■ Philippines
Train wreck angers Arroyo
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo yesterday ordered the prosecution of those responsible for a train derailment that killed at least six people and injured more than 120 others. The train was traveling to Manila when four of its five cars fell into a 12m deep ravine in Padre Burgos town in Quezon province, about 150km southeast of the capital, on Friday. Police said six people were confirmed to have died, correcting civil defense officials' earlier figure of 10 dead. Arroyo expressed sympathy for the victims and their families and "determination to get at the root of the tragedy." Arroyo ordered the suspension of train operations in "hazardous areas" between Legazpi city, about 340km southeast of Manila, to the Philippine capital until they are inspected and certified safe.
■ Philippines
Journalist killed by militants
A member of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf Muslim militant group was identified by witnesses as being behind the latest murder of a Filipino journalist, a military commander said yesterday. Brigadier General Agustin Demaala, head of an anti-terror task force, said witnesses had identified the Abu Sayyaf member as having shot dead photojournalist Gene Boyd Lumawag in the southern Islamic militant stronghold of Jolo island on Friday. "The witnesses know who the killer is and based on the description of the witnesses, we know this person. He is a member of the Abu Sayyaf," Demaala said. He would not disclose further details, saying it would jeopardize the case.
■ Pakistan
Terrorist hideouts destroyed
Troops, backed by artillery and helicopter gunships, demolished "terrorist hideouts" and killed 30-40 militants in a major operation this week -- but failed to capture a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner accused of targeting security forces in a tense tribal region, officials said yesterday. The troops took control of some militant strongholds and seized a weapons cache during the assault, launched earlier this week in South Waziristan to capture "foreign miscreants" and Pakistani militant leader Abdullah Mehsud, said the army's field commander, Major General Niaz Khatak.
■ New Zealand
Constitution to be reviewed
The government will review its Constitution, Prime Minister Helen Clark said yesterday, but promised no quick changes as her opponents accused her of trying to cut ties to the British monarchy. Clark said an all-party parliamentary committee chaired by centrist United Future Party leader Peter Dunne -- a former Labor Cabinet minister -- would conduct the review. "The committee will do a stocktake of how our Constitution has developed ... and analyze the current arrangements," she told the ruling Labor Party's annual conference, meeting in the city of Auckland.
■ Thailand
King's book sells out
A cartoon version of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej's previously published book about his favorite dog sold out on the first day of its launch, media reports said Saturday. "We sold the first 130,000 copies in the first half of the day," a spokesperson for Amarin Printing and Publishing House told The Nation newspaper. "Now every bookshop says the book has already sold out." An initial run of 200,000 copies of the cartoon version of The Story of Thongdaeng, a humorous story about King Bhumibol's pet, were launched at book stores in Bangkok on Friday
■ Germany
Cow charms wild bull
A wild bull on the loose in southern Germany was brought under control by the charms of a cow which lured the distressed male back to the barn, police said on Friday. "When bulls break out there's no telling what might happen," a police spokesman in the town of Hof said. "He was pretty worked up." Authorities were getting a tranquilizer gun ready when the farmer's niece suggested luring the bull back home with a cow on a leash. "It worked," the spokesman said. "He calmed right down and trotted behind her back to the barn."
■ Ukraine
PM meets Putin
Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich met Friday with visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin, just over a week before the former Soviet republic's second round of presidential elections in which Putin has openly backed Yanukovich's bid. In a highly symbolic move during an election in which Yanukovich has stressed relations with Moscow and his opponent urged closer ties with Europe, he and Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma skipped a planned meeting with Poland's foreign minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, who is acting chairman of the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers, and made a one-day visit to Kiev Friday to discuss the election, whose October 31 first round was branded as unfair by the west.
■ Netherlands
Mosque torched
A mosque in the southeastern Dutch village of Helden, near the German border, was badly damaged by a fire early yesterday, police said. The possibility of arson was being investigated, and an alternative site was made available to the village's Muslim community, he said. The fire comes at the end of the Ramadan when Muslims celebrate the Eid al-Fitr Islamic feast. The fire broke out at around 6am in the mosque in the southern province of Limburg. There have been more than 20 incidents of fires or vandalism at Muslim buildings -- and a handful of retaliatory attacks on Christian churches -- since the Nov. 2 killing of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh by a suspected Muslim extremist.
■ Italy
Berlusconi faces jail
An Italian prosecutor on Friday asked a court to sentence Silvio Berlusconi to eight years in jail for bribing judges as the prime minister's four-year corruption trial reached its closing stages. Milan magistrates have accused Berlusconi of bribing judges to stop the sale of state-owned food chain SME to a rival businessman in the 1980s, before he entered politics. He has denied the charges and said he is the victim of a politically motivated campaign by left-wing magistrates
■ Georgia
Election sparks riot
Thousands of supporters of Abkhazia's opposition presidential candidate briefly seized the office of the outgoing president Friday, as tensions again spiked in the breakaway Georgian region nearly six weeks after a disputed -- and still unresolved -- election. Demonstrators supporting Sergei Bagapsh, who has claimed victory in the Oct. 3 election, stormed the headquarters of outgoing President Vladislav Ardzinba in the province's main city, Sukhumi, and occupied it for several hours.
Haiti
PM wants Aristide arrested
Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue said on Friday he ordered his justice minister to obtain an arrest warrant on corruption charges against ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Latortue, installed as the head of an interim government after the bloody rebellion that forced Aristide into exile in February, made the announcement as he formed a committee to investigate possible misappropriation of public funds and other acts of corruption by the Aristide government. Latortue and other Haitian officials have publicly accused Aristide of corruption, but no charges have been filed and no evidence made public.
■ Canada
Iraq hostage returns home
A Canadian woman who was held hostage in Iraq for 16 days in September returned to her home in Vancouver on Friday after receiving treatment in Dubai in recent weeks. "It is great to be home," 38-year-old Fairuz Yamulky told reporters, surrounded by her family. Yamulky was freed Sept. 21 after convincing one of her captors to liberate her. She was found by US forces and later went to Dubai for treatment. She declined to give details about the man who saved her, but she said "he is in a safe place." She denied promising to help him emigrate to Canada, as her father had indicated.
■ United States
Jury convicts Peterson
California fertilizer salesman Scott Peterson, 32, was convicted on Friday of the Christmas Eve 2002 murder of his pregnant wife, Laci, in a case that riveted Americans caught up in the tragic story of a seemingly perfect couple. The jury, which must still decide whether to impose the death penalty, found Peterson guilty of first-degree murder for killing his wife and second-degree murder for the death of their unborn child. Peterson, 32, was charged with killing his eight-months pregnant wife in a crime prosecutors said was motivated in part by a desire to carry on an affair with his massage therapist mistress.
■ United States
Blair to focus on climate
Prime Minister Tony Blair said Friday he will make climate change a major theme of Britain's presidency of the Group of Eight next year, even though the US remains opposed to the Kyoto international climate treaty. In an interview with British Broadcasting Corp in Washington, where he had met with US President George W. Bush, Blair said he's determined to have the G-8 industrialized nations agree about the science of global warming and find a way of combatting it. Bush remains firm in his rejection of mandatory curbs.
■ United States
Man bites dog
Police say a man bit an officer and his dog Friday after trying to stiff a cab driver on an early morning fare. Mark McClarty, 28, of Kansas City, Kansas, was charged Friday with assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest and stealing. Captain Rich Lockhart said the suspect broke the skin on an officer's hand when he bit him. The man then nearly bit the ear off the police dog. Lockhart said a cab driver told a police officer at 2:15am that someone had refused to pay a fare. When the officer found the man nearby and got out of his car to stop him, Lockhart said, but the man spun around and punched the officer. Lockhart said the officer used a remote control to release his police dog from the patrol car, and the dog joined the fight. After the dog bit the suspect, the man bit back and nearly took off the dog's ear.
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