■ Nepal
Rebels shoot officer
A Nepal army officer died in hospital yesterday after being shot by suspected Maoist rebels a day after they walked out of peace talks and said they would end a seven-month truce. The officer was shot at his home in an upmarket residential area of the capital, Kathmandu. "Maoist rebels entered Colonel Kiran Bahadur Basnet's house and shot at him at close range. He received five bullets and died in hospital," the army officer, who did not wish to be identified, said. Another army officer shot separately by suspected rebels was being treated at the army hospital, the official said.
■ Malaysia
Two leaders meet
Terrorism and a fresh wave of illegal migrants fleeing war-torn Aceh were at the top of the agenda for talks yesterday in Malaysia between Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and Indonesia's President Megawati Sukarnoputri, officials said. Megawati is making a two-day visit to Malaysia for annual talks with Mahathir, which this year are being held in Sarawak state on Borneo, a huge jungle-clad island that Malaysia and Indonesia share with Brunei. Indonesia and Malaysia, which have Muslim majorities, are centrally involved in the fight against Jemaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaeda-linked terror network.
■ China
Tigers bite woman
A thrill-seeking woman in her 20s was bitten by tigers when she jumped out of a train in a safari park in China and ran into an enclosure of more than 20 of the big cats, a news report said yesterday. Safari park staff in Qinhuangdao, Hebei Province, had to drive a jeep at the animals to scare them away after they pounced on the woman from Beijing who ignored pleas from other visitors and walked towards the tigers. She suffered only slight injuries to her shoulder and legs and said she went into the enclosure "for a thrill," according to the Hong Kong edition of the China Daily.
■ Australia
7,000km chase ends
Officials in Canberra rejoiced yesterday at the capture of a Uruguayan trawler they suspect of poaching Patagonian toothfish in Australia's territorial waters in the Antarctic. Officials from Australia and South Africa boarded the Viarsa on Wednesday after a 21-day chase. The crew of the boat were arrested after a marathon pursuit that ended 3,600km southwest of Cape Town. Australia's Southern Supporter patrol ship tailed the Viarsa for more than 7,000km. South Africa deployed the armed icebreaker SA Agulhas to help in the chase. The toothfish is a delicacy in the US and in Japan, where it sells for up to US$50 per serving in restaurants.
■ Japan
Death penalty for child killer
A district court sentenced a man to death for fatally stabbing eight children at an elementary school two years ago, officials said yesterday. An official at Osaka District Court, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said Mamoru Takuma was sentenced for going from classroom to classroom knifing children at an elementary school. Thirteen other children and two teachers were injured in the June 8, 2001 attack. In handing down the ruling, the judge at Osaka District Court in western Japan said the former janitor was capable of judging right from wrong and was responsible for the crime.
■ United States
Hubble captures Mars
The Hubble Space Telescope captured spectacular images of Mars during the planet's close pass by Earth, including astonishingly detailed pictures of a polar ice cap and a giant canyon wall. "We've never seen this kind of resolution in Hubble images, that kind of detail," Cornell University astronomer Jim Bell said Wednesday. The Baltimore-based Space Telescope Science Institute, which operates the telescope, released some of the Hubble images, made late Tuesday and early Wednesday as the planet made its closest pass by Earth in 60,000 years. The images, taken when Mars was about 55.6 million kilometers from Earth, show surface details as small as 27km across.
■ Rwanda
Prosecutor's job split
The UN Security Council has decided to split the job of chief war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, allowing a new prosecutor to take charge of cases stemming from the 1994 Rwanda genocide while she focuses on the Balkans. The council scheduled a vote yesterday on a resolution that would authorize the Rwanda tribunal to have its own prosecutor and set out a timetable for completing the work of both the Rwanda and Yugoslav tribunals by 2010. The US draft resolution says the council is convinced that the tribunals "can most efficiently and expeditiously meet their respective responsibilities if each has its own prosecutor."
■ Russia
Volcano threatens to erupt
Eurasia's highest volcano, the Sopka Klyuchevskaya on Russia's fareastern Kamchatka peninsula, has become active again, firing plumes of ash and debris into the air, scientists with the local branch of the Russian Academy of Science said yesterday. A plume of steam has been observed up to 1,500m over the crater of the volcano, which towers at 4,750m above sea level. This activity, which was observed for the first time since 1993, suggests that an eruption could soon follow, scientists with the Academy's Volcanologic and Seismologic Survey Service added. However, surrounding villages are not under threat, Kamchatka's rescuers service said.
■ Mexico
Witches threaten lawmakers
Mexican sorcerers have threatened to cast evil spells on ruling party lawmakers if they go ahead with legislation to make witchcraft a crime, El Universal newspaper reported Wednesday. The chamanes object to a proposal by the local National Action Party (PAN) to ban witchcraft in the Mexican state of Veracruz, famous as witch territory. Those who practice witchcraft and other occult rituals could face stiff fines or even jail time if the bill passes. Two leading sorcerers in Veracruz, "The Diabolic One" and "The Tiger," warned local PAN legislators that if they fail to withdraw the bill, a curse will befall their party to make it lose the next state elections. Saying he was not frightened by threat of the evil eye, PAN Legislator Angel Deschamps Falcon said that the proposal was not aimed at chamanes, who follow ages-old traditions, but rather at ruthless charlatans who defraud naive people.
■ Spain
Fight leaves streets red
Blood-red streams of tomato juice oozed through the streets of the tiny Spanish town of Bunol yesterday as tens of thousands of people hurled tonnes of squashy fruit in the world's biggest food fight. With a thundering firework at midday signalling the start of the "Tomatina," five trucks dumped 120 tonnes of plum tomatoes into Bunol's narrow central street, where 35,000 people were expectantly awaiting the ammunition. Locals and visitors from around the globe lobbed the tomatoes at each other and, when the fruit turned to puree, reached down to whisk red froth into the air. Some men took advantage of the party to grab women and smear their chests with pulp.
■ united states
Check your luggage first
US airport baggage screeners, displaying seized chain saws, machetes and knives, warned travelers to check their luggage for offensive objects before boarding a flight. Officials of the Transport Security Administration, speaking ahead of this weekend's Labor Day holiday said that since February last year more than 7.5 million prohibited items had been seized. They included 50,000 box cutters and 1,437 firearms as well as 2.3 million knives. Since the Sept. 11 attacks screeners have confiscated seemingly harmless items like nail clippers and cigarette lighters from passengers. While some carry-on items may have been innocent, other discoveries have yielded razor blades in tennis shoes and a bayonet hidden in a hollowed-out artificial leg.
■ Zimbabwe
Mugabe builds new palace
Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe, is building a lavish palace costing US$5.9 million on the outskirts of the capital, Harare. Furnishings and security are expected to send the cost to more than US$9.4 million. The palace has 25 bedrooms with bathrooms and spas. It is three times the size of the president's official residence, State House, and his adjacent offices. Mugabe has built smaller mansions in Harare and Zvimba, his birthplace, as well a Chivu, the birthplace of his wife, Grace. The construction of a helicopter pad and extensive communications lines at the new site cast doubt over Mugabe's intention to retire from politics.
■ United states
Private Lynch discharged
Jessica Lynch, the badly injured US Army private and prisoner of war who was retrieved from an Iraqi hospital by American commandos, has been discharged from the military, the Army said on Wednesday. "She's been medically retired" due to disability from injuries, Beverly Chidel, a spokeswoman at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, said. Chidel said that Lynch was honorably discharged last Friday after returning to the medical center from a month's leave and would remain eligible for any required future medical treatment at military hospitals.
■ Canada
Iran faces sanctions
Canada complained angrily on Wednesday that Iran had not yet handed over a report into the violent death of a Canadian journalist in Tehran and repeated a threat to impose sanctions unless the matter was resolved to Ottawa's satisfaction. A spokeswoman for the department of external affairs said Tehran Prosecutor General Saeed Mortazavi had met senior Canadian officials yesterday to discuss the case of Zahra Kazemi, 54, but had no provided no new details.
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
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