■ India
Communal clashes kill 6
Six people died in India's southern city of Hyderabad after clashes between jubilant Hindu hardliners and protesting Muslims on the eleventh anniversary of the razing of a mosque, police said. Twenty-four people were hurt in the incident late on Saturday, 12 suffering bullet injuries as police opened fire to control rampaging mobs in areas where Muslims are in a majority. "Indefinite curfew has been imposed in several areas of the city after the rioting but there has been no violence since 1am," a police official said. "The situation is tense but under control."
■ North Korea
US, allies offer proposal
The US, Japan and South Korea have worked out a joint proposal on how to ease tensions over North Korea's nuclear weapons program, and will ask China to relay it to the communist North, a senior South Korean official said. If Pyongyang accepts the proposal, a second round of six-nation talks on the North Korean nuclear crisis will convene in Beijing, Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-hyuck told South Korean reporters on Saturday, upon returning home from a trip to Washington. Ahead of the Washington talks, South Korean officials said the proposal would deal with the main sticking point: when the US should give written security assurances to North Korea.
■ Indonesia
Terrorism warning
Terrorist cells in Indonesia are probably "regrouping, retraining and recruiting," and could be planning more deadly bombings here, the country's top security minister warned yesterdayday. Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, has emerged as a key battle ground in the US-led war on terrorism since Islamic militants bombed two nightclubs on the country's Bali island last year, killing 202 people, mostly foreign tourists. The al-Qaeda-linked terror group Jemaah Islamiyah was blamed for the Oct. 12, 2002, Bali attacks. It was implicated in the Aug. 5 blast at the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, which killed 12 people..
■ Japan
Holiday boom for surgery
Japan's cosmetic surgeons are preparing for a holiday rush as patients seek temporary nips and tucks to greet the new year. Underscoring the booming popularity of cosmetic surgery in this country, Japan's largest clinics say they are expecting a surge in year-end patients seeking "petite operations," or procedures that do not require going under the scalpel. Doctors can create double eyelids -- to create a line or fold across the eyelid common in Caucasians but not in Asians -- with sutures in 10 minutes for as little as ?50,000 (US$400). Other in-demand procedures include injections of botulium toxin A -- a wrinkle-buster popular in the US -- and hyaluronic acid, a tissue-filler from Europe used to enlarge noses and chins.
■ Australia
56% of Australians obese
Fifty-six percent of Australian adults and 27 percent of children are obese because they eat too much and exercise too little, a study found yesterday. About 9 million Australians over the age of 18 are overweight and childhood obesity rivals North American levels and exceeds those of Britain, the Medical Journal of Australia said. Combined with inactivity and poor nutrition, obesity is responsible for at least 10 percent of health problems, including heart disease, diabetes and cancers, making the health effects as bad as those of tobacco, the journal said.
■ United States
Voting age may drop to 16
British teenagers could be given the vote at 16 in a historic move being considered by the Prime Minister's office at 10 Downing Street and the Department of Constitutional Affairs. In a signal that the government wants a major debate on this contentious issue and sympathizes with those who argue that the voting age should be lowered from the present 18, Charlie Falconer, the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, said it was a vital debate and part of the reform agenda he wanted to pursue. Whitehall officials said that the positive response to the issue was part of a wider 'radical agenda' on constitutional reform. The government wants to be seen to be tackling the growing disillusionment among the young about politics.
■ Sierra Leone
Riot over substitute dwarfs
Thousands of fans rioted at Sierra Leone's national stadium in Freetown on Saturday when authorities substituted two local dwarf comedians for a widely anticipated out-of-town midget duo. Police arrested 30 people, amid damage and dozens of injuries. Daylong radio ads had whipped up excitement and ticket sales for Friday night's scheduled performance by the two Nigerian entertainers Aki and Paw Paw. The Nigerian performers failed to show by early morning and organizers put the two local dwarf comedians on the stage instead. Witnesses said police fired tear gas. Eight of the 30 people arrested had tried to steal the stadium's seats.
■ Saudi Arabia
US security tightened
Saudi Arabia increased the guard around Western housing compounds here Saturday, replacing policemen with more heavily armed soldiers, as the US upgraded its security warning for the kingdom. The American embassy restricted its staff to the diplomatic quarters of their cities for all but essential duties. The Saudi government published the names and photographs of its 26 most wanted people. The list comprised one Yemeni citizen, two Moroccans and 23 Saudis. The Interior Ministry said Saturday it was offering a reward of 1 million Saudi riyals (US$267,000) for information leading to the arrest of one of the 26 wanted.
■ Canada
Political parties merge
Canada's two major political parties on the right have agreed to merge as a way to halt the vote splitting that has helped deny them power in Ottawa for a decade. Members of the Progressive Conservative Party voted 90 percent in favor Saturday to merge with the larger Canadian Alliance a day after Alliance members voted 96 percent approval. The newly created right-of-center Conservative Party of Canada has scheduled a leadership convention for March 19 to 21 before taking on the governing Liberal Party in an election expected next spring. "We have just become [Liberal Leader] Paul Martin's worst nightmare," said Peter MacKay, the PC Party leader.
■ United States
First winter storm hits US
The season's first major winter storm blanketed parts of the northeastern US on Saturday with more than 30cm of snow, disrupting air travel and creating hazardous road conditions, and was set to pummel the region for another day. The slow-moving storm system rolled up the eastern coast with high winds, steady snowfall and heavy surf after having brushed the US capital, Maryland and northern Virginia overnight. Several people have died in snow-related traffic accidents.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of