■ Indonesia
S African trafficker gets life
A South African man was sentenced to life in jail yesterday for heroin offenses on Bali, in another case that has tested relations with Australia. John Gabrielle, 37, from Cape Town, who also goes by the alias Mpe Dinyane Big Boy, was arrested last August in his hotel room in Bali, along with another South African, Martin Christopher Akuyabi, 40, who was given a life sentence this week for heroin offenses. Police found 1kg of heroin stashed in biscuit packages, soap and perfume boxes in the bust. Gabrille's lawyer said his client may appeal. Prosecutors had asked for the death penalty.
■ China
Dissident journalists freed
China has freed a journalist who served more than 14 years of a 15-year sentence for inciting rebellion in the 1989 democracy movement, French-based rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders said yesterday. Chen Yanbin and colleague Zhang Yafei were sentenced in March 1991 to 15 years in prison for incitement to rebellion and "spreading counter-revolutionary propaganda," the group said. Chen, co-editor of the dissident review Tielu, or "Iron Currents," remained deprived of his civil and political rights for the next four years, it said. The group did not say anything about Zhang. Cyberdissident Yan Jun was released on April 4 from prison in Xian, Reporters Without Borders said.
■ China
Cannibal brothers arrested
Two brothers have been arrested and charged with murdering 13 prostitutes, slicing up their bodies and eating their kidneys in a 15-month crime spree across northern China. Shen Changyin and Shen Changpin are being charged with carrying out the grisly murders from June 2003 to August last year. In one case, the two Shens cut up three prostitutes, used acid to decompose the bodies and then deposed of the remains including the organs and hair in a local drain while frying up the kidneys and eating them. The Shen brothers, one aged 29 and the other 21, were unemployed workers from Henan Province.
■ Indonesia
Island jolted by quake
A strong earthquake jolted the island of Nias, already devastated by a quake one month ago. The earthquake, measuring 6 on the Richter scale, shook the islands off the west coast of Sumatra, which were battered by an 8.7 quake on March 28, late Thursday night. Unlike last month's quake, which killed more than 900 people and collapsed hundreds of homes and buildings on the island, the latest quake caused no reported damage or casualties.
■ Costa Rica
Celebrity priest jailed
A Catholic priest who attracted hordes of followers as the host of a popular televised prayer session, was jailed for 30 years on Thursday for sexually abusing minors. In a case that triggered hysteria and anger among some of his fans, Enrique Delgado was found guilty of abusing three teenagers at his home on various occasions in 2002 and ordered to pay them the equivalent of US$17,000 in compensation. The 50-year-old priest, whose prayer show was one of the most-watched TV programs in the country, has always denied the charges and said his accusers were trying to persecute the Church.
■ Senegal
Cholera outbreak kills 117
An outbreak of cholera which coincided with an annual Muslim pilgrimage has killed 117 people over the past month, the worst outbreak in almost a decade, a senior health official said. The disease broke out as hundreds of thousands of people flocked to the remote city of Touba a month ago, making it easier for infections to spread and stretching basic health facilities. "We have recorded 117 deaths from a total of 8,296 cases [since March 28]," public health director Babacar Drame said. That compared to a death toll of 50 by April 6. Drame said the situation was being brought under control with six out of 11 regions now disease-free.
■ United Kingdom
Ice cream brings happiness
Eating ice cream really does make you happy. Scientists have found that a spoonful of the cold stuff lights up the same pleasure center in the brain as winning money or listening to your favorite music. Neuroscientists at the Institute of Psychiatry in London scanned the brains of people eating vanilla ice cream. They found an immediate effect on parts of the brain known to activate when people enjoy themselves; these include the orbitofrontal cortex, the "processing" area at the front of the brain. The research was carried out by Unilever, using ice cream made by Walls, which it owns. The scientists used a functional magnetic resonance imaging machine to watch blood flowing to activated brain areas when people swallowed ice cream.
■ United States
Arnie wants ads terminated
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called on a Spanish-language TV channel to take down billboards that identify its market as "Los Angeles, Mexico," saying they encourage people to cross the border illegally. Schwarzenegger, speaking to talk radio hosts known for their criticism of illegal immigration, said the billboards for KRCA-TV were "extremely divisive." "I think the big mistake is that it promotes illegal aliens to come in here. And it's the last thing that we need," he said. The comments came a week after he told a gathering of newspaper publishers that the US needed to "close the borders."
■ United States
Famed engineer wins prize
Robert Langer, a chemical engineer whose work with polymers helped pave the way for implantable drug-delivery devices and tissue engineering, won the US' richest prize for medicine and biomedical research yesterday. The US$500,000 Albany Medical Center Prize is second only to the US$1.4 million Nobel Prize in cash value. Langer won the award for a prolific body of work highlighted by the development of surgically implanted devices that regulate medication delivery to heart and cancer patients.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia