■ China
Last `gang' member dies
Yao Wenyuan (姚文元), the final surviving member of the Gang of Four blamed for political violence during China's 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, has died, the government said yesterday. Yao was 74. Yao died of diabetes on Dec. 23, the official Xinhua news agency reported. The Gang of Four, led by Jiang Qing (江青), the wife of then-Chinese leader Mao Zedong (毛澤東), was blamed for persecuting thousands of people during the Cultural Revolution. The Gang was arrested in 1976 after Mao's death. Yao spent 20 years in prison and was released in 1996, Xinhua said.
■ China
Fossil smugglers sentenced
A Chinese-Canadian academic and five other people have been sentenced to prison for trafficking nearly 3,000 dinosaur and other fossils from China, the government said yesterday. The case is the biggest known crime of its kind, the official Xinhua news agency said. Zhu Chunlin (朱春林), a 46-year-old Canadian, was given a seven-year sentence on Thursday by the Jinhua Municipal Intermediate People's Court in Zhejiang Province, the report said.
■ India
Truck plunge kills nine
A truck loaded with construction material swerved off a mountain road and plunged into a river gorge in northern India, killing all nine people on board, including seven from Nepal, an official said yesterday. The accident occurred late on Thursday night near the mountain town of Almora, located in the Himalayan foothills in India's Uttar Pradesh state, M.B.S. Chawla, a government official, said. Chawla said some of the workers were perched atop construction material while others were at the rear of the vehicle.
■ Japan
Man kidnaps newborn
A man walked into a hospital room in northern Japan early yesterday morning and kidnapped a 10-day-old infant from his mother's side, police said. The man -- wearing red-framed glasses, a black leather jacket, white pants and a white mask -- entered the third-floor room at Hikarigaoka Spellman Hospital in Sendai city and distracted the woman by claiming there was a fire, state police spokesman Toshinori Kitaki said. The man then snatched the baby and fled through an emergency exit, Kitaki said. The mother, Yumi Yamada, 23, was unhurt in the pre-dawn break-in, he said.
■ Malaysia
Cinnamon good for diabetics
Researchers have found new proof that cinnamon can relieve diabetes by lowering sugar levels, a report said yesterday. A three-year study carried out by the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia showed that the spice has positive effects on Type II diabetes, the kind which typically develops during adulthood, the Star newspaper said. Research chief Mohammad Roji said herbalists all over the world used cinnamon to treat diarrhea and arthritis because of its ability to improve circulation, heal wounds and prevent ulcers and allergies. "In the last decade, laboratory studies have also revealed that cinnamon extract mimicked insulin action in the cells," he said, according to the daily.
■ Japan
More snow forecast
The nation braced for more snow yesterday after some of the heaviest snowfall on record that has left at least 28 people dead and paralyzed transport. Almost 4m of snow have piled up in the worst-hit areas of Niigata near the Japan Sea coast, though the snowiest season of the year is yet to come. Television pictures showed drifts burying the ground floors of houses and almost covering street lamps. Many train passengers were left stranded as services, including the high-speed bullet trains connecting Akita Preferecture with Tokyo, came to a halt. Japan's Meteorological Agency said heavier-than-usual snowfall would likely continue through the month.
■ Pakistan
Bus struck by landslide
A bus carrying 39 passengers was struck by a landslide apparently loosened by this week's rains in northwestern Pakistan, injuring 19 passengers and killing one person, police said yesterday. The accident happened on Thursday on a mountainous road in Kohistan, a town about 350km northeast of Peshawar, said Zarin Khan, an area police official. He said nine people were still trapped in the wreckage of the bus. Khan said rescue work was underway.
■ Cyprus
Partition costs lovers dearly
A Greek Cypriot woman ended up in court and a Turkish man was deported after their affair crossed the boundaries of politics in ethnically-divided Cyprus. The couple were arrested when the woman tried to bring her boyfriend into the Greek Cypriot side of Cyprus on Dec. 31 so they could see in the New Year together. The Turkish man, a student, was considered an illegal immigrant and arrested. The woman was accused of harboring an illegal immigrant and freed on a 1,000 Cyprus pound (US$2,106) bond. "He was deported. Back to Turkey through Athens," a police source told reporters on Thursday.
■ United Kingdom
Kennedy admits problem
The embattled leader of Britain's opposition Liberal Democrat Party called on Thursday for an immediate leadership contest and acknowledged he had been treated for a drinking problem. Charles Kennedy, 46, an affable Scotsman who has led the party since 1999, said he had not taken alcohol for two months and was still capable of leading Britain's third largest party. But amid growing calls for him to resign, he said the issue should be decided by party members in a ballot and called for any colleagues who wished to stand against him to enter the race. "People close to me know that this has been a struggle and that for extended periods I've consumed no alcohol at all," Kennedy said in a televised address.
■ Ukraine
Bird flu outbreak suspected
A new outbreak of suspected bird flu has been discovered in a village near Simferopol on the Crimean peninsula, Ukrainian television reported on Thursday. A large number of fowl have died in Soniatchne village and preliminary analysis confirmed the presence of the virus, local officials told the Kanal 5 television station. It is not yet known if the latest outbreak is the deadly H5N1 strain which has killed almost 70 people, mainly in east Asia. The presence of the H5N1 strain was first confirmed in Ukraine's Crimea region last month.
■ France
ETA suspect freed
French police have released a suspected member of the Basque separatist group ETA in the southwestern town of Bayonne according to a statement by Askatasuna, an association for the defence of Basque political prisoners. Xabier Perez Susperregi, 45, was arrested on Thursday after taking his son to school Askatasuna said. Spain had issued a European warrant for his arrest for his suspected links with ETA. The reasons for his release were not clear. Perez Susperregi was previously arrested in France in 1991 as part of an operation to break up an ETA unit, but was cleared at a trial in 1993.
■ Egypt
Deportations halted
Egyptian authorities have postponed their planned deportation of at least 600 Sudanese migrants. They remain in detention after being forced from a park where they had camped for months, demanding to be relocated to other countries by the UN. About 27 people died last week when police stormed the encampment. Then on Tuesday, Egyptian officials said that hundreds of the migrants would be deported because they were either illegal immigrants or had "violated security conditions." Egyptian officials did not say why the decision was reversed, but it appeared that diplomatic considerations had overruled security procedures.
■ United States
Man mistaken for terrorist
An airline passenger with the words "suicide bomber" written in his journal was arrested when his plane arrived in San Jose, California, on Wednesday, but the words appeared to refer to music and he was later released, officials said. "A male was observed by his fellow passengers as having a journal and handwritten in the journal were the words `suicide bomber,'" FBI spokeswoman LaRae Quy said. "That, combined with the fact that he was clutching a backpack, and then finally he was acting a little suspiciously" prompted law enforcement to act.
■ United States
Bus line debuts disaster tour
An international bus line launched tours of devastated sections of New Orleans on Wednesday, amid controversy over whether so-called disaster tourism would help, hurt or humiliate the hurricane-ravaged city. Two sold-out Gray Line tour busses slowly prowled along the city's broken levees, through its rubble-strewn streets and past the heavily damaged Superdome where desperate residents took shelter when Hurricane Katrina hit on Aug. 29 and most of the city flooded in the aftermath. Plans for the "Hurricane Katrina -- America's Worst Catastrophe" tour, at US$35 per person, prompted debate over whether it is appropriate or exploitative to turn devastation into a tourist attraction.
■ United States
Schwarzenegger apologizes
An uncharacteristically humble Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger apologized to the voters of California on Thursday night and proposed a series of policies that represent a dramatic return to the political center after an ill-fated lurch to the right last year. In his annual State of the State message, Schwarzenegger said he had gone against the people's will by sponsoring a costly special election in November that was widely seen as an effort to punish public employees and Democratic lawmakers. The public decisively rejected all four of the governor's initiatives. "It's true I was in too much of a hurry and I've learned my lesson," Schwarzenegger said.
■ United States
Valet girls prove popular
Take a few leggy California blondes, throw in a passion for luxury cars, plenty of parties and a distaste for parking your own car. What have you got? A multimillion-dollar, female valet parking business. Beverly Hills, California-based Girls Valet Parking opened for business less than six months ago. "Given the option of hiring acne-riddled teenage boys in red vests, or beautiful and sexy models and actresses trained in safety and hospitality, we're betting our success that [most] will prefer the latter," company founder Brad Saltzman said on Wednesday.
■ Venezuela
Radioactive material stolen
Thieves have stolen equipment containing radioactive material used in the oil industry, in the latest in a string of similar incidents, officials said on Wednesday. Angel Diaz, head of the energy ministry's nuclear affairs department, warned the Cesium-137 material could cause contamination if exposed. The equipment, used in oil prospecting, was stolen last week in eastern Anzoategui State. "If you take this material out, it could cause contamination," Diaz told reporters. Authorities arrested three police officers in December after they were linked to the robbery of a truck carrying a device containing Iridium-192, used to check oil pipelines.
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
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
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not