■ New Zealand
Minister blasts Helen Clark
Prime Minister Helen Clark sent a former Cabinet minister on stress leave yesterday after he launched an extraordinary attack on her and her government in a magazine interview. John Tamihere, who resigned from the Cabinet a year ago but remains a high profile back-bencher, said Clark was emotional and went to pieces, was surrounded by gays and lesbians, her female-dominated government was anti-men and allowed labor unions too much influence. Clark said Tamihere told her he thought he was off the record at a lunch-time interview and shrugged off the personal attack. But the magazine insisted the conversation was on-the-record and opposition parties declared it indicated a government in disarray.
■ Australia
Breast milk worth tax break
Mothers who breastfeed are not only doing right by their babies but are injecting billions if dollars a year into the economy. Researchers in Australia found the value so great that they should get tax-free breast pumps -- just as dairy farmers get tax breaks on their milking equipment. Australian National University economist Julie Smith estimated the value of the 34 million liters of breast milk expressed each year at A$2.2 billion (US$1.6 billion). The New South Wales health service, which commissioned the study, said there were additional environmental and health benefits that made breast milk a huge national resource. "It's incredibly expensive to feed babies formula. Then there's the cost of healthcare services that breastfeeding prevents," the health service's Liz Develin said.
■ Afghanistan
NGOs `wasting funds'
A simmering row between the Afghan government and Western aid agencies exploded into the open on Saturday with accusations that non-governmental organizations have squandered billions of dollars earmarked for reconstruction. On the eve of a major donor conference, President Hamid Karzai said he had a responsibility "to stop NGOs that are corrupt, wasteful and unaccountable." The statement came on the heels of a law mooted last Monday that would effectively shut aid agencies out of some of the largest projects. According to Karzai, the law reflects "serious concern" that some NGOs are responsible for widespread corruption and misuse of public funds.
■ Indonesia
Quake toll rises to 616
The death toll from last week's massive earthquake that devastated Nias Island rose to 616 on yesterday as a moderate aftershock rattled the quake-battered island. More than 3,200 others were injured. There were 526 killed on Nias Island, the closest to the March 28 quake's epicenter. A total of 6,739 homes, 123 shop-houses, 16 mosques and 69 office buildings as well as 147 school buildings were destroyed by the quake.
■ Nepal
Bomb kills student
Maoist guerrillas set off a bomb in Pokara, killing a university student, as a nationwide strike called by the insurgents has pushed up prices of foodstuffs. The bomb went off late on Sunday in Pokhara, where the strike call had been largely ignored. Three people were also wounded in the explosion and the town shut down after the attack. Maoists, fighting to topple Nepal's Hindu monarchy, called a 11-day strike to protest against King Gyanendra's assumption of power, detention of political leaders and suspension of civil liberties two months ago.
■ Saudi Arabia
Eight gunmen killed
Security forces have killed eight gunmen and wounded another in a 24-hour siege in the northern town of al-Ras, security sources said. Witnesses said gunfire could still be heard yesterday morning in a neighborhood which security forces have surrounded since early Sunday. Officials described the gunmen as "terrorists." Saudi Arabia has been battling supporters of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, who have targeted Westerners and security forces in a wave of violence since May 2003.
■ Germany
Church service attacked
A man wielding a samurai sword killed a 43-year-old woman and seriously injured three others during a church service Sunday in Stuttgart. Police arrested the man at the door of the church, subduing him with pepper spray when he refused orders to surrender. Police officers arriving at the scene reported finding "grisly" circumstances. Congregants tried to push the swordsman out of the building with chairs. The suspected attacker was to face a judge later yesterday for a hearing on whether he should be initially held in jail or transferred psychiatric hospital. The suspect had previously threatened people at the church and was known to police.
■ Israel
West Bank eyed for dump
Israeli waste operators plan to dump garbage in the occupied West Bank territory for the first time since 1967, despite international treaties prohibiting an occupying state from making use of occupied territory unless it benefits the local population, reported the Haaretz daily yesterday. The plan by privately-owned waste companies is to deposit some 10,000 tonnes of garbage in a former quarry near Nablus at about a third of Israeli dumping prices. Experts fear the garbage will jeopardize Palestinian drinking water sources.
■ United Kingdom
AIDS linked to plague
The waves of plague that swept through Europe during medieval times right up to the 18th century may have contributed to a genetic make-up that has made a significant proportion of the European population resistant to AIDS, according to new British research. Christopher Duncan and Susan Scott of Liverpool University's School of Biological Sciences have created a mathematical model of genetic mutation in response to plague, according to a report in The Times. These mutations arose with each stage of plague outbreak from the Black Death in 1347 to the Great Plague of London and the Plague of Copenhagen more than half a century later, the biologists wrote in the Journal of Medical Genetics. Their research suggests that around 10 percent of Europeans enjoy protection against AIDS.
■ Denmark
Smoking lowers kids' IQs
Mothers who smoke during pregnancy appear to give birth to children who score lower on IQ tests as adults, a new Danish study says. Danish researchers studied the IQ of 3,044 young men born between 1959 and 1961, and checked their mother's smoking habits during pregnancy. The results indicated that men born to women who smoked during pregnancy scored lower on IQ tests than men born to non-smokers, the study said. Researchers believe that substances in the smoke affect the development of the central nervous system, thereby affecting the foetus' intellect.
‘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