■ India
Railway track blown up
Leftist extremists have blown up a railway track and a telephone exchange in separate incidents in eastern India, television networks said yesterday. Suspected members of the Maoist Communist Centre and the People's War Group -- both banned organizations active in pockets of eastern and southern India -- blasted a portion of a railway track near Gaya in Bihar state, the reports said. In another incident, a group of extremists blew up a telephone exchange at Hariharganj in neighboring Jharkhand state's Palamau district, paralyzing phone links in the area, the Press Trust of India news agency said.
■ Japan
Bird-flu case reported
Initial tests for bird flu at a poultry farm in the western Japan city of Kyoto produced positive results, following the death of 10,000 chickens there, central and local government officials said yesterday. "This is a suspected case of bird flu," a farm ministry official said, adding that further tests would be done to confirm the results. A Kyoto local government official said three dead chickens and two live ones had tested positive for the virus. The local official said Kyoto prefecture first received reports on Thursday night that more than 1,000 chickens had been dying each day since around Feb. 20.
■ Vietnam
Death for stealing US$2
A 19-year-old unemployed man will face the firing squad in Vietnam after being convicted of murdering a pensioner to steal less than US$2 in local currency, court officials said yesterday. Nguyen Dang Chung was handed the death sentence on Wednesday by a court in Bac Ninh for the murder of his 80-year-old neighbor in August last year. Chung's accomplice, Dao Van Cuong, 19, was sentenced to 24 years in prison. Knowing that the old man lived alone, the pair entered his house and stabbed and beat him to death before fleeing with US$1.50. At least 16 people have been given the death penalty this year, while 11 others have been executed.
■ New Zealand
Man punches shark
A 15-year-old New Zealand surfer on Friday described how he punched a shark in the eye to fend it off as it bit his thigh about 100m off a beach in the South Island city of Dunedin. Chris Blair said he thought a seal was attacking him as he sat straddled across his board until he saw a dorsal fin and the shark's head wrapped around his upper leg. "I punched it in the eye and it let go straight away," he said. "I got back on my board and put my legs up. ... It came back after me and went under my board," he told the Otago Daily Times. The teenager said he yelled to fellow surfers who helped him to shore as the shark swam off. "At the time, I was just sort of in a bit of shock -- just a bit freaked out," he said.
■ Thailand
Wife chopped up
Israeli tourist Eli Cohen denied yesterday that he had killed his wife in a hotel room in the Thai capital, chopped up her body and dumped the parts in a canal. "I love my wife and I have two children. I am innocent. I never do anything like this," the disheveled, bespectacled Cohen told reporters. The 36-year-old faces death by lethal injection if found guilty. Police said they had arrested Cohen on charges of torturing and murdering his wife Carol, 26. Cohen was arrested after the discovery of a torso in a suitcase dumped in a Bangkok canal.
■ Germany
Debtor loses his teeth
A German man who failed to settle a gambling debt called police after his dentures were seized as collateral, police said on Thursday.
"He called us saying he was afraid he might have to live off liquid food for the next few days," said a police spokesman in the western city of Dortmund. Police persuaded a 51-year-old
local man to hand over the dentures after the owner promised to settle a 150 euro (US$187) debt. "He gave us
a great big smile at getting them back," police said.
■ United States
Ornate gate worth the wait
An ornate wrought-iron
gate that guarded the New England cemetery plot of 19th-century American poet Emily Dickinson has been found at an antique shop after being missing for two decades, a descendant said on Wednesday. Robert Magovern, president of
the Dickinson Family Association, said he wanted to bring the gate, which disappeared in the mid-1980s, back to Amherst, Massachusetts, as soon as possible. He said he would even pay the US$300 an antiques dealer was asking for the piece when it was recognized on the front porch of the dealer's store
in Newfane, Vermont.
■ Brazil
Condom samba man fired
A Rio de Janeiro samba school on Wednesday sacked its Carnival artistic director whose pro-condom parade had upset the Catholic church and whose Kama Sutra float had been censored as too steamy. Academicos do Grande Rio school fired Joaosinho Trinta just before the winner of this year's world-famous Carnival was named. The judges,
who evaluate the schools' sambas, costumes, creativity and all-round enthusiasm, gave Grande Rio a lowly 10th place. Trinta, 70, brought
the theme Let's Put On a Condom, My Love to the Sambadrome parade avenue.
■ Child Porn
Internet ring busted
Police smashed Internet pedophile networks in 10 countries around the world on Thursday, arresting 40 people in one of the biggest operations conducted
by Europol against child pornography networks. "Today's operation has exposed a complex and organized hierarchical structure that Internet networks of pedophiles
and child molesters are
using to protect themselves by hiding their identities and their atrocious activities," Europol deputy director Mariano Simancas said. Police in Australia, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Spain and Sweden were involved in the combined swoop.
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
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
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