■ Malaysia
Robbers fool guards
Robbers distracted three Malaysian security guards by throwing a handful of bank notes on the ground, then ran off with a bag of cash containing 1 million ringgit (US$263,000), police said. The guards had picked up the bag of cash from a bank in the mall and had placed it on the floor as they waited for an elevator to take them back to their security van, assistant police commissioner Hadi Ho Abdullah said. As they waited, a group of men approached and one dropped a wad of notes on the floor. "They saw several 1 ringgit notes strewn on the floor and went to pick them up, thinking they were from the bag," Hadi was quoted as saying. "They turned around and found the bag containing the 1 million ringgit missing."
■ Japan
Naval operation extended
Japan's Cabinet approved a plan yesterday to extend by six months a naval operation to provide non-combat support for the US-led military mission in Afghanistan. The operation was extended to Nov. 1, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said. Two destroyers and a single support vessel from the Maritime Self-Defense Force will be sent to the Arabian Sea through Nov. 1 to replace three destroyers and two support vessels that are returning to Japan on May 1. The contingent will be scaled down because the US coalition's refueling needs have decreased, officials say.
■ Thailand
Murder, arson in south
A village leader was shot dead and around 50 structures including schools were set ablaze as fresh violence erupted in Thailand's troubled south, officials said yesterday. A 40-year-old village chief in Narathiwat province's Si Sakhon district was shot dead Thursday by unknown assailants, police said, as authorities detained at least 10 youths for the arson attacks in Narathiwat and neighboring Yala.
■ Japan
Protester rams consulate
A member of a Japanese right-wing group rammed a bus into the Chinese consulate in Osaka yesterday, protesting China's claims to an island chain at the heart of a territorial row between Beijing and Tokyo. Television footage showed that a white bus with the Japanese flag painted on its side -- a type of vehicle typically used by right-wingers to stage demonstrations -- had crashed into the gates of the consulate. Police said a fire had broken out near the driver's seat but was put out shortly.
■ Haiti
Rebel leader surrenders
Rebel commander Louis-Jodel Chamblain surrendered on Thursday in expectation of a new trial on several murder charges, calling himself a hero for liberating Haitians and denying he was pressed by a US-backed interim government criticized for forming alliances with known criminals. His surrender occurred as an international donor conference opened and interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue made overtures to the 15-nation Caribbean Community, which has refused to recognize his government.
■ Nigeria
Ethnic violence threatened
Rival militias threatened Thursday to escalate a simmering ethnic conflict in Nigeria's oil delta, where 10 adults and children were shot dead in an attack on a boatload of market traders. A Nigerian military spokesman said Itsekiri militants were believed responsible for the Tuesday evening attack on a boat traveling from the oil city of Warri to the village of Burutu. Passengers were mainly ethnic Ijaw and Urhobo market vendors. Ten civilians were killed and four were hospitalized with gunshot wounds. Itsekiri National Youth Council spokesman Matthew Tsekure denied his supporters were responsible.
■ United States
Anti-gay activist's son is gay
The son of Christian activist Randall Terry, known for his strident opposition to abortion and homosexuality, says he is gay. In an article in the May issue of Out magazine -- for which he was paid US$2,500 -- Jamiel Terry, 24, says he first realized he was gay seven years ago, when a male friend with whom he'd been intimate asked if they were gay or bisexual. "I didn't know how to respond," he writes. "I mean, we had been having sex for ages, but I'd always believed I couldn't be gay: I was the son of Randall Terry." Before the article was released, Randall Terry published his own essay, writing that his son "sold out our family's privacy and private discussions for cold cash."
■ United States
Study: Poetry's a killer
Does writing poetry pose a health threat? Is there any such thing as the `Sylvia Plath effect'? And is the phrase "live fast, die young" more applicable to sensitive young souls describing their torment in verse than to James Dean-style tearaways? According to James Kaufman, whose research has just been published in an obscure publication called Journal of Death Studies, the answer could be yes to all three questions. Kaufman studied the deaths of 1,987 writers from across the world and through the centuries. "On average, poets lived 62 years, playwrights 63 years, novelists 66 years and non-fiction writers lived 68 years," Kaufman said.
■ The Hague
Mugabe trial called for
A leading international lawyer called on Thursday for Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to be brought to trial for state-sponsored torture, murder and rape amid fresh claims that the government in Zimbabwe is abusing its legal system to hold on to power. Mark Ellis, from the International Bar Association, said there was enough evidence to bring Mugabe before the International Criminal Court in The Hague. "It is time that the international community took decisive steps to assure the suffering people of Zimbabwe that Mugabe and his cohorts will be held accountable for their crimes," he said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in