■ China
Flooding kills nine more
At least nine people died, six went missing and an estimated 150,000 were evacuated after floods swept through Dazhou in southwest China. Torrential rain since Wednesday left up to 5m of water in city streets. The Dazhou area had its highest rainfall in about 100 years from Wednesday to Friday, totalling 461mm. Summer floods and landslides have killed about 1,000 people in China this year. About 1.5 million people were evacuated last month. Last year, summer floods and landslides killed 1,343 people, the lowest death toll for several years, according to government statistics.
■ Indonesia
Radio announcer arrested
Police have arrested a former radio announcer who called a radio news station to report a deadly car bombing that did not happen. Former radio announcer Dedi Hartono said he made up the story "because there was no earth-shaking news." He called Jakarta news station Elshinta to report that a car bomb had exploded outside a discotheque in the town of Cirebon in western Java, killing two people and damaging several cars. The news was picked up by foreign news agencies. Hartono said he previously called Elshinta to report a typhoon and a landslide. "These two stories are for real. I witnessed the incidents myself," he said, but they could not be verified.
■ Australia
Man arrested for WWII crime
An 83-year-old Hungarian immigrant, Charles Zentai, faces extradition to Hungary after Australian police arrested him over allegations he abducted and brutally murdered a Jewish teenager more than 60 years ago. The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a nazi-hunting organization, supplied material evidence to authorities. Zentai emigrated to Australia in 1950 and worked as a nurse in the Perth area, and is suspected of having tortured and murdered 18-year-old Jewish man Peter Balazs in Budapest in 1944 while serving in the army of Hitler's wartime ally, Hungary. The former warrant officer and two accomplices allegedly took the man to a barracks in Budapest and tortured and killed him before dumping him in the Danube River. He is then alleged to have escaped to Germany after the war by passing himself off as a refugee.
■ Vietnam
Gold banned from food
Authorities have banned gold being added to food, after a restaurant in Hanoi served gilded dishes it said had enhanced nutritional value. According to a scientific council set up by the health ministry, "gold is not on the list of micro-substances" needed by the body. Since January, the Kim Ngan Ngu Thien, or "Golden Feast" restaurant, had been serving meals mixed with gold dust. The restaurant was ordered to stop last month pending a decision by health authorities.
■ Nepal
Motoring passengers banned
The government, which has been battling a communist insurgency, has banned passengers from riding on the back of motorcycles to stop drive-by shootings by rebels. The Home Ministry said in a notice yesterday that motorcycles have been misused by terrorists to launch attacks and that "terrorists riding on the back on motorcycles have used weapons to attack." Maoist rebels, who mostly operate in rural areas, are known to use motorcycles to attack targets in cities and towns. Motorcycles are commonly used as family vehicles with parents and children riding on the same motorcycle, much like in Taiwan.
■ Germany
Sex scandal widens
Germany's embattled chancellor, Gerhard Schroder, suffered a major embarrassment Friday when the architect of his controversial reform program became the latest victim of a sex and corruption scandal. Peter Hartz, the head of personnel at Volkswagen, Germany's biggest car manufacturer, quit yesterday after being accused of allowing top VW union leaders to take luxury trips abroad and spend up to 30,000 euros of company money on prostitutes. One of Germany's most respected newspapers, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, alleged that a lap dancer from Lisbon was even flown at company expense to the Georges V hotel in Paris to entertain two VW board members.
■ United States
Video game denounced
A US media watchdog group has denounced the maker of the hugely popular video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas over graphic sexual content that allegedly exists in the game and can be unlocked with an Internet download. The game's plot is already objectionable to many people: Its main character carjacks for fun and profit and picks up women along the way. But some say its content becomes sexually explicit if players download and install a modification to the game.
■ Germany
Virus writer sentenced
A court on Friday handed a suspended sentence to a German teenager convicted of creating the Sasser computer worm, which created havoc as it raced around the world last year. Sven Jaschan, 19, was found guilty of computer sabotage and illegally altering data following a four-day trial in the northwestern town of Verden. He was given a suspended sentence of one year and nine months, court spokeswoman Katharina Kruetzfeld said. The court, which tried Jaschan behind closed doors because he was a minor at the time of the offense, said in its ruling that he "acted out of a need for recognition" and not for commercial aims.
■ United Kingdom
Three jailed for torture
Three people were jailed Friday for torturing a child they accused of being a witch with powers to change from human to animal form. The child, who was eight at the time of the offenses, was cut with a knife on her chest, beaten, kicked, starved, whipped with a belt and had chilli peppers rubbed in her eyes. An aunt and another female relative wept as they were jailed for 10 years at the Old Bailey central criminal court in London. A male relative was jailed for four years for aiding and abetting child cruelty. Judge Christopher Moss told them they had mounted a campaign of cruelty that amounted to a campaign of torture.
■ Brazil
Deal reached on AIDS drugs
Brazil reached an agreement late Friday with the US pharmaceutical company Abbott Laboratories that will lower the price it pays for the AIDS drug Kaletra in return for refraining from breaking the company's patent to produce a generic version of the medicine. Though financial terms were not disclosed, the government said the agreement would save it at least US$18 million next year and a total of US$259 million over the next six years. Brazil, which provides free AIDS treatment to all who need it, currently spends about US$107 million a year on the drug.
■ United Kingdom
Hotels to be `shamed'
A row erupted on Friday over reports that some hotels cashed in on the discomfort of those forced to spend the night in central London by ratcheting up the price of rooms. The British Hospitality Association, which represents hotels across the UK, promised to "name and shame" anyone found to have exploited the chaos. The allegation surfaced on Thursday as many of those unable to reach their homes opted to stay overnight near their offices. One customer claimed to have been charged ?270 (US$470) for a ?65 room.
■ United Kingdom
Mayor launches fund
London Mayor Ken Livingstone and the British Red Cross have launched a fund for those affected by Thursday's attacks on the city. The London Bombings Relief Fund, which is to help victims and the families of those killed, already had at least £250,000 (US$435,000) pledged yesterday. "I believe it is the wish of Londoners that those who have suffered deaths of their loved ones or serious injury should also be helped by all Londoners," Livingstone said on Friday. He said all citizens should donate money because the bomb attacks could have killed anyone in the capital.
■ United Kingdom
Pedal power returns
London's streets creaked and rattled with nervous new cyclists on Friday after bicycle sales rocketed in the wake of bomb blasts on three underground trains and a double-decker bus. Seasoned cyclists told of weary walkers offering them up to £300 (US$500) for their bikes as they headed home on Thursday, and of giving impromptu lessons to shaky beginners. Tim Davies, who manages Cycle Surgery near Holborn, said: "the shop is so close to where the bus got hit that we thought we'd be evacuated. But by 11 o'clock we were running around like crazy. We'd normally sell five to 10 bikes a day, but we sold at least double that in a few hours," he said.
■ United Kingdom
Ads for book withdrawn
British booksellers Waterstone's on Friday pulled advertising for a new novel about suicide bombers creating mayhem in London. The book Incendiary was published on Thursday, the same day of the attacks on the city. Pictures promoting the novel show plumes of smoke curling above London's skyline. The wording reads, "A massive terrorist attack ... launches this unique, twisted powerhouse of a novel." Waterstone's has removed all advertising for the book from today's newspapers -- except for the Guardian's Guide, which went to press before the advert could be pulled.
■ United States
Omarion pleads for prayers
London was the scene of carnage on Thursday after the series of deadly blasts, but American crooner Omarion, who suffered no injury or inconvenience, wants people to pray for him. "Omarion was in London during the tragic bombings that struck this morning," a statement by the singer's publicist said. Making no mention of the fatalities or casualties of the blasts, the singer's statement concluded, "He would like his fans to pray that he has a safe trip and a safe return home. He appreciates your support." Omarion was in London for yesterday's Live 8 show, his publicist Shana Gilmore said. Asked why anyone should pray for him, Gilmore said, "He wasn't hurt or anything, but just the fact that he was there and all that."
‘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