■ Hong Kong
Typhoon strands hundreds
Hundreds of passengers were stranded yesterday as more than 30 flights were grounded because of the typhoon whipping Taiwan. More than two dozen other flights were delayed because of the storm, leaving hundreds of passengers waiting at Chek Lap Kok airport. Cathay Pacific, Dragonair and Eva Air cancelled all Hong Kong-Taiwan flights from early yesterday as Typhoon Haitang struck. An Airport Authority spokesman in Hong Kong said yesterday there was no immediate prospect of flights resuming as weathermen predicted the typhoon's impact on Taiwan would intensify later in the day.
■ Australia
Town fights for platypuses
It's a fight that has captured the popular imagination in Australia and abroad: the residents of Maleny are resisting a big property developer to save a platypus colony that lives right in the heart of this picturesque Queensland backwater. Most of the people in Maleny, a town an hour's drive north of Brisbane that nestles in tropical rainforest, are against a plan to build a big Woolworths supermarket next to a stream. For more than a year protesters have camped out to protect the 30-strong platypus colony that lives in the stream. Hundreds have pledged to shield the site with their bodies when the bulldozers move in. The Queensland state government has refused to step in and stop the proposed mall, saying the developer has taken care to look after environmental concerns. The pitched battle to protect the platypus, an otter-like monotreme found nowhere else in the world except Australia, is in to its third year and looks set to come to a head very soon.
■ China
Panda has urban adventure
A wild panda that strayed into Dujiangyan scaled a fence, hopped roof-to-roof, swam in a river and napped in a tree before its urban adventure ended. The saga began Saturday when three men drinking beer spotted a figure "nimbly" climbing over a fence surrounding a housing estate. The men and residents gave chase, thinking it was a thief trying to break in, but found the panda calmly sitting on the roof of a bungalow. It ran from roof-to-roof before hopping off 20 minutes later, climbing another gate and disappearing. Police found the panda again a few hours later after receiving a report that it was taking a dip at a nearby river. It later hunkered down for the night in a tree. The animal was tranquilized the next morning, brought down by firefighters and returned to the wild.
■ Australia
Fan loses nose in film fight
A movie fan had his nose bitten off outside an Australian cinema in an argument over the quality of the violent new Bruce Willis movie Sin City. The 19-year-old victim underwent surgery to reattach the tip of his nose following the brawl late Sunday night outside a movie theater in Bathurst. Police said the victim and his attacker got into an argument over the merits of the movie, an adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel about a wicked metropolis filled with tough guys and gorgeous dames. Police were still hunting for the attacker.
■ India
Police punish porn watchers
Police in the eastern state of Orissa rounded up about 200 people watching a porn movie in a cinema hall and made them do 10 sit-ups in public as punishment. Parents of teenagers under 17 caught in the net were ordered to come watch the punishment, while all the culprits were made to take a public vow never to watch a sleazy movie again, the Hindustan Times said. The district police chief said he was trying a new approach in a bid to stop the screening of pornography, which is illegal in India. "Earlier we acted against the [cinema] hall owners and their staff. But it failed to effectively check screening of obscene movies. So we decided to crack down on the audience," he said.
■ North Korea
Official defects to South
A member of North Korea's parliament has defected to South Korea. The man in his 70s was identified only by his last name, Kim, and as a member of the North's rubber-stamp Supreme People's Assembly, Yonhap news agency reported, citing an unnamed intelligence official from the South. The motive was unknown; Kim was involved in the North's arms trade with Taiwan, but didn't appear to have connections to nuclear weapons, the official said. The intelligence agency declined to comment because of safety concerns. Kim fled North Korea in May, and was questioned by the South's officials in another country before entering the country.
■ Malaysia
Mob fire-bombs teapot sect
A mob fire-bombed the headquarters of a bizarre cult built around a giant teapot yesterday, two weeks after the sect was raided by religious officials. About 30 to 35 assailants armed with Molotov cocktails attacked the commune in the early morning, torching a car and the roof of a building and scorching the giant teapot itself. The sect, which believes the teapot has healing properties, is headed by an elderly man who says he is God and owner of everything, his "Sky Kingdom." "There has been a small fire," a firefighter said.
■ Spain
Forest fire kills eleven
Eleven volunteer firefighters died fighting a forest blaze in central Guadalajara region, the deadliest fire in the country in 15 years, officials said yesterday. A local government spokesman on Sunday had put the toll at 14. The Guadalajara regional authorities and Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, who visited the scene, released the official death toll yesterday as 11, with one firemen injured and none listed as missing. Their bodies had been found during the night by emergency services. The blaze, apparently started by a barbecue and fuelled by high winds, destroyed 8,000 hectares of pine forest, Spanish Environment Minister Cristina Narbona said.
■ Italy
200 refugees rescued at sea
The coast guard on Sunday rescued around 200 refugees stranded on an overladen boat near the Sicilian coast. The vessel which has suffered engine failure was found in the waters south of the Sicilian coastal town of Agrigento. Italian authorities reported that around 15 mostly female passengers were hospitalized due to exhaustion. According to Italian state media, most of the refugees were from Africa and the Kurdish regions of Iraq.
■ Italy
Old villa made a museum
It is where Benito Mussolini swam and sailed, played tennis and entertained his fascist cronies during the hot summer months. Now, after decades of disuse, the stately white seaside villa in the Adriatic coastal city of Riccione was officially inaugurated as a museum and tourism center Sunday following a 1 million euro (US$1.2 million) restoration. Sky-TV said more than 70 policemen were on hand to maintain order in the event of demonstrations, but no incidents were reported. Opponents said the villa will be an attraction for right-wing extremists and others professing "nostalgia" for Italy's fascist era and its World War II dictator.
■ Germany
Terror suspect wins appeal
The nation's high court yesterday upheld an al-Qaeda suspect's appeal against the new European arrest warrant, calling into question whether he can be extradited to Spain on terrorism charges. The Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe ruled that the European warrant violated the German constitution and was thus invalid in Germany. Mamoun Darkazanli, 46, was taken into custody in October on the warrant issued by Spain, accusing him of being a key al-Qaeda figure. Darkazanli, a Syrian-German, appears in a 1999 wedding video with two of the three Sept. 11, 2001, suicide pilots -- Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah -- who lived and studied in Hamburg, and Spain accuses him of providing al-Qaeda with logistical and financial help.
■ Russia
Iranian facility probed
The nation's financial watchdog is investigating the Russian-led project to build Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, news agencies reported yesterday. Sergei Stepashin, the head of the Audit Chamber, said in a televised interview that Russian investigators had requested materials from Iran, which he thought would mean "serious work for the prosecutor general," ITAR-Tass and RIA-Novosti quoted him as saying. Stepashin also said investigators might be looking into Yevgeny Adamov's tenure as atomic energy minister.
■ Colombia
Eight killed in bombing
Eight farm workers were killed and two injured in a roadside bombing that the government on Sunday blamed on the leftist rebel group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The guerrillas planted 14 explosive charges on a road near the northern city of Riohacha and detonated them when the victims drove by. Relatives of the victims said they had been threatened with death several times by the rebels. No one has yet claimed responsibility.
■ United Kingdom
Sunnis: attacks `anti-Muslim'
Britain's largest Sunni group on Sunday issued a fatwa -- a binding religious edict -- condemning the July 7 terror bombings in London. Jama'at e Ahl e Sunnat, or the Sunni Council, said the bombings were against Islam, adding that any type of suicide attack was against the Koran. "Leaving aside the atrocities being committed in Palestine and Iraq, the attacks in London have no Islamic justification, are totally condemned and we equally condemn those who may have been behind the masterminding of these acts, those who incited these youths in order to further their own perverted ideology," the group's fatwa said. "We wish to clarify again and to categorically condemn all forms of terrorism, be it state terrorism or otherwise."
■ United States
Lightning strikes family
A lightning bolt struck a family reunion, critically injuring a 12-year-old boy and sending a dozen others to the hospital. The bolt hit a tree near a home Saturday evening, causing as many as 30 people to feel a jolt, said Andy Coon, who attended the party at his grandmother's farm. "It was within seconds that we were running around helping people," Coon said. "A lot of us were on our knees, praying." David Rogan, 12, was knocked unconscious, and taken to a Pittsburgh hospital, where he was in critical but stable condition, suffering from brain swelling.
■ United States
Stroller helps save baby
A 7-month-old girl who survived a building collapse when her deluxe stroller folded around her like a cocoon has been released from the hospital after two days. Abby Lurensky blinked and wiggled on Saturday, showing no signs of her ordeal. Paramedics said Abby initially was unresponsive and turning blue when bystanders dug through a tangle of concrete and steel on to free her crumpled carriage from the wreckage of a supermarket being demolished. But she was largely unhurt, thanks to the cover provided by her stroller and to her attentive nanny, Brunilda Tirado, who tried to shield her from the falling debris. Tirado, 56, suffered a broken leg and broken arm.
■ United States
Disneyland marks 50 years
Thousands of Disney fans donned special gold-colored Mickey ears as they streamed through the entrance to Disneyland on Sunday, 50 years after the landmark opened its gates. The festivities, which included a fireworks-and-confetti display, were set outside the Sleeping Beauty Castle and began with televised images echoing the fanfare of the park's launch in 1955. Art Linkletter, 93, hosted the live telecast of the park's opening day. "I'm not only happy to be here, I'm happy to be anywhere," said Linkletter, who also was celebrating his birthday on Sunday. Disneyland was wildly innovative when it opened on July 17, 1955. It used robotic figures, holographs and panoramic movies in circular theaters to spin stories for children.
‘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
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