■ Australia
Euthanasia device unveiled
Euthanasia advocates yesterday unveiled do-it-yourself machines, designed to bring death within minutes to anyone suffering a terminal illness. Made from plastic containers, the machines cost A$15 to A$20 (US$10 to US$13.50) to build and deliver the poisonous gas carbon monoxide through plastic tubing to the nose. "You can just lie in bed, hook that up, close your eyes and go to sleep," said Sandra Milne, who built her own machine at a workshop organized by the Voluntary Euthanasia Society of Queensland. Milne said she was in good health and never planned to build the machine, which took around half an hour to build.
■ China
Man poisons reservoir
An unemployed man poisoned a reservoir, sickening 64 people, because he wanted to boost sales for water purifiers, the official Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday. Police detained Cao Qian, 27, after the reservoir that provides drinking water to homes in an area of Ruyang County in the northern province of Henan was found tainted by poison Wednesday. Cao, who had been laid off, was trying to run a small shop selling water purifying devices. No deaths were reported, but 42 people were poisoned badly enough to be hospitalized, the report said. It said Cao "claimed to poison the water in a bid to have his water purifying devices sell well." No details were given.
■ China
Species face extinction
About 15 to 20 percent of animal and plant species in China are in danger of extinction, higher than the world level of 10 to 15 percent, state media reported yesterday. According to statistics from the State Forestry Administration, over 300 species of terrestrial vertebrate animals and some 410 species of wild plants are at risk, the Xinhua news agency said. By 2010, China will have a total of 3,000 to 4,000 plants on the brink of being wiped out, the report cited experts as warning.
■ Japan
Another mad cow found
Japan has detected a possible eighth case of mad cow disease, the Health Ministry announced yesterday, underlining concerns about how widespread the illness may be in Japan. The finding, still to be confirmed as an actual case, comes nearly nine months after the last mad cow diagnosis in January. The latest animal tested positive for signs of the disease on Sept. 29 when it was brought to a slaughterhouse in Ibaraki Prefecture just north of Tokyo, said Health Ministry official Makoto Kanie. Follow up tests by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases backed the initial findings.
■ China
S Korean consulate to shut
South Korea's consulate in the Chinese capital will close for business indefinitely because it is housing too many North Korean refugees to continue operating smoothly, a South Korean diplomat said yesterday. The South Korean diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the closure will take effect today. She couldn't say how long the office would be shut, nor would she say exactly how many North Korean asylum-seekers were inside. The move means that anyone in China seeking a visa to South Korea is out of luck for the immediate future. "The number of North Korean refugees who are staying within the inside of the consulate is beyond our capacity," the diplomat said in a telephone interview. "So it makes it difficult to do our consular jobs."
■ United Kimdon
Magician dodges bullet
Britain's Channel Four on Sunday televised an illusionist playing Russian roulette with a loaded revolver, raising protests from police and anti-weapons organisations. The program, not aired live in case of any horrible accident, showed 32-year-old Derren Brown safely fire the revolver after a member of the public, selected from the thousands who applied, had apparently loaded the gun with one bullet in its six chambers. Viewers saw the magician point the revolver at himself before pulling the trigger. Brown said he used a series of psychological tests to try to "read" the mind of the person who loaded the handgun, to determine where the bullet was. He asked the person to count to six, using the sound of his voice to help locate the live chamber.
■ United States
Roy's crew looking for work
The future of the famed Siegfried & Roy show was in doubt with illusionist Roy Horn still in critical condition after a tiger mauling. Employees of the show were encouraged to look for other jobs. Horn remained on a ventilator on Sunday. Even if he recovers, it's unclear whether he would ever be able to perform again. Horn, 59, was bitten in the neck and dragged off stage by one of the show's signature white tigers. Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said 267 show employees met at the Mirage hotel-casino, where they were encouraged to find new jobs. The tiger, Montecore, was quarantined at the hotel, officials said.
■ Iran
Rape victim sentenced
A woman accused of killing a police chief in southern Iran who she said tried to rape her has been convicted and is to be executed, the Shargh newspaper reported Saturday. The woman, Afsaneh Noroozi, 32, who has been in jail since 1997, said during her trial that she had stabbed the chief of police intelligence on the island of Kish in self-defense when he tried to rape her. The police chief, whose name has not been made public, was a friend of Noroozi's family, and she was at his house as a guest. Her lawyer cited in her defense a section of the Islamic penal code of Iran that allows citizens to take proportionate action to defend "life, honor, chastity, property or freedom." Human rights workers have said the ruling violates the right of a woman to defend her honor.
■ Germany
Pools full of beer consumed
Beer fans drank the equivalent of six Olympic-sized swimming pools during the two-week Oktoberfest in Germany, close to the annual event's record, organizers said. The world's biggest beer festival, which ended on Sunday, reported a jump in attendance as well as beer consumption after a two-year decline. About 6.3 million people crowded into the beer tents during the festival, some 400,000 more than in the last two years, and drank 6.1 million liters of Bavaria's top export beverage -- up seven percent from last year.
■ Lithuania
Pilgrims sent to Holy Land
Europe's Catholic bishops will urge their flocks to risk visiting shrines in the Middle East in order to sow peace and support isolated Christians in the region. Church leaders from 34 countries backed the initiative at a weekend meeting in Vilnius, Juozas Ruzgys, spokesman for the Lithuanian Bishops' Conference, said. "The bishops seek to revive the ages old tradition of pilgrim journeys to the Holy Land, which has been forgotten amid all the conflicts," said Ruzgys.
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