■ Australia
Official makes Iraq claims
Australia rejected claims by a former defense adviser yesterday that she had been sacked for refusing to exaggerate evidence of Iraq's weapons programs, a key basis for Australia's joining the US war in Iraq. Jane Errey, a former analyst with Australia's Defense Science and Technology Organization, said she had been sacked because she had refused to write briefing papers supporting claims that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. "I felt like I was part of the propaganda machine," Errey told The Sunday Herald Sun. "Anything that I was doing with respect to the war was making me uncomfortable ... I wouldn't lie or mislead the public," said Errey, who worked as the chief adviser to Australia's former top defense scientist, Ian Chessell.
■ China
Smuggled silver nabbed
Chinese customs officials seized 360kg of smuggled silver from a Hong Kong truck crossing the border into Shenzhen, newspapers reported yesterday. Officers found 24 silver bars worth 864,000 Chinese yuan (US$104,400) in a hidden compartment in the truck earlier this week, the Oriental Daily News reported. The Wen Wei Po said it was the second attempt to smuggle silver blocked in less than a month, amid rising silver prices. It said Shenzhen's customs department found six silver bars weighing 90km in another Hong Kong vehicle on March 14. Oriental Daily News reported that batch was worth 216,000 yuan.
■ Australia
Heroin hidden in pastries
Customs officers arrested a man after discovering heroin stashed in pastries he allegedly tried to bring into Australia on a flight from Thailand, authorities said yesterday. The officials discovered the drug wrapped in pastry when they searched the bags of a passenger who arrived at Sydney Airport on a flight from Bangkok on Friday, federal police said in a statement. It was not immediately clear how much heroin was found. Police said they found two boxes of confections and inside each was "a quantity of white powder wrapped in plastic covered in a thin pastry." The 22-year-old Australian was charged with heroin smuggling and was due to appear in court tomorrow.
■ Hong Kong
Waste enters sanctuary
A truck fell on its side, spilling sodium hydroxide into a sewage system that discharges into waters near the territory's Mai Po bird sanctuary, the government said yesterday. The government said the truck lost 500 liters of the highly corrosive liquid, also known as caustic soda. It can cause severe eye and respiratory irritation. Ming Pao Daily News published a photo of firefighters hosing the spillage site to dilute the chemical. The newspaper quoted a Mai Po official as expressing fears that the chemical, while not immediately lethal, could accumulate in the birds over time and cause long-term effects.
■ Thailand
Former MP shot
A former MP and a village chief were gunned down in Thailand's Muslim-dominated south on the weekend, becoming the latest victims of a wave of violence that has left at least 60 people dead this year, police said yesterday. The shootings came while Thailand was on high terror alert over the traditional new year holiday Songkran, which began Saturday, amid concerns that militants from the south could mount a major attack.
■ Brazil
Deadly day for Rio slum
A day of drug gang-related violence in one of Rio de Janeiro's largest slums killed eight people, including police and bystanders, before hundreds of police officers restored calm on Saturday. Friday's killings started when several dozen heavily armed drug traffickers closed a road near the Rocinha shantytown and stole several cars, police said. One motorist was shot to death during the robbery. During the police pursuit, the alleged gang members shot at police, killing two bystanders with stray bullets. The traffickers then had a gunbattle with a rival drug gang over drug selling areas. Later Friday, a shootout between police and gang members killed two officers and two alleged drug traffickers.
■ Colombia
Soldiers kill 23 fighters
Troops battled leftist rebels and outlawed right-wing paramilitary fighters in separate offensives over the past two days, killing 23 illegal fighters, the army said on Saturday. The heaviest fighting took place in the central Meta region, where soldiers killed 15 members of the Centauros Bloc, a faction of the main paramilitary umbrella group known as the United Self-Defense Forces, or AUC, the army said in a statement. The AUC has declared a unilateral ceasefire and is currently pursuing disarmament talks with the government, but some members continue to carry out killings and attack villages.
■ United States
`Immodest' statues covered
A garden center's nude statues proved a bit immodest for some in this small town. G&L Garden Center responded to complaints by covering up the classical-style statues with stylish, two-piece crimson velvet sarongs. It turns out leaving a little to the imagination meant a lot more customers for the US$99.95 ornaments. Six statues have sold in the past couple of weeks alone, and the attempt at roadside modesty is stopping traffic. Workers across the street at Hartsville Gas didn't seem bothered by their full view of the statues. "I guess some people just don't appreciate art," said gas technician Brad Smith.
■ United States
Rat poison killing squirrels
Last fall, the city began poisoning rats that had invaded Philadelphia's most elegant park. But neighbors are upset because Rittenhouse Square's squirrel population is suffering the same gruesome fate as the rats. Heliana Murray was walking her basset hound in the square last week when one of the few remaining squirrels there began to convulse and gush blood. Philadelphia Health Department spokesman Jeff Moran acknowledged that at least a dozen squirrels have died, but said the department had no choice because the rats posed a risk to public health.
■ The Vatican
Tired pope leads mass
Pope John Paul II celebrated an Easter vigil mass at the Vatican late Saturday amid Christian festivities overshadowed by the threat of terrorism and a worsening conflict in Iraq. The 83-year-old pope appeared tired, his words weak and halting as he presided over the mass in St Peter's Basilica, ahead of an open-air Easter Sunday mass which is once again expected to test his resilience to age and Parkinson's disease. For hours before the vigil mass, thousands of pilgrims, many of them tourists from across the world, filed patiently through metal detectors to gain access to the basilica.
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