■ Indonesia
Bird flu victim dies
Tests confirmed that a 25-year-woman who died overnight in the capital had bird flu, officials said yesterday, as they investigated the possibility that several members of one family were infected by the virus. Ilham Patu said the government would wait to update its human bird flu death toll, which now stands at seven, until the woman's lab tests were confirmed by a World Health Organization-accredited laboratory in Hong Kong. That could take several days. The H5N1 bird flu virus has ravaged poultry stocks across Asia since 2003, and jumped to humans killing at least 68, most of them in Vietnam and Thailand. So far, most human cases of the disease have been traced to contact with infected birds.
■ China
Five Tibetan monks arrested
Chinese authorities have arrested five Tibetan monks in a widening crackdown on followers of the exiled Dalai Lama, the US broadcaster Radio Free Asia said yesterday. Security officers also reportedly sealed off the Drepung Monastery -- Tibet's largest -- for two days when monks there staged a silent protest. The monastery, home to 300 monks, has since reopened to the public. The five monks, all from Drepung, were arrested on Nov. 23 as authorities were leading a patriotic education campaign aimed at boosting support for Beijing inside Tibet's monasteries. Officials reportedly insisted that the monks condemn Tibetan Buddhism's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1959 during an uprising against Chinese rule.
■ Japan
Differences must be resolved
Japan and China must resolve their differences in the interest of regional stability, the US ambassador to Tokyo said yesterday, adding that Washington's role as a mediator was limited. US Ambassador Thomas Schieffer also said Japan should be allowed to decide for itself how to honor its war dead, siding with its ally on an issue that has been at the root of recent tensions between Japan and China, and backed moves by Tokyo toward changing its pacifist constitution. "We hope Japan and China can resolve their differences because it's important for the whole region that everyone get along," Schieffer said at a news conference in Tokyo.
■ Bhutan
China is `encroaching'
Bhutanese lawmakers have accused China of encroaching on the tiny Himalayan kingdom's territory, warning that it could threaten national sovereignty, the country's official media has reported. The representatives levelled the charges at a National Assembly session in the capital, Thimphu, the government-run weekly newspaper Kuensel said in its latest edition dated Monday. "The Chinese government did not adhere to the 1998 understanding signed between Bhutan and China by constructing several roads in our territory," Kuensel quoted a lawmaker of Bhutan's Haa Province as saying.
■ Bangladesh
Bomb death toll rises
The death toll from overnight bomb attacks by Islamic militants rose to 11 yesterday as two critically wounded people died in hospitals, officials said. The condition of at least 40 injured victims of the twin blasts have worsened since late Tuesday, raising fears that the death toll could climb. The explosion was set off by a powerful device tied to the body of a suicide bomber inside the district court building in Gazipur, a semi-industrial town 55km north of the capital Dhaka.
■ Gabon
Bongo wins again
Africa's longest-serving leader, President Omar Bongo, has won another seven-year term with 79.2 percent of the vote, according to official results released on Tuesday. The 69-year-old has already ruled the central African nation for 38 years and easily defeated his four opponents. Bongo became the leader in 1967 when he succeeded the president. The next year, he created a one-party state. Protests caused him to reinstate a multiparty system in 1990, but it didn't stop him from winning elections in 1993, 1998 and this year. The votes, however, have been called unfair.
■ Italy
Vatican to eliminate limbo
It is an odd place. The inhabitants include Plato, Moses, Abraham and lots of babies. Now after more than 700 years of shadowy existence, limbo faces closure. The world's 30 leading Roman Catholic theologians were meeting behind closed doors in the Vatican on Tuesday to discuss a document which would sweep the concept out of the church's teaching. Limbo was concocted in the 13th century as a solution to the theological conundrum of what happened to babies who died before they were christened. According to doctrine, they could not go to heaven because their original sin had not been expunged by baptism. Limbo also proved a useful solution to other problems such as where to put holy people who lived before Christ and who also had no chance of baptism.
■ France
Ebola harbored by bats
Three species of African fruit bat harbor the Ebola virus, enabling the deadly pathogen to spring out and infect primates and humans, says a study appearing today in the British journal Nature. A thousand small invertebrates were examined in the quest to see whether a natural haven existed for the virus. Previous research has already shown primates suffer a greater mortality from Ebola during the dry season in the forests of central Africa. This, say the scientists, may be because they compete with the bats for fruit, and thus face a heightened risk of bites. Another potential form of transmission is from eating the bats, which is a custom among local people.
■ Honduras
Election still in balance
Partial results released late on Tuesday suggested that Honduras' presidential race was still too close to call, despite an earlier declaration by the nation's top electoral official that opposition candidate Manuel Zelaya had won. With nearly 28 percent of the votes cast in Sunday's election counted, Porfirio Lobo Sosa of the ruling National Party had received 47.91 percent compared to 46.93 for Zelaya, according to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.
■ Israel
Orthodox son turns porn star
The son of an Orthodox Jewish family living in an ultra-religious town has become Israel's newest porn star in a celluloid career set to ostracize him from the austere world of his relatives. Cable station Hot last week broadcast Secrets of Nina, the first breakthrough for 21-year-old Omer Klein in the full-length, made-for-TV industry, the Maariv newspaper reported on Tuesday. Klein, from the ultra-Orthodox community of Bnei Brak outside Tel Aviv, will shortly appear in a second steamy film Between the Sacred and the Profane, Maariv said.
■ United States
`Spider-Man' in court
Surveying the glass and steel skyscrapers that compose the downtown Houston skyline, France's "Spider-Man" on Tuesday acknowledged the only way he'll scale them is by elevator, like everyone else. "All these buildings are like mountains I would like to climb, but I am forbidden," Alain Robert, 43, said after a Texas court appearance on Tuesday. Robert presented to the court a prescription for pills found in his possession when police arrested him before he could climb a 46-story Houston office tower on Nov. 22. He says the pills were Urbanyl, a drug prescribed by his doctors to ward off epileptic seizures. Police charged him with illegal possession of the drug Xanax, a commonly abused anti-anxiety drug.
■ United States
Fake FedEx men take gems
Two bandits dressed as FedEx delivery men and carrying at least one gun robbed Doppelt & Greenwald Diamond Inc of US$4 million in goods in Manhattan on Tuesday. The men got in the door just before 1pm partly because they claimed the package they were delivering was too large to slip under it and that they needed a signature. The men tied up five workers and two customers. They filled a bag full of diamonds before leaving through an employee entrance. Employees were surprised the men managed to get a weapon inside, saying the facility has high security.
■ United States
Pilots slam airspace ban
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has imposed flight restrictions over Vice President Dick Cheney's new Maryland home, angering private pilots who say they can't fly overhead even when he isn't around. Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association spokesman Chris Dancy said on Tuesday the FAA only imposes restrictions at Cheney's Jackson Hole, Wyoming, home when he's there. Cheney's new home is in St. Michaels, Maryland, about 50km east of Washington, in a region covered by airspace restrictions that were put in place after Sept. 11.
■ United States
Red tape snarls thieves
Two government employees were charged with taking kickbacks on the purchase of 100,000 rolls of red tape. Veterans Affairs workers Joseph Haymond and Natalie Coker were arrested on Tuesday in Murfreesboro, Tennessee and charged with taking bribes for buying the tape, normally US$2.50 per roll, for US$6.95 each. The two got kickbacks of US$1 per roll for the purchases. They could each face up to 15 years in prison if convicted. They worked at the VA's Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy, which mails prescription medicines to veterans. The red tape, stamped with the word "security," is meant to deter tampering.
■ United States
Baby killed with vodka
Police are searching for a Florida couple accused of killing their three-month-old baby by giving her large amounts of vodka to calm her colic. "She had high levels of alcohol in her system -- 0.47 percent, which is five times the legal limit for driving," Fort Lauderdale Police Detective Katherine Collins said on Tuesday. She said the parents told police after their daughter's death in February last year that they had given her vodka, believing it would cure her colic. However, "she had severe damage to her liver due to weeks of alcohol consumption, so it was not a one-time thing," Collins said. The parents cooperated with investigations, but detectives were unable to find them after an arrest warrant was issued.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing