■ Australia
Croc found in public pool
Yesterday morning swimmers at a public pool in the northern Australian city of Darwin had a fright when lifeguards called them out after a saltwater crocodile was spotted in the deep end. "They got a bit of a shock, but it really wasn't big enough to hurt anyone," a spokesperson for Palmerston Leisure Centre said. Rangers who caught the one-meter male and took it to a local crocodile farm said it could have made its way to the Olympic-size pool from nearby Darwin Harbour, where hundreds of "salties" are pulled out every year and transferred to more distant locations.
■ Bangladesh
Rally attack probed
Investigators from Interpol are to arrive today to help probe a grenade attack on a political rally that killed five opposition members -- including a former finance minister -- leading to violent anti-government protests. Bangladeshi authorities have also asked the US to help investigate Thursday's attack that killed ex-Finance Minister Shah Mohammad Kibria, his nephew and three others. Junior Home Minister Lutfozzaman Babar told reporters two experts from Interpol would arrive today to prepare a report on the attack. Meanwhile, police used batons to battle hundreds of opposition members in downtown Dhaka yesterday, the second day of a general strike called by the main opposition Awami League to protest the attack; 200 protesters were arrested.
■ Pakistan
Energy sources attacked
Insurgents blew up four towers of a power line with rockets, causing an electricity breakdown in Baluchistan, southwest Pakistan yesterday that caused a "major power breakdown in the whole province," Quetta Electricity Company chief Brigadier Tassaduq Hussain Shah said. Insurgents fired rockets on the power line in Nasirabad district. A nationalist group, the Baluch Liberation Army, claimed responsibility for the attack. It has also been attacking railway tracks and is believed to be linked to rebel tribesmen who damaged a gas plant earlier this month. The country's biggest gasfield at Sui was damaged by heavy rocket attacks this month.
■ Philippines
Clan feud leaves 12 dead
Government troops and armed men clashed in the southern Philippines, leaving 12 gunmen dead and three soldiers wounded, the military said. The gunmen first shot a militiaman in the same town on Wednesday after prayers at a nearby mosque. Hours after the incident, armed militiamen tried to retrieve the body of their slain comrade but were attacked by the gunmen. Overpowered, the militiamen withdrew towards the village, but they were followed there by the gunmen, who shot them dead and looted and burned houses and shops before escaping to the next village. The conflict was said to be part of the feud between two clans who are fighting over the results of last May's local election.
■ Vietnam
Another bird flu death
A Cambodian woman being treated in a Vietnamese hospital died of suspected bird flu yesterday morning. If Soc Khol, 25, from Kampot province in Cambodia tests positive for the virus she will be the 12th person to die of bird flu in Vietnam since the virus re-surfaced last month. The doctor said that she came from an area where many chickens and ducks had died of bird flu. Khol's 14-year-old brother died mysteriously over 10 days ago after developing the symptoms. Bird flu has now spread to half of its cities.
■ Ukraine
Seized plane returns home
A giant cargo plane stranded in Canada for more than 18 months because of a wrangle between Ukraine and a Quebec-based company over non-payment of debts finally returned home on Saturday, Interfax news agency reported. The Antonov An-124 Ruslan plane was seized in the Canadian province of Newfoundland on July 2, 2003, after delivering cargo to Italian troops participating in NATO exercises. Justice officials mothballed the aircraft after TMR Energy, an offshore company officially registered in Cyprus but based in Quebec, claimed it was owed US$48.3 million by the Ukraine State Property Fund for breaking a 1993 contract. TMR Energy finally lost the case on appeal on Jan. 11.
■ Sudan
Police fire on protesters
Police clashed with tribesmen in the Red Sea coastal city of Port Sudan, leaving at least 14 people dead and 16 injured, a government official said. The UN said police fired on peaceful demonstrators. Riots involving Beja tribesmen broke out early Saturday, 680km northeast of the capital of Khartoum, Red Sea governor General Hatim al-Wasilah said. The casualties occurred when police tried to stop widespread looting and vandalism, al-Wasilah said. He said 14 people were killed and 16 injured.
■ United Kingdom
Palace guard `worst job'
Guarding Buckingham Palace, the London residence of Queen Elizabeth II, is one of the worst jobs in the British army, according to documents quoted by The Sunday Telegraph. The soldiers posted at the gates of the impressive royal residence suffer a "very onerous and repetitive" job that "constitutes real and unique pain," according to a letter from Major General Sebastian Roberts, the head of the Household Division. Roberts, also the general officer commanding the army's London district, told the army director of infantry brigadeer, Jamie Balfour, that service in the Household Division was an "honor and a privilege." He added: "It must be recognized that Military Task 2-5, [the job code for guarding royal palaces] is a debilitating routine task."
■ United States
Klan robes sell well
Ku Klux Klan robes sold for up to US$1,425 and a KKK knife drew a US$400 bid Saturday during an auction of KKK paraphernalia that critics blast as insensitive. Auctioneer Gary Gray said a steady stream of people visited the auction house, near Detroit. Gray said, "It's not a question of racism. That's intertwined. But it's not the main focus." One of the robes was bought for US$700 by the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia at Ferris State University in Big Rapids. Museum officials hope to use it to teach tolerance.
■ Germany
TV shows fastest sperm
Germans can tune in to a TV reality show this week that breaks new ground in trashiness: Sperm Race. Twelve men will compete against each other to see which one of them has the "fastest" sperm. The contestants, who include two German celebrities and a health nut, begin by donating sperm in a clinic. The sperm will then be frozen and sent to the company's studio in Cologne, where the sperm will "race" towards an egg -- lured by a chemical across the finishing line. As well as laying claim to the title of Germany's most fertile man, the winner will also be given a suitably German reward, a red Porsche.
■ Congo
Violence in east claims 16
Militiamen carrying guns and machetes killed 16 people this week and kidnapped at least 34 young girls in a series of attacks on a remote area of eastern Congo, the UN said. Two platoons of UN peacekeepers arrived in the remote area by helicopter early Saturday to protect the population from further violence, UN spokesman Christophe Boulierarch said by telephone from Bunia, capital of Ituri province. Bunia is 60km south of Che, an area of enormous green hills that has been attacked several times since Jan. 19. Boulierarch and a team of 60 Pakistani peacekeepers had tried to reach Che on Friday but were delayed due to bad weather. Poor roads make the area difficult to reach.
■ Kuwait
Militant hideaway raided
Kuwaiti security forces raided a suspected militant hideout in the capital yesterday, a day after officials and the US issued warnings of more al-Qaeda-linked violence in the Gulf state. Witnesses and security sources said police commandos had cordoned off a block in the capital's mainly residential Salmiya district and were firing at two buildings in the area. "They [police] were shooting at these buildings with M16s and rocket-propelled grenades," one witness told reporters. "The shooting is coming from various locations." Several police cars cut off access to the block.
■ United States
Crazy bear sparks protest
A straightjacketed "Crazy for You" teddy bear has drawn rebukes from Vermont's governor, mental health advocates and human rights groups -- but it's a hit among shoppers. The US$70 bear, which is accompanied by commitment papers, is selling well despite complaints that it insults and stigmatizes those with mental illness. Vermont Teddy Bear Co. President Elisabeth Robert says the bear is meant as a funny Valentine's Day greeting and has been popular among customers. "We made a very difficult decision not to withdraw it from the market," she said. "I listened to customers, from a lot of feedback from our employees. These people are Vermonters who really don't like to be told what to do."
■ United States
Bus crash kills at least four
At least four people were killed Saturday when a charter bus filled with more than 20 people, members of a Canadian women's hockey team and their relatives, struck a parked tractor-trailer on Interstate 390 in Geneseo, New York about 48km south of Rochester, the police said. Trooper Dan Ireland of the State Police said the tractor-trailer driver, who had pulled off the road and left the cab, was one of those killed. He said four people were critically injured, and more fatalities had not been ruled out as of this morning. The victims were taken by ambulance or helicopter to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester. Ireland said it was unclear what caused the accident at 4:40pm, which sliced the bus in half.
■ Egypt
Mubarak likely to run again
Egypt's president since 1981, Hosni Mubarak, strongly suggested Saturday he will stand for a fifth term in office later this year, adding he sees no need to talk up his past success in the process. The 76-year-old leader also described as "futile" opposition demands to amend Egypt's Constitution to allow for presidential elections. Mubarak has been running unopposed in public plebiscites since replacing Anwar Sadat, who was assassinated by Islamic militants during a 1981 military parade.
When a hiker fell from a 55m waterfall in wild New Zealand bush, rescuers were forced to evacuate the badly hurt woman without her dog, which could not be found. After strangers raised thousands of dollars for a search, border collie Molly was flown to safety by a helicopter pilot who was determined to reunite the pet and the owner. A week earlier, an emergency rescue helicopter found the woman with bruises and lacerations after a fall at a rocky spot at the waterfall on the South Island’s West Coast. She was airlifted on March 24, but they were forced to
HIGH HOPES: The power source is expected to have a future, as it is not dependent on the weather or light, and could be useful for places with large desalination facilities A Japanese water plant is harnessing the natural process of osmosis to generate renewable energy that could one day become a common power source. The possibility of generating power from osmosis — when water molecules pass from a less salty solution to a more salty one — has long been known. However, actually generating energy from that has proved more complicated, in part due the difficulty of designing the membrane through which the molecules pass. Engineers in Fukuoka, Japan, and their private partners think they might have cracked it, and have opened what is only the world’s second osmotic power plant. It generates
Hundreds of Filipinos and tourists flocked to a sun-bleached field north of Manila yesterday, on Good Friday, to witness one of the country’s most blood-soaked displays of religious fervor, undeterred by rising fuel prices. Scores of bare-chested flagellants with covered faces walked barefoot through the dusty streets of Pampanga Province’s San Fernando as they flogged their backs with bamboo whips in the scorching heat. Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalists said they saw devotees deliberately puncturing their skin with glass shards attached to a small wooden paddle to ensure their bleeding during the ritual, a way to atone for sins and seek miracles from
Chinese dissident artist Gao Zhen (高兟), famous for making provocative satirical sculptures of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong (毛澤東), was tried on Monday over accusations of “defaming national heroes and martyrs,” his wife and a rights group said. Gao, 69, who was detained in 2024 during a visit from the US, faces a maximum three-year prison sentence, said his wife, Zhao Yaliang (趙雅良), and Shane Yi, a researcher at the Chinese Human Rights Defenders group which operates outside the nation. The closed-door, one-day trial took place at Sanhe City People’s Court in Hebei Province neighboring the capital, Beijing, and ended without a
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