■ Malaysia
Rapist prefers cane to jail
A Malaysian man convicted of attempting to rape a pregnant woman begged a judge to sentence him to more strokes of the cane for a shorter prison term as he feared being beaten by fellow inmates, a news report said yesterday. Saime Razman, 33, was sentenced to two strokes of the cane and three years' jail for attempting to rape a 31-year old pregnant woman in 2004. Saime was quoted by the Sun daily as saying, "I prefer to be whipped more times than to spend more time in jail because I will get beaten up by the other inmates." The judge, however, turned down the request.
■ Australia
Whisky driver hijacked
A truck driver was held up and kidnapped overnight by armed men who stole his rig loaded with pre-mixed alcoholic drinks, news reports said yesterday. The man was driving along a freeway around 100km north of Melbourne when three men in a car pulled alongside the truck and indicated he should pull over, news agency AAP reported. When he did so, they approached him with a gun, tied him up then forced him into the back seat of their car. He was driven towards Melbourne by his kidnappers and released eight hours later. The truck and its cargo of bourbon whisky drinks are still missing, police said.
■ Afghanistan
Suicide bomber kills 10
A suicide attacker blew up explosives strapped to his body in a central Afghan town yesterday during a visit by the US ambassador, killing 10 Afghans and wounding 50, Afghan officials said. The US Embassy and Afghan officials said Ambassador Ronald Neumann and other US officials were unhurt in the attack in Tirin Kot, the capital of Uruzgan Province. A purported Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility. Abdul Aziz, the deputy provincial governor, and Rhamatullah Rawofi, a local Afghan army commander, said 10 Afghans standing outside the building were killed. Aziz said 50 others had been wounded, including Uruzgan's deputy police chief. Fifteen of the wounded were in critical condition and had been rushed to hospitals.
■ Japan
Disputed islets to be studied
Japanese researchers are set to conduct underwater surveys around islets at the center of a dispute with China, officials said, stressing that the project was not politically motivated. Five researchers aboard the survey ship Koyomaru will gather data on sea temperature and salinity levels from the Okinotorishima islets, about 1,730km southwest of Tokyo, for several days from Jan. 10, National Fisheries University spokesman Masatake Kato said. Masanori Monde, head of the Institute of Ocean Energy, in Saga prefecture, a co-sponsor of the survey, said "This is a very preliminary survey, and it's too early to say whether we'll start any specific projects in the area.''
■ Japan
Tokyo calls for `sincerity'
Tokyo yesterday urged Beijing to "deal sincerely" with the death of a Japanese diplomat who according to Tokyo killed himself because he was being blackmailed by a Chinese agent. Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, the top government spokesman, contested the Chinese assertion that the Shanghai-based diplomat killed himself due to work stress. He reiterated Japan's view that the diplomat committed suicide in May 2004 due to "regrettable actions taken by local Chinese security personnel. "We hope that China will deal sincerely with the issue," Abe told a regular press conference.
■ Italy
Mussolini's captor dies
Urbano Lazzaro, the resistance fighter credited with arresting Benito Mussolini at the end of World War II, has died, hospital officials said on Wednesday. He was 81. Lazzaro died on Tuesday night after being hospitalized in Vercelli, a town between Milan and Turin, officials at the St. Andrea hospital said. Lazzaro, known to his comrades as "Partisan Bill," fought with a communist resistance group in northern Italy. In April 1945, with Nazi forces in full retreat and Italians rising up against the fascist puppet state of Salo, Mussolini fled north in a German convoy. Lazzaro was among a group of resistance fighters who stopped the retreating convoy on the shores of Lake Como.
■ Gaza
Couple avoid kidnapping
Palestinian gunmen briefly seized the parents of slain US activist Rachel Corrie as they visited the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, but relented after being confronted by a member of the security forces, witnesses said. They said Craig and Cindy Corrie, whose daughter was fatally run down by an Israeli bulldozer as she tried to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian building in 2003, were at the home of a friend in the Gaza town of Rafah when the gunmen arrived. The gunmen appeared set on kidnapping the two Americans, the witnesses said. But a local security officer intervened and the gunmen beat a retreat.
■ Russia
Chopper crash kills three
A civilian helicopter flew into power lines and crashed onto a frozen river northwest of Moscow yesterday, killing three people on board, an emergency official said. The craft, identified as a Robinson, went down in the Medveditsa River near Tver, about 160km northwest of the Russian capital, at around 3:30pm, the duty officer at the Emergency Situations Ministry said. The pilot and two passengers died after the helicopter hit the frozen ice, the officer said. There were conflicting reports about the helicopter's owner and where it was traveling at the time of the crash.
■ Germany
15th body recovered
Rescue services pulled a 15th and presumed last body early yesterday from the wreckage of a collapsed ice rink as the country asked how it could avoid a repeat of the tragedy. Chief fire officer Rudi Zeif identified the victim as a 40-year-old woman. "All those missing have now been recovered," Zeif said. The roof of the more than 30-year-old ice rink collapsed on Monday amid heavy snow. Some 50 people, mostly children enjoying the last days of their Christmas holidays, were inside at the time of the incident. Eighteen survivors required hospital treatment. All the dead and injured came from the area around Bad Reichenhall, a Bavarian town close to the Austrian border.
■ United States
Koppel joins Discovery
After coming close to a deal with HBO, Ted Koppel, the award-winning anchor of ABC News' Nightline who left that network in November, signed an agreement late on Tuesday to join the Discovery Channel, along with his longtime executive producer, Tom Bettag. The deal was announced on Wednesday morning. Koppel and Bettag, who will be joined by eight other former Nightline staff members, will produce a series of special news programs for Discovery.
■ United States
Vietnam deserter charged
Military prosecutors have charged a 65-year-old Florida man with deserting the Marine Corps during the Vietnam war solely to serve as an example to troops in Iraq, his lawyers claimed on Wednesday. The accusation was rejected by a Marines Corps spokeswoman, who said the Corps does not act against accused deserters to scare others in the ranks. Jerry Texiero is suspected of leaving Camp Pendleton, California, without permission in 1965. The Corps has held him since Dec. 14, said the spokeswoman. If convicted, he faces a sentence of up to three years in prison.
■ United States
Banned bullet killed Mexican
The US Border Patrol used a "dum-dum" bullet, banned in international war but standard issue for border agents, to kill an 18-year-old undocumented Mexican immigrant whose death last week angered Mexico. The hollow-point bullets, designed to expand on impact, cause much more tissue damage and bleeding than standard rounds. A Border Patrol spokesman said on Wednesday the bullet fired into Guillermo Martinez after he crossed the US border near San Diego on Friday was a .40-caliber hollow-point round. The ammunition is banned in international warfare under a century-old treaty but is standard issue for the Border Patrol and some US police departments.
■ United States
Artist hops across desert
An artist who chained his legs together to draw a picture of himself hopped 12 hours through the desert after realizing he lost the key and couldn't unlock the restraints, authorities said on Wednesday. Trevor Corneliusien, 26, tightly wrapped and locked a long, thick chain around his bare ankles while camping in an abandoned mine shaft about 8km north of Baker, San Bernardino County, sheriff's Deputy Ryan Ford said. When he finished his chain drawing, he realized he would have to seek help, the deputy said. Corneliusien finally made it to a gas station on the edge of Baker where he called the Sheriff's Department, which sent paramedics and deputies with bolt cutters.
■ United States
New Afghan prison wanted
The US wants to develop a high-security prison in Afghanistan to hold terrorism suspects, including some transferred from Guantanamo Bay, the Financial Times said yesterday. The US government has chosen the site of a former Soviet-era prison near Kabul the British newspaper reported. The newspaper also said that the US Army Corps of Engineers in Afghanistan issued a public notice last month for the renovation and construction of a cell block at the complex. The notice said the project would accommodate "detainees presently in sub-standard and/or overcrowded facilities."
■ United States
Quirky marriage ends
Before saying "I do" in 2001, Florida couple Sally Erickson and David Renzie agreed to a quirky prenuptial agreement. But the eccentric list of demands outlined in the agreement, which included mandatory backrubs and a US$5 fee for nagging, couldn't save their marriage. Now Erickson, 61, is suing Renzie, 62, for allegedly divorcing her in secret more than two years ago, according to Seminole County court records. Other conditions in the agreement included Erickson promising to cook breakfast a minimum of three times on weekdays and once on weekends. ``In return, Renzie will not wake Sally up on her `off days,''' the document said.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia