■ China
Pilgrims die in accident
A truck loaded with Tibetan Buddhist pilgrims overturned on a mountain road in western China, killing at least 54 people and injuring 41, the official Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday. The accident happened around noon on Monday as the truck was traveling through the Qinghai region while making its way back from Tibet's capital Lhasa, Xinhua said. The injured were sent to hospital where 29 of them were in serious condition, the report said. Most of the passengers were from Ganzi and Aba, ethnic Tibetan regions of Sichuan Province, Xinhua said. It said they had been on a pilgrimage to Lhasa, the traditional home of the Dalai Lama, Buddhism's highest figure. Road accidents killed about 100,000 people in China last year, most of them blamed on disregard for safety and unsafe or overloaded vehicles.
■ Nepal
Four feared dead in crash
A helicopter belonging to Dynasty Air crashed yesterday morning near Mt. Everest and all on board were feared to have been killed, a Civil Aviation official said. The site of the crash has been located and a search is on for survivors, he said. The helicopter, piloted by Pemba Sherpa, was carrying two passengers, he said. Unofficial sources said there were four people in the chopper. According to Kathmandu airport officials, the helicopter took off at 7:45am for Lukla to ferry back passengers including tourists stranded there for the past two days due to bad weather conditions.
■ Australia
Tsunami `hero' arrested
An Australian hailed as a hero for allegedly rescuing more than a dozen tsunami victims in Thailand was arrested on Monday as he returned home by police who recognized him as a suspected burglar. Thomas Connell was arrested by police after stepping off the plane at Brisbane Internation-al Airport. Police said they recognized Connell, whom they had been seeking for two years, after he gave a TV interview from Thailand that aired in Australia last week. Connell is wanted on assault and burglary charges. The 32-year-old businessman was dubbed by local media as "the good samaritan of Patong Beach" for his role in allegedly saving as many as 20 people.
■ India
`Hugging saint' pledges cash
An Indian religious leader known as "the hugging saint" -- because she uses hugs as a gesture of blessing -- has pledged 1 billion rupees (US$22 million) to help survivors of last month's devastating tsunami. Money donated by Mata Amritanandamayi will be used to build homes for tsunami victims in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. Amritanandamayi's native village of Parayakadavu in Kerala was among those hit by the Dec. 26 disaster. Amritanandamayi, known by her followers as "Amma," which means ``mother'' in several Indian languages, has devotees throughout India and in the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia.
■ Hong Kong
Seafood worries grow
The Hong Kong government yesterday urged market vendors to temporarily stop importing seafood from South Asian countries hit by tsunamis because of contamination concerns. Authorities feared that the fish may have eaten heavy metals and other pollutants stirred up by the seismic movements in the seabed, Food and Environmental Hygiene Department Assistant Director Thomas Chung said.
■ Algeria
Top rebels arrested, killed
Algerian security forces arrested the No.1 leader of the Armed Islamic Group, the radical insurgency movement responsible for brutal village massacres several years ago, and then killed his replacement, the interior ministry announced. In a sweep that began in early November, soldiers and security forces also seized gold stolen from homes during the massacres, as well as weapons and vehicles used by the group, the statement said on Monday. The arrest of Nourredine Boudiafi and the killing of Chaabane Younes all but dismantled the already seriously weakened organization, the statement said.
■ Somalia
Clan rivals in fierce battle
Gunmen from rival wings of a Somali clan fought using rocket-propelled grenades, anti-aircraft guns and assault rifles in central Somalia on Monday, killing at least 10 people and wounding several others, witnesses said. It is unclear what sparked the battle between the Sa'ad and Suleiman wings of the Habargidir clan, said Muse Ali Kalgaal, a businessman who witnessed the clashes. Fighting broke out before dawn and escalated during the day, with both sides rushing in dozens of fighters in the Mudug region of central Somalia, Muse said. Clashes between the same groups killed more than 100 people last month.
■ Burundi
Rebels join new army
Burundi's President Domitien Ndayizeye has signed two laws setting up a new army and a police force which will include the central African country's former rebels, his office announced on Monday. The creation of new security forces is part of a political and military process under way to implement agree-ments on peace and a new administration to end a decade-long civil war which claimed more than 300,000 lives. "Theoretically, all armed fighters in this country are henceforth the responsibility of the government," presidential spokesman Pancrace Cimpaye said.
■ Kenya
`City of rats' cleaned up
Sanitation officers have cleared 6,000 rats from the biggest fruit and vegetable Kenyan market in Nairobi, where they shared food with human beings for the past decade, Local Government Minister Musikari Kombo said on Monday. "We cleared about 6,000 rats, 757 tonnes of garbage and 38 tonnes of human waste from the market," Kombo said. "That means nobody has cared to look after this market for years and years," he said. "This is a city of rats," he added. The market, the biggest of its kind in the east African nation, was closed last month after government health officers warned that an outbreak of diseases could emerge from the mountain of waste inside.
■ Italy
Dusty tourists sully David
Custodians of Michelangelo's David are thinking of blasting air at dusty, sweaty tourists to stop them sullying the Renaissance sex symbol. Months after a painstaking and costly clean-up of the 500-year-old nude statue, experts at Florence's Galleria dell'Accademia found dust and humidity brought in by streams of tourists had begun to tarnish their top crowd-puller again. "The tourists carry in heaps of dust from outside. Dust may sound innocent, but the city grime contains lots of chemicals. They also bring in humidity when it's raining," museum director Franca Falletti said.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
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
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was