■ South Korea
More bird flu cases reported
More South Korean farmers reported suspected bird flu among ducks nationwide yesterday as authorities struggled to test and contain the highly contagious disease. The latest cases of avian influenza -- which in rare cases can be deadly to humans -- have been traced to duck-breeding farms in South Cholla province, home to half of South Korea's 8 million ducks. The Agriculture Ministry said about half of the target of 1 million chickens and ducks had been slaughtered and buried. The total includes thousands of chickens who died instantly after contracting the flu. "A total 19 suspected cases are being tested including the newly reported cases," the ministry said in a statement.
■ China
Gas blast kills at least 163
An explosion at a natural gas field in China's southwestern municipality of Chongqing has killed at least 163 people and poisoned scores, the official Xinhua news agency said yesterday. Authorities had evacuated residents within 5km of the disaster site, it said. The blast happened on Tuesday morning at the Chuandongbei gas field in Kaixian county of Chongqing municipality. A well had burst, releasing "a high concentration of natural gas and sulfurated hydrogen," the news agency said. The field belongs to China National Petroleum Corp, parent of oil major PetroChina.
■ North Korea
US to donate more food
The US will give additional food aid to North Korea after UN officials reported fewer obstacles to tracking distribution, the State Department said on Wednesday. The US will donate an additional 60,000 tonnes of agricultural commodities to North Korea through the UN World Food Program, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in a statement. The promise of more aid comes as Chinese and US officials met earlier this week in Beijing to discuss how to move forward on six-way negotiations to curtail North Korea's nuclear arms program.
■ China
Judge jailed for corruption
A high-ranking judge has been jailed for 15 years for pocketing more than 1 million yuan (US$120,800) in bribes, the People's Daily said yesterday. A Beijing court sentenced Mai Chongkai, president of the Supreme People's Court in the wealthy southern province of Guangdong, on Wednesday, the Communist Party newspaper said. He was found guilty of taking bribes totalling 1.06 million yuan (US$128,100) from companies with legal problems in exchange for using his influence to intervene on their behalf, it said. Bribery and other forms of corruption remain rampant in China, despite the Communist Party's high-profile attempts to root it out via regular graft-busting campaigns.
■ Singapore
Maid jailed for cutting penis
An Indonesian maid in Singapore was jailed for cutting a 2-year-old boy's penis with a knife, a news report said yesterday. Suharti Sumito, 22, was sentenced to one-and-a-half years in jail after a district court ruled she had used a knife to inflict a 2cm wound on the boy under her care in September, the Straits Times newspaper said. Suharti was using the knife to cut chicken when she was asked to check on the boy -- who had just finished bathing and was running around. The paper said she cut the boy when she caught hold of him. She denied that she had intentionally cut the toddler.
■ Tanzania
Wife nags man to death
A Tanzanian man killed himself by drinking a chemical used in cattle dips, leaving a suicide note saying it was to escape a nagging wife, police said. The body of the 32-year-old was found in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam with the suicide note and a glass containing traces of the chemical, used for killing insects on livestock, said regional police commissioner Alfred Tibaigana. "I've decided to end my life," Tibaigana quoted the suicide note as saying. "I am fed up with the constant nagging of my first wife." Police did not have any further details about the man's death in the East African country, where polygamy is common.
■ Germany
Tabloid shock: no bad news
Germany's top-selling newspaper published nothing but good news, dropping its normal fare of crime, violence and scandal for stories about tax cuts, falling petrol prices and accelerating economic growth. "There's only good news today," Bild said in large letters on its cover, where headlines are usually devoted to sex scandals, Germany's cannibal trial, killers, adulterers or dishonest politicians. Skipping its usual "loser of the day" entry, Bild picked two "winners of the day," including rock star Ozzy Osbourne who was released from intensive care after an accident in Britain. Even a story in the paper about a Berlin celebrity who broke up with her boyfriend took a positive approach: "Great news, Djamila Rowe is single again."
■ United States
City duped over flu shots
Faced with nationwide flu shot shortages amid an epidemic, Georgia health officials came across an offer they couldn't refuse -- 100,000 extra flu shots for a hefty US$1.65 million. They wired the money. But the flu shots never came. They never even existed, state officials said on Wednesday. Health division director Kathleen Toomey said on Wednesday that she was told by the FBI that other states may have been similarly defrauded. Georgia has managed to recover all but US$70,000 of its money back with FBI help. The rest of the money is expected to be returned within days.
■ Spain
Police intercept bombs
Police foiled a plot to detonate two powerful bombs aboard a train at a bustling Madrid railway station on Christmas Eve, officials said. Two suspected members of the armed Basque separatist group ETA were arrested. One 25kg bomb was found on the train traveling from the Basque city of San Sebastian to Madrid. Police stopped the train in the northern city of Burgos, evacuated it, removed the bomb and defused it, Interior Minister Angel Acebes said. A second device of about the same size was seized in possession of one of the two detainees in San Sebastian before it could be planted on the train, and it was this arrest that led police to the bomb on the train, he said.
■ Haiti
Medical staff protest
Medical students and doctors marched Wednesday to protest against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's government as the death toll rose during anti-government demonstrations that have plagued this impoverished Caribbean country since September. The rising tensions came as the government prepared for celebrations on Jan. 1 marking Haiti's 200th anniversary of independence from slave-trading France.
An American scientist convicted of lying to US authorities about payments from China while he was at Harvard University has rebuilt his research lab in Shenzhen, China, to pursue technology the Chinese government has identified as a national priority: embedding electronics into the human brain. Charles Lieber, 67, is among the world’s leading researchers in brain-computer interfaces. The technology has shown promise in treating conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and restoring movement in paralyzed people. It also has potential military applications: Scientists at the Chinese People’s Liberation Army have investigated brain interfaces as a way to engineer super soldiers by boosting
Indonesian police have arrested 13 people after shocking images of alleged abuse against small children at a daycare center went viral, sparking outrage across the nation, officials said on Monday. Police on Friday last week raided Little Aresha, a daycare center in Yogyakarta on Java island, following a report from a former employee. CCTV footage circulating on social media showed children, most younger than two, lying on the floor wearing only diapers, their hands and feet bound with rags. The police have confirmed that the footage is authentic. Police said they also found 20 children crammed into a room just 3m by 3m. “So
Jailed media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai (黎智英) has been awarded Deutsche Welle’s (DW) freedom of speech award for his contribution to Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. The German public broadcaster on Thursday said Lai would be presented in absentia with the 12th iteration of the award on June 23 at the DW Global Media Forum in Bonn. Deutsche Welle director-general Barbara Massing praised the 78-year-old founder of the now-shuttered news outlet Apple Daily for standing “unwaveringly for press freedom in Hong Kong at great personal risk.” “With Apple Daily, he gave journalists a platform for free reporting and a voice to the democracy movement in
PHILIPPINE COMMITTEE: The head of the committee that made the decision said: ‘If there is nothing to hide, there is no reason to hide, there is no reason to obstruct’ A Philippine congressional committee on Wednesday ruled that there was “probable cause” to impeach Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte after hearing allegations of unexplained wealth, misuse of state funds and threats to have the president assassinated. The unanimous decision of the 53-member committee in the Philippine House of Representatives sends the two impeachment complaints to deliberations and voting by the entire lower chamber, which has more than 300 lawmakers. The complaints centered on Duterte’s alleged illegal use and mishandling of intelligence funds from the vice president’s office, and from her time as education secretary under Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Duterte and the
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