■ Nepal
Bombing injures 38 people
A bomb tore through a government office in the Nepali capital yesterday, wounding at least 38 people in an attack police suspect was carried out by Maoist rebels. Three men walked into the office of the Employees Provident Fund and left a bomb on the first floor, a police officer said. It exploded moments after they left and most of those wounded were laborers working in the high-rise building. "The mode of operation is the same as used by the Maoists," the officer said. But there was no comment from the guerrillas who are fighting to topple the constitutional monarchy.
■ Vietnam
Drug traffickers sentenced
Two Canadians were given a total of 31 years in prison for selling ecstasy in southern Vietnam, a court official said yesterday. Randy James Sachs, 27, and Nguyen Van Hai, a Canadian of Vietnam-ese origin, were convicted to 15 and 16 years respectively, after being caught with around 1,000 ecstasy tablets in May in Ho Chi Minh City, said Ly Ngoc Hai yesterday. The two men told police they intended to sell the drugs in night spots in the city formerly known as Saigon, the court official said. The sentences were handed down after a one-day trial in the southern economic hub on Monday. Vietnam has some of the harshest anti-narcotics laws in the region.
■ Australia
Oil slick threatening wildlife
An oil slick up to 12km long is polluting a World Heritage-listed stretch of the west Australian coast that includes an important nesting site for threatened loggerhead turtles, a state government said yesterday. The slick in the Shark Bay area of Western Australia state's north coast includes a turtle habitat on Dirk Hartog Island. It was reported to the state government on Monday, state Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan said. Authorities have not yet determined the source, she said. It was not immediately clear whether any wildlife had been affected by the slick. "The members of our environment protection unit will be assessing the nature and extent of the spill to determine what action needs to be taken," MacTiernan said in a statement.
■ China
Traffic deaths blamed on fog
Heavy fog shrouding Shanghai was blamed for a pair of traffic accidents that killed 12 and injured 32, newspapers and the city government said yesterday. Ten people died early Monday when a speeding van smashed head-on into a truck carrying elderly women workers heading to a highway landscaping project, the reports said. The truck overturned, throwing the women from the open cargo bed where they were sitting. Newspaper pictures showed the truck's front end and wheels twisted, and farm tools, burlap sacks and pools of blood strewn across the road. The van's driver and 14 passengers were injured.
■ Australia
Ban on sheep-cutting urged
Farmers said yesterday they are investigating alternatives to slicing flesh from live sheep to prevent them from becoming infested with flies, after animal advocates urged a boycott of Australian wool to protest the "grossly inhumane" practice. Sheep ranchers have for weeks been under attack from the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, for carrying out "mulesing" on sheep. The process -- performed without anesthetic -- involves cutting away wool and skin from the animal's hindquarters to prevent them from becoming infested with blowflies.
■ United States
Inmate killed by cell door
An inmate was killed accidentally when his head was crushed in a closing cell door, officials said Monday. John Gardner, 27, was peering out his cell at Utah State Prison on Thursday when an officer about 45m away activated the mechanism that closed the cell doors on the block, the sheriff's department said. The officer was standing behind a wall, where the door mechanism is located, and could not see that Gardner was not completely inside the cell, prison spokesman Jack Ford said. Ford said when the cell doors are about to be shut, the guard shouts out his intentions and the doors begin closing 10 to 15 seconds later.
■ United States
Reynolds in abuse shocker
Burt Reynolds sued a former girlfriend, alleging that she was threatening to falsely accuse him of abuse if he didn't pay millions of dollars in extortion. The lawsuit, filed Monday, says Pamela Seals falsely accused Reynolds of yelling at her and stomping on her toes. Seals told the actor she would publicize her allegations if he didn't agree to a hefty settlement that included support for Seals and her mother, half of Reynolds' Jupiter, Florida home and other compen-sation. Reynolds' lawyer, Bob Montgomery, called Seals' threats blackmail, saying the actor offered to settle the matter for US$1 million but Seals refused.
■ United States
Rap label official arrested
A bookkeeper for the hip-hop label Murder Inc was arrested Monday on charges of laundering drug money and hiding some of the label's earnings from the Internal Revenue Service, according to an indictment in a US District Court in Brooklyn. The bookkeeper, Cynthia Brent, pleaded not guilty Monday and was released on bail. The indictment comes almost two years after federal agents raided Murder Inc's New York offices as part of an investigation into ties between its founder, Irv Gotti, and a Queens drug dealer, Kenneth McGriff. The two were childhood friends, and investigators are trying to determine if McGriff used his drug profits to help Gotti start Murder Inc, law enforcement sources have said.
■ United States
Lawyer shoots lawyer
Prosecutors charged a lawyer in Seattle with attempted first-degree murder in the shooting of a rival attorney who had sought a contempt citation against him. The prosecutors said William Joice, 50, shot Kevin Jung in the back of the head last Wednesday morning as Jung sat in a car outside his office. A hearing on the contempt request had been scheduled later in the day. A witness scribbled down the license plate of Joice's rented car as it squealed away from the scene, and police tracked him down through the rental company. Jung, a 44-year-old married father of two, remained in critical condition Monday.
■ Mexico
Town backs Padre Pistolas
Angry parishioners chained shut a church in central Mexico on Friday in protest at the firing of their priest, whose habit of tucking a gun under his robes has earned him fame and the nickname "Padre Pistolas." Hundreds of people from the town of Chucandiro demonstrated outside the cathedral in the city of Morelia after Catholic church leaders there defrocked their gunslinging priest, Alfredo Gallegos, local media reported. "We have closed the church with chains and that's how it will stay until Father Alfredo comes back," Gilberto Moron was quoting as saying, adding that locals would accept no other priest.
China’s military news agency yesterday warned that Japanese militarism is infiltrating society through series such as Pokemon and Detective Conan, after recent controversies involving events at sensitive sites. In recent days, anime conventions throughout China have reportedly banned participants from dressing as characters from Pokemon or Detective Conan and prohibited sales of related products. China Military Online yesterday posted an article titled “Their schemes — beware the infiltration of Japanese militarism in culture and sports.” The article referenced recent controversies around the popular anime series Pokemon, Detective Conan and My Hero Academia, saying that “the evil influence of Japanese militarism lives on in
DIPLOMATIC THAW: The Canadian prime minister’s China visit and improved Beijing-Ottawa ties raised lawyer Zhang Dongshuo’s hopes for a positive outcome in the retrial China has overturned the death sentence of Canadian Robert Schellenberg, a Canadian official said on Friday, in a possible sign of a diplomatic thaw as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney seeks to boost trade ties with Beijing. Schellenberg’s lawyer, Zhang Dongshuo (張東碩), yesterday confirmed China’s Supreme People’s Court struck down the sentence. Schellenberg was detained on drug charges in 2014 before China-Canada ties nosedived following the 2018 arrest in Vancouver of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou (孟晚舟). That arrest infuriated Beijing, which detained two Canadians — Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig — on espionage charges that Ottawa condemned as retaliatory. In January
A sign hanging from a rusty ice-green shipping container installed by Thai forces on what they say is the border with Cambodia reads: “Cambodian citizens are strictly prohibited from entering this area.” On opposite sides of the makeshift barricade, fronted by coils of barbed wire, Cambodians lamented their lost homes and livelihoods as Thailand’s military showed off its gains. Thai forces took control of several patches of disputed land along the border during fighting last year, which could amount to several square kilometers in total. Cambodian Kim Ren said her house in Chouk Chey used to stand on what is now the Thai
NEW RULES: There would be fewer school days, four-day workweeks, and a reduction in transportation services as the country battles a crisis exacerbated by US pressure The Cuban government on Friday announced emergency measures to address a crippling energy crisis worsened by US sanctions, including the adoption of a four-day work week for state-owned companies and fuel sale restrictions. Cuban Deputy Prime Minister Oscar Perez-Oliva Fraga blamed Washington for the crisis, telling Cuban television the government would “implement a series of decisions, first and foremost to guarantee the vitality of our country and essential services, without giving up on development.” “Fuel will be used to protect essential services for the population and indispensable economic activities,” he said. Among the new measures are the reduction of the working week in
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