalized or wrecked hundreds of sport utility vehicles at car dealerships or in the streets in California over the past few days, causing millions of dollars worth of damage. The attacks on the popular four-wheel drive cars, targeted because of the pollution they cause, were apparently carried out by supporters of the Earth Liberation Front, a loose network on the radical wing of the environmental movement. The latest attacks took place in San Gabriel Valley in the early hours of Friday. A particular target was the Hummer, a civilian variation on the military Humvee.
■ United states
Beauty queen charged
The US federal government sued a former beauty queen, claiming she fraudulently collected more than US$190,000 in disability benefits, even while she was competing in pageants. Denise "Dee" Marie Henderson, 43, was crowned Mrs Minnesota International in 1999 and competed in the Mrs. US International pageant the same year while receiving the Social Security benefits. In both contests she competed in aerobic, evening gown and other events, prosecutors said.
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