■ North Korea
Rocket invention claimed
The government claims that Koreans invented the world's first rocket -- over 1,300 years ago. The North's official KCNA news agency reported late on Monday that weapons similar to modern jet-propelled rockets were used in Korea in the final years of the Koguryo period in the 7th century. "The first rocket was very simple but its principle is similar with that of a modern one," KCNA said. "A jet-propelled weapon called Kwanghwi demonstrated its might in a battle near the castle in Mt Pukhan in 661." KCNA said that during 918-1392, Koreans also made a rocket called Hwajon that was nearly a meter long with an arrowhead that used rocket technology to propel the arrow over great distances. It was fired by lighting a combustible cartridge.
■ Chian
Beijing rebuffs Tokyo
China turned down a Japanese request to stop exploration of a gas field in the East China Sea yesterday, but the two countries agreed to keep talking. Tokyo has demanded China stop its search for energy in the area and provide data on gas development projects there. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan (孔泉) said China had a right to explore those fields because they were within its coastal waters. "Moreover, Japan does not dispute those coastal waters. It is a normal exercise of our sovereign rights," he said. A Japanese delegate to the two-day talks that began in Beijing on Monday said China had offered a proposal to jointly develop gas fields in the disputed waters in the East China Sea.
■ Thailand
Octogenarian ruled father
Bangkok's Juvenile and Family Court has ordered an 80-year-old former politician to accept paternity for his 2-year-old son conceived out of wedlock, media reports said yesterday. The court ruled that Tavich Klinprathum, father of the current labor minister, must register Thawee Pornsri as his son and pay support until the boy reaches the age of 20, the Bangkok Post said. Tavich met Thawee's mother, Phetcharaporn Wilairat, in 1999 when he was still a member of parliament and she was a 14-year-old waitress at the Parliament House Restaurant. She became pregnant in 2003, but Tavich ordered his chauffeur to claim to be the father.
■ Thailand
Smokers urged to quit
Cigarettes kill at least six Thais every hour and smoking among the country's youth is on the rise, the health minister said yesterday. Minister Suchai Charoenratanakul sounded the alarm as Thais marked World No Tobacco Day with a nationwide campaign urging everyone to quit smoking -- at least for a day. He said more than 52,000 people died from smoking-related diseases last year, or about six every hour. The ministry's records show that more than 9.6 of 64 million Thais were habitual smokers last year, a drop from 10.4 million in 2003. But the minister said more teens had taken to the habit, especially young women.
■ New Zealand
Mouse sparks police alert
Australian police alerted their counterparts in Wellington when a woman reported that her mother had dropped the telephone and screamed while talking to her. Police in Wellington rushed to the woman's home to find her recovering from the shock of seeing a mouse run across the floor, the Dominion Post reported yesterday. "I'm absolutely terrified of them," the embarrassed woman told the paper. "I just feel so silly."
■ United Kingdom
Troops told to wear undies
Britain's servicemen and woman have been ordered to remember to put underwear on when getting measured for new uniforms to avoid embarrassing their tailors, the Ministry of Defense said on Monday. A notice was issued to members of the army, navy and airforce in January after tailors complained about military personnel turning up to be fitted for their parade uniforms without wearing any underpants, a spokesman said.
■ United Kingdom
Rolling cheese contest held
Contestants in a traditional British cheese rolling competition broke bones and skinned their knees and elbows on Monday in their pursuit of a giant piece of cheese down a steep hill. The competition, in which participants hurl themselves 200m down a hill after a 3.6kg cheese, has been celebrated for centuries in Gloucestershire, west of London. The race is thought to originate from a heathen festival to welcome the spring. The first person to follow the cheese across the line at the bottom of the hill wins the cheese and a small cash prize.
■ South Africa
Boy shut in with slain family
A three-year-old boy spent four days locked in a house with his murdered parents and two sisters, police said on Monday. His father and two sisters, aged 7 and 8, were strangled and his mother hung from the roof of the family's two-room house in Mhluzi township, 120km east of Johannesburg. "The boy was in the house with them all the time," inspector Leonard Slathi said, after neighbors alerted the police. "The house was a bit ransacked. The father was found in the kitchen and the girls -- one was on the floor and one on a bed."
■ Italy
Woman bites `Satan-child'
A 40-year-old woman in Italy bit off her daughter's ear lobe after claiming to recognize the face of Satan in that of her 8-year-old girl, local newspapers reported Monday. The woman, originally from the Dominican Republic and a resident of Gazzo Padovano, a small town in northern Italy, is currently being held in police custody while her daughter is treated in a hospital in Padua. The girl, who also received bites on her hand and neck and other parts of the body, was expected to spend about a month in hospital. Her mother, described by reports as a "religious fanatic," was clutching a Bible at the time of her arrest and told police she had wanted to take her daughter to heaven with her.
■ United States
Teens kill hobo `for fun'
Two Florida teenagers, charged with murder said they killed a homeless man for fun and something to do. Christopher Scamahorn, 14, and Jeffery Spurgeon, 18, confessed to beating the 53-year-old victim with their fists and sticks and kicking him, sheriff's spokesman Brandon Haught said on Sunday. The teens said they attacked the man "for fun" and "to have something to do," Haught said. The teens found the man in the woods on Wednesday and harassed him, Haught said. Spurgeon said he punched the man in the face and left. The pair returned a short time later and kicked the man and beat him with sticks, Haught said. Investigators said there may be more arrests.
■ United States
Wife-beater in feline shocker
Police arrested a man in New York State who allegedly beat and chained his wife to a wall and kept two leopards in his basement. The leopards were allowed to roam the house and came in contact with the couple's four young children, ages 2, 4, 7 and 8, Suffolk County police said on Sunday. Police also said Anthony Barone, 34, punched and kicked his wife, Anastasia Barone, on May 20, breaking her nose. He then allegedly chained her to a downstairs wall for several hours before freeing her. Barone fled his house before police arrived on Sunday, but he was tracked to a nearby wooded area. He was charged with reckless endangerment for allegedly letting the leopards near his family, assault and unlawful imprisonment.
■ Mexico
`Fire Volcano' erupts
Mexico's "Fire Volcano" spewed a column of rock, ash and lava almost 5km into the sky on Monday in its largest eruption for at least 15 years, civil protection officials said. The government was considering evacuating tiny communities around the 3,860m Colima volcano in the western state of the same name after the predawn eruption. "It's the largest explosion in the past 15 years and we are monitoring it because the activity is increasing, though gradually," said federal civil protection coordinator Carmen Segura.
■ Canada
Red Cross pleads guilty
The Canadian Red Cross pleaded guilty in court Monday to distributing tainted blood products in the 1980s and 1990s that infected tens of thousands of people with HIV and Hepatitis C. The admission of violating Canada's food and drug laws came as part of a deal with prosecutors to drop charges of criminal negligence causing death and common nuisance. As well, Red Cross Secretary-General Pierre Duplessis apologized to those afflicted and their families in a video-taped statement shown in court.
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
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
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number