■ 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.
FOREST SITE: A rescue helicopter spotted the burning fuselage of the plane in a forested area, with rescue personnel saying they saw no evidence of survivors A passenger plane carrying nearly 50 people crashed yesterday in a remote spot in Russia’s far eastern region of Amur, with no immediate signs of survivors, authorities said. The aircraft, a twin-propeller Antonov-24 operated by Angara Airlines, was headed to the town of Tynda from the city of Blagoveshchensk when it disappeared from radar at about 1pm. A rescue helicopter later spotted the burning fuselage of the plane on a forested mountain slope about 16km from Tynda. Videos published by Russian investigators showed what appeared to be columns of smoke billowing from the wreckage of the plane in a dense, forested area. Rescuers in
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr is to meet US President Donald Trump this week, hoping Manila’s status as a key Asian ally would secure a more favorable trade deal before the deadline on Friday next week. Marcos would be the first Southeast Asian leader to meet Trump in his second term. Trump has already struck trade deals with two of Manila’s regional partners, Vietnam and Indonesia, driving tough bargains in trade talks even with close allies that Washington needs to keep onside in its strategic rivalry with China. “I expect our discussions to focus on security and defense, of course, but also
POINTING FINGERS: The two countries have accused each other of firing first, with Bangkok accusing Phnom Penh of targeting civilian infrastructure, including a hospital Thai acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai yesterday warned that cross-border clashes with Cambodia that have uprooted more than 130,000 people “could develop into war,” as the countries traded deadly strikes for a second day. A long-running border dispute erupted into intense fighting with jets, artillery, tanks and ground troops on Thursday, and the UN Security Council was set to hold an emergency meeting on the crisis yesterday. A steady thump of artillery strikes could be heard from the Cambodian side of the border, where the province of Oddar Meanchey reported that one civilian — a 70-year-old man — had been killed and
‘OPPORTUNITY TO ENGAGE’: Antonio Costa and Ursula von der Leyen are to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss EU-China relations and geopolitical challenges Top leaders from China and the EU are to hold a summit in Beijing this week, as the major economic powers seek to smooth over disputes ranging from trade to the Ukraine conflict. Beijing and Brussels have been gearing up to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties, but a suite of squabbles over state subsidies, market access and wartime sanctions have dampened the festivities. A spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday confirmed that European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen would visit on Thursday. The statement came after the EU
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