■ Cambodia
`King of dog thieves' killed
A dog thief who gave up his family rather than stop stealing dogs was beaten to death by a mob of angry neighbors. Bun Rin, 35, had become famous in the area as a serial dognapper. He had failed to change his ways even after 10 arrests and separation from his wife, a dog meat vendor, the original market for his victims. "He stole chickens, pigs and dogs, but he stole dogs, in particular, day and night, and it seems his neighbors lost patience and a mob beat him to death," the police chief said. Police cannot name the exact killer because "there were so many people in the mob." "Even his parents were tired of him," the police chief said. "He stole dogs not to be rich, but for money to buy drink and to feed lady friends."
■ Thailand
Plowing ritual held
Thousands gathered at a field next to Bangkok's Grand Palace to watch officials in traditional costumes lead the bulls as they plowed in a circle nine times. The beasts were then offered bowls of rice, maize, green beans, sesame seeds, alcohol, water and grass. The royal bulls ate grass and maize, indicating that water will be plenty in the coming year, according to the astrologer. Lowland rice crops would face difficulties but highland rice fields would flourish and food, vegetables and livestock will be plentiful, he said. However, international trade may be lackluster because the bulls avoided whiskey, which represents foreign trade and communication. The royal plowing ceremony is an ancient Brahman ritual that was reintroduced in 1960 by King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
■ India
Mine blasts kill six
Two powerful land mines exploded in a crowded residential area in the Indian portion of Kashmir yesterday, killing six and wounding 40 others. The land mines were planted by suspected Islamic militants in the Jawahar Nagar district of Srinagar. An additional 30 civilians and 10 soldiers were wounded in the nearly simultaneous explosions, which also damaged several vehicles. No one claimed responsibility.
■ North Korea
Reactor's spent rods taken
Pyongyang announced it had completed removing spent fuel rods from a nuclear reactor in a key step towards the manufacture of more atomic bombs. Some 8,000 spent fuel rods had been removed from a five-megawatt nuclear reactor at the Yongbyon nuclear complex, a foreign ministry spokesman said. The announcement sent alarm bells ringing amid speculation that the North is on the verge of carrying out a nuclear test. According to US officials cited in recent media reports, North Korea has been preparing to launch an underground nuclear test since March and might conduct one as early as next month.
■ Philippines
Bus crash kills 26
A bus negotiating a steep downhill road lost its brakes and crashed into roadside boulders yesterday, killing 26 people, including the driver. Eighteen others were injured. The bus with 44 people on board was traveling along the Marcos Highway from the mountain city of Baguio. TV footage showed bodies lying on the roadside as ambulances rushed to the scene to attend to the injured. The bus was almost completely destroyed. Most of the fatalities suffered massive head fractures. The police chief Domingo Pulig of Tuba municipality said the vehicle rolled over as it was negotiating a steep downhill section of the highway.
■ Bulgaria
Parliament backs EU entry
Bulgaria's parliament yesterday overwhelmingly approved the EU accession treaty that will allow the Balkan state to join the bloc as early as 2007. Opposition parties supported the ratification but accused the centrists, led by ex-king Simeon Saxe-Coburg, of pushing it through to bolster his dwindling popularity ahead of June 25 elections. All but three deputies voted for the treaty. The result was expected, as all major political parties in Bulgaria support EU membership and widely see it as the easiest way to close the gaping chasm of living standards with the West.
■ Greece
Greeks win EU feta war
For Greeks, the biggest cheese-eaters in Europe, feta is the heart and soul of Hellenic cuisine, and the EU's highest court took a decisive step to ensure it stays that way. Greece has long proclaimed that to merit the exclusive name "feta," the cheese must be made in the country from unpasteurized sheep's milk, or a mixture of sheep's milk with goat's milk, and then curdled with rennet. The legal adviser to the European court of justice has now reasserted feta's exclusivity, arguing that Denmark and Germany have no right to call their versions feta -- they make their cheese from pasteurized cow's milk.
■ Greece
Anarchists trap audience
Dozens of self-styled anarchists clashed with police and trapped more than 20 people attending a book-launching ceremony inside Athens' Polytechnic University for more than six hours before they peacefully dispersed yesterday. Two deputies from the main opposition Socialist party were among the two dozen or so people trapped after the anarchists on Tuesday attacked two cars belonging to the politicians, police said. In the clashes with riot police that followed, an anarchist was apparently injured by a gunshot. A police officer was also hospitalized after being hit by a rock.
■ South Africa
Mandela sues over art
Former president Nelson Mandela is suing a former associate and a businessman for selling copies of his paintings depicting his prison years. Mandela's long-time friend and lawyer George Bizos said the 86-year-old anti-apartheid icon had filed an affidavit. "The demands are that the marketing of these unsigned merchandise which they are selling must stop. They must account as to how many they sold over the years, how much was collected, how many they got left and what happened to the money," he said. Mandela produced a limited edition of signed sketches and paintings, which were sold to raise funds for charities which he supports.
■ South Africa
Poachers poison rhinos
Poachers fatally poisoned five rhinos and several other animals in a South African nature reserve, a new tactic conservationists said was deeply worrying. The incident is one of the worst of its kind in living memory in South Africa, where the poaching of rhinos is rare. Rhinos are targeted in Africa and Asia for their horns, which fetch high prices in Yemen where they are prized for dagger handles and in East Asia where they are used in traditional medicines. Police said the animals' carcasses were discovered in the Nwanedi Nature Reserve. It is believed a watering hole was laced with a poison called temic. Dozens of other animals were also killed, including antelope, zebra, warthogs, baboons and birds.
■ United States
Gay-marriage ban rejected
Committees of California state lawmakers rejected a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriages and strip away a long list of rights granted domestic partners in recent years. The Assembly Judiciary Committee rejected an amendment offered by Republican Assemblyman Ray Haynes, who claimed the proposal would strengthen the intent of voters who approved a ballot measure five years ago that prevents the state from recognizing gay marriages performed elsewhere. Hours later, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted against an identical measure. Conservative groups immediately said they would try to gather enough signatures to put an initiative banning gay marriage on the ballot next year.
■ United Nations
UN to fight sex abuse
A UN committee recommended setting up "personnel conduct units" that would deploy to peacekeeping missions and at headquarters to combat sex abuse and other misconduct, according to a report released on Tuesday. The move, which would create 63 new UN posts, is meant to address widespread allegations of sexual misconduct by UN peacekeepers abroad. A UN review found that 105 allegations of sex abuse were leveled at peacekeepers last year. Allegations of sexual abuse and other crimes have dogged UN peacekeeping missions almost since their inception in 1948. But the issue gained new focus when the UN announced last year it was investigating dozens of allegations of sexual abuse by peacekeepers in Congo.
■ Yemen
WHO confirms 40 polio cases
More than 40 new cases of polio have been confirmed in Yemen, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday, more new cases than in any other nation. "It's a much bigger outbreak than we originally thought, and it's spread throughout the country," said Dr David Heymann, who is in charge of the WHO polio-eradic-ation campaign. Epidemio-logists expect the 63 cases confirmed thus far in Yemen, a poor country on the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula, to grow to more than 100 soon. It takes about six weeks to test stool samples from each paralyzed child to confirm infection. Nigeria, previously the worst hit country, has confirmed only 54 cases this year. Yemen was already planning to vaccinate its 5 million children under the age of five, Heymann said.
■ Georgia
Grenade near Bush site
Georgia's security chief said yesterday that an inactive grenade had been found near the site where US President George W. Bush made a speech in Tbilisi. Gela Bezhuashvili, secretary of the National Security Council, said the Soviet-made, RGD-5 grenade was found 30m from the tribune where Bush spoke on Tuesday. US Secret Service spokesman Jonathan Cherry had said on Tuesday that his agency had been informed that a device, possibly a hand grenade, had been thrown near the stage during Bush's speech, hit someone in the crowd and fallen to the ground. Bezhuashvili said, however, that it was not thrown, it was "found." Security was very tight at Bush's speech in Freedom Square: Georgian police were deployed, and US snipers were visible on the rooftops, scanning the crowd with binoculars. US agents manned the security gates, making even Georgian performers -- who in some cases were decked out with fake ammunition as part of their costumes -- remove every piece of metal before passing through the detectors.
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