■ Australia
Fishermen resist arrest
Australian authorities arrested a group of Indonesian fishermen who brandished burning poles and threw lead weights at agents who boarded their boat and later found a big haul of sharks' fins, Australia's justice minister said yesterday. Australian fisheries authorities will investigate whether the vessel was fishing illegally inside Australia's territorial waters, Justice Minister Chris Ellison said. Finning sharks is illegal in Australia. The nine-member crew would be prosecuted "to the full force of Australian law," Justice Minister Chris Ellison said in a statement. "We want to send a clear message that aggression toward our officials on the seas will not be tolerated by Australia, especially within our own territorial waters." After a tense high-seas pursuit inside Australia's northern waters, customs and navy ships fired warning shots at the ship, Ellison said.
■ Maldives
Rights activist sent to jail
A Maldives court on Tuesday sentenced a human-rights activist to 10 years in prison for "instigating terrorism," a government spokesman said. Jennifer Latheef, 32, was sent to jail after being identified as "one of the instigators" of pro-democracy riots in September 2003 in the capital Male, government spokesman Mohamed Shareef said. She is the daughter of the exiled founder of the country's main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party, Mohamad Latheef. Four others charged with the same offense were also given 10-year prison sentences last week, and another person fled the country, he said. Latheef's father, who lives in exile in neighboring Sri Lanka, called Tuesday's verdict "outrageous."
■ Australia
Bride-to-be punches cop
An early-morning melee at an Adelaide night club resulted in seven arrests yesterday among a group of young women out on the town for a hen night celebration. It's a tradition in Australia for a woman and her closest friends to have a night out in the days before her wedding. The bride-to-be was charged with assault after a police officer was punched in the face. Six of her friends face charges ranging from assault to resisting police. Police were called after the group refused to leave the club after being told to go because of bad behavior.
■ China
Drug ring smashed
Victory was declared in a cross-border drugs bust, one of the biggest in Southeast Asia in recent years, with 70 suspects arrested and almost 727 kg of heroin seized, the China Daily said yesterday. Chinese police worked with counterparts from Myanmar, Laos and Thailand in an 11-month operation that also netted dozens of weapons, millions of dollars of property and currency and culminated with the arrest of the kingpin, the paper said. "The street value of the heroin is estimated to be US$18 million in Beijing," it said. The accused ring leader, a 35-year-old Chinese, was arrested in Laos on Sept. 22 and deported to China on Oct. 2.
■ Australia
Minister attacked in debate
New South Wales Roads Minister Joe Tripodi said yesterday he would not press charges against an opposition member who assaulted him during a rowdy debate in the state parliament in Sydney. It took six men to pull Andrew Fraser off Tripodi and drag him outside during a late-night session on Tuesday. Fraser grabbed Tripodi by the neck and attempted to throttle him. "It was technically an assault but I'm not going to take legal action," Tripodi said. "I just think that Mr Fraser should be a lot more apologetic about his behavior because the whole of Australia is watching this." Tripodi added. A motion is expected to be tabled to expel Fraser from Australia's oldest parliament.
■ Thailand
Dental patient seeks revenge
An ice-cream vendor severely slashed a Bangkok dentist with a small sword after accusing him of pulling the wrong tooth, police said yesterday. Somboon Saisida, 43, stormed Pornpoj Suriwong's dental clinic on Tuesday and assaulted him over allegations that he left an infected tooth in his mouth and pulled a healthy one, police said. Somboon claimed this led to weakness in his left arm and leg, and left him incapable of peddling his ice-cream cart, forcing him to stop working. Pornpoj was hospitalized with a broken arm and severe cuts to his face. Somboon has been charged with attempted murder.
■ Hong Kong
Smog levels soaring
Pollution levels have soared by 30 percent in the past 10 years as the city battles an ever-thickening blanket of smog, according to a survey published on Tuesday. Ground level ozone readings have shot up to 45 parts per billion at a monitoring station on the southern tip of Hong Kong island, 30 percent higher than in the mid-1990s. Factory fumes blown down from Guangdong Province have helped reduce visibility dramatically since the 1990s. Ground-level ozone is caused by a photo-chemical reaction between nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds under sunlight, the South China Morning Post reported.
■ United Kingdom
ID cards move closer
Legislation to put identity cards in the pockets of everyone in Britain cleared the House of Commons on Tuesday despite opposition within Prime Minister Tony Blair's own Labour Party. The Identity Card Bill passed its third and final reading in the lower house of parliament by a vote of 309-284 -- less than half Blair's majority of 66. It now goes on to the House of Lords, where it faces even stronger opposition. Britain has never had an mandatory ID card scheme outside of wartime, but the idea has picked up speed since last July's deadly suicide bombings in London. Home Secretary Charles Clarke denied that ID cards would lead to a "Big Brother state" or strip Britons of their civil liberties.
■ United Kingdom
OK to deport Libyans
The government said it was now free to deport suspected Libyan promoters of terrorism after Libya gave "assurances" about their safety in an agreement finalized on Tuesday. The memorandum of under-standing, signed in Tripoli allows it "to safely deport foreign nationals." However, human-rights groups denounced the deal. Amnesty International said it was "dangerously misguided" to respect the word of a government which is still accused of practicing torture. Britain hopes to clinch similar agreements with other countries which will allow it to deport foreigners deemed to be fomenting, justifying or glorifying terrorism, through written or published statements.
■ United Kingdom
Hoaxer held after 26 years
Police investigating a hoax linked to the case of the Yorkshire Ripper, one of the country's most notorious murderers, said they had arrested a man on Tuesday in connection with the 26-year-old mystery. West Yorkshire Police said they arrested a 49-year-old man over a hoax tape and letters that helped delay the capture of Peter Sutcliffe, a truck driver who was jailed for life in 1981 after admitting he killed 13 women. Investigators initially discounted Sutcliffe as a suspect because his accent and handwriting didn't match those in an audio tape and letters sent to police, and which officers incorrectly believed to have come from the killer.
■ Uganda
Former president buried
The body of former president Milton Obote arrived home on Tuesday for a state funeral to tears and jeers over the late leader's legacy, which left the nation deeply divided. Ugandans grieved and rejoiced as a plane carrying his body landed at Entebbe from Zambia, where he had lived in exile for 20 years. Obote, Uganda's first post-colonial prime minister, is both mourned as a leader in the fight for independence from Britain and reviled as a strongarm dictator whose terms as president were marred by repression, conflict and the death of some 300,000 people.
■ United Kingdom
Mom kills kitty in washer
A court in Norwich sent a mother of two to prison for six weeks on Tuesday for killing the family cat by boiling it in a washing machine, in front of her daughters, aged five and 15. Holly Thacker, 34, decided to kill Fluffy after it scratched her, the court heard. The prosecutor said Thacker's ex-husband alerted the national animal protection society, the RSPCA, following a conversation with her. A RSPCA inspector visited the home and found the dead cat in a bag in the garbage can.
■ United States
Turkey tosser forgiven
A woman whose face was crushed by a 9kg turkey tossed through her windshield said on Tuesday that she had requested a light sentence for the accused as she wanted to give him a second chance. Ryan Cushing, 19, was sentenced on Monday to six months in jail, five years probation. If convicted of first-degree assault at trial, Cushing could have got a maximum of 25 years. Ruvolo underwent a 10-hour operation to repair her face and spent a month in the hospital following the incident last year. Cushing flung the 9kg turkey out of the rear window of the car he was riding in on Long Island, near New York City.
■ Antarctica
Sea getting warmer
Scientists have discovered an alarming rise in sea temperature that threatens to disrupt populations of penguins, whales, seals and a host of smaller creatures within a few decades. The new study shows the ocean west of the Antarctic Peninsula has warmed by more than a degree since the 1960s -- confounding experts who believed that a combination of ice, winds and currents would keep the water cool and shield fragile marine creatures from climate change. This is the first evidence that the key Southern Ocean is getting warmer: a finding with potentially severe implications for wildlife.
■ United States
Kennedy watch auctioned
A gold rolex watch believed to have been presented to John F. Kennedy by Marilyn Monroe on the evening she famously serenaded the US president with Happy Birthday has been sold for US$120,000. The wristwatch, inscribed with the words "Jack, with love as always from Marilyn, May 29th 1962," was bought at an auction on Monday. A circular paper disk in the bottom of the case was printed with a poem titled: "A heartfelt plea on your birthday." According to Bill Panagopulos, the watch was given to a top-level Kennedy aide, who was instructed by the president to "get rid of it."
■ United states
Mother's corpse found
A body discovered in a Pennsylvania landfill was identified as the mother of a four-year-old girl found wandering the streets last month, police said. Police found the body of 26-year-old Monica Lozada-Rivadineira on Oct. 6. The medical examiner's office confirmed the identity Tuesday, said Detective Brian Sessa. The Bolivian woman's live-in boyfriend, Cesar Ascarrunz, is being held. He is accused of strangling her and dumping her body in a pile of trash. The case captured national attention after authorities took the unusual step of putting the girl on television in hopes of tracking down her family.
■ United States
Bush backs Indian nuke deal
President George W. Bush's administration is confident Congress will approve a US nuclear deal with India before a summit early next year, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said on Tuesday. Burns, speaking before leaving for New Delhi, said the chances had been improved by India's recent support of a US-European resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency over Iran. For nearly 30 years the US led the global fight to deny India access to nuclear technology. But Bush jettisoned this approach with an agreement in July to allow US nuclear cooperation. He is seeking changes in US law and international regulations to allow India to get items like nuclear fuel.
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