■ Japan
Plane loses tires in landing
The two front tires came off a Japan Airlines (JAL) plane as it was landing Wednesday at Tokyo's Haneda airport, the company said, in the latest maintenance scare for the airline. Three of the 220 passengers complained of neck pain and one was treated at a nearby hospital, a transport ministry official said. The airline said none of its 10 crew members were injured in the flight from Shin-Chitose on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido to Haneda, which is Asia's busiest airport. Ministry officials said both fallen tyres were blown out and had come off after the plane had landed. "Because the plane was unable to move from the runway, we carried the passengers from the plane to the terminal using buses," JAL spokeswoman Chieko Matsumoto said.
PHOTO: AP
■ Vietnam
Six bird flu cases reported
Vietnam has recorded six new cases of bird flu in the past week, state-controlled media and officials said yesterday. The six people, all from northern provinces, had been admitted to a hospital in Hanoi over the past week, the Pioneer newspaper said. Five of them were in stable condition, it added. Officials at the Ministry of Health declined to comment yesterday. Nguyen Tran Hien, director of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology said those who had contracted bird flu since the last outbreak in December last year showed less severe symptoms of high fever, coughing and breathing difficulties.
■ Japan
Putin wants peace treaty
Russian President Vladimir Putin has told a top Japanese envoy that he wants to visit Tokyo in November to negotiate a peace treaty to formally end World War II hostilities between the two countries, Japan's government spokesman said yesterday. Putin told Yoshiro Mori, a former Japanese prime minister, that he wants to visit Japan around the time he attends the Nov. 18-19 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea, according to Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda. Putin hopes to use the visit to conclude a peace treaty with Japan to finally put an end to their World War II conflict, but an agreement has so far been held up by a 60-year-old territorial dispute over islands north of Japan.
■ Japan
Man brings knives to school
A man carrying two concealed knives was arrested after entering a Japanese junior high school but police said yesterday that nobody was injured in the incident, the latest to raise fears about school security here. On Friday, more than 50 students were injured when an 18-year-old Japanese high school student who said he had been bullied threw a bottle containing an explosive into a classroom at his school. Manabu Ichioka, 23, was arrested with two knives concealed in his trouser pockets on Monday afternoon after entering a school in Yokohama, just west of Tokyo, but no further details were immediately available, a police spokesman said. Kyodo news agency quoted the man, a graduate of the junior high school, as saying he had a grudge against the school because he had failed high school entrance exams, but police were unable to confirm this.
■ United Kingdom
Geldof, band in royalty spat
Irish rocker-turned-activist Bob Geldof has been threatened with legal action by ex-members of his old band, the Boomtown Rats, over alleged unpaid royalties, the BBC reported yesterday. The band members claim he owes them money from the 1970s and 1980s, when the band had hits including I Don't Like Mondays, it said on its Web site. Guitarist Gerry Cott, Simon Crowe, Garrick Roberts and John "Johnnie Fingers" Moylett have joined forces to try to get the money they claim they are owed, it said. Geldof was unavailable to comment on Tuesday, his spokesman said. The Boomtown Rats split in 1986, not long after they performed at Live Aid, which Geldof organized to raise money to fight famine in Ethiopia.
■ United Kingdom
Animal lovers keep 350 pets
British animal welfare inspectors said on Tuesday they had cautioned two people after finding more than 350 animals in one residential house in eastern England. The RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) said its inspectors had discovered 131 dogs, 48 cats, 80 rabbits and 86 guinea pigs at the house in Cromer, Norfolk. The premises were described as cramped and unhygienic and the RSPCA said some of the animals were in such a bad condition it was likely they would be destroyed. RSPCA Superintendent Tim Wass said the case showed that advice their officers gave the public was often ignored and a change in the law was needed to allow them to take action before an animal actually suffered. "In this case, we visited the address previously and had given advice relating to conditions found at the time. Sadly, it seems that advice was not heeded," he said. On Friday a woman who the RSPCA found keeping 271 pets in her home in appalling conditions was jailed for three months for animal cruelty.
■ United Kingdom
Justice worth trifling over
British police on Tuesday defended taking a convicted drug dealer to court to confiscate assets that amounted to a trifling 29 pence (US$0.53). "We are determined that no one should benefit from crime and although 29 pence may seem minuscule, it sends out a message that the courts will strip such people of every asset that can be found even if it is a few pence," said Detective Superintendent Gordon Lang of the Cleveland police. Tabrez Khan, who made ?12,710 (US$22,940) through dealing, was jailed for six-and-a-half years after admitting he conspired to peddle hard drugs.
■ Austria
Don't drink and smoke
Not only drinking, but also smoking while driving poses greater health and accident risks, the Austrian motorists federation OAMTC warned. The group said that fiddling around with cigarettes and lighters can distract a driver, increasing the chances of an accident. By the same token, cigarette smoke with its carbon monoxide fumes can slow down drivers' reflexes. The OAMTC said that in Austria, smoking poses a further risk. If, for example, a driver has an accident while trying to recover a cigarette accidentally dropped on the floor, then his insurance company may not have to cover the damages because the driver was culpable of gross negligence while at the wheel.
■ United States
Porn star `boosts' party
Blond porn star, political candidate. And now you can add one more line to Mary Carey's resume: Republican booster. Carey was in Washington on Tuesday to attend the President's Dinner, an annual fundraiser put on by the National Republican Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee. A few hours before the dinner, Carey met with reporters to show off her evening gown and talk about a Republican lunch she and her boss, adult film executive Mark Kulkis, attended. "I met a lot of nice people," Carey said of the lunch, where presidential adviser Karl Rove spoke. "I met some people who talked about helping me with donating money to my next campaign." She plans to run for lieutenant governor of California next year as an independent. But her trip to Washington has swayed Carey's political leanings. She says she's been a Republican "for a couple of days."
■ United States
Student vomits on teacher
A high-school student who vomited on his Spanish teacher has been charged with battery against a school official. The misdemeanor charge was filed on Monday against the Olathe Northwest High School student. The 17-year-old boy was charged as a juvenile and his name was not released. Rick Guinn, an assistant district attorney, said witnesses can corroborate that the boy intentionally vomited on teacher David Young. If convicted, the boy would likely face probation, Guinn said. Prosecutors are also seeking an apology. "I think a message is being sent by both the school district and the district attorney that this behavior will not be tolerated," Young said. The student's father said his son told him he did not mean to throw up on the teacher but was uncontrollably ill by the stress of final exams. The father said the district expelled his son and recommended he enroll in another school.
■ United States
Chopper crash injures seven
A helicopter carrying tourists on a sightseeing trip above Manhattan on Tuesday crashed into the East River minutes after takeoff, critically injuring one passenger, authorities said. None of the six others on board was seriously hurt. Police units that patrol the harbor were already in the area conducting a drill and quickly rescued the pilot and his passengers, who were standing on or clinging to the helicopter's pontoons when the boats arrived, Inspector Michael Coan said. Six were able to walk; one woman was exposed to helicopter fuel and another nearly drowned before she could be rescued, authorities said. The second woman had water in her lungs and was hospitalized in critical condition, officials said. Three Australians were among the injured, but their identities were not released.
■ Iraq
Rumsfeld says Iraq not safer
Iraq is "statistically" no safer today than it was after former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was overthrown, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Tuesday. Asked on BBC television whether Iraq was safer since the US-led invasion ended, Rumsfeld replied: "Well, statistically no. But clearly it has been getting better as we've gone along ... In other words, at the end of the war the army fled, was captured ... and the country was defeated," Rumsfeld said. "The insurgency then built over a period of time, and it has had its ups and downs." He added: "A lot of bad things that could have happened have not happened."
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
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
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was