■ Japan
`Mad' cows to be torched
Forty-five cows at a farm in the north are suspected of having mad cow disease and will be destroyed, officials said yesterday. A cow that died at the farm on the northern island of Hokkaido was confirmed on Jan. 24 to be Japan's 22nd case of the disease. It was not raised for food and posed no danger to the country's beef supply, officials said. Following that death, Hokkaido banned the farm from moving any of its 432 cows, Hokkaido Prefectural official Osamu Terada said. Yesterday, Hokkaido officials determined that 43 adult cows and two calves at the farm are suspected of having mad cow disease and will be incinerated, he said.
■ Australia
Senate frowns on drug ban
Senators hoping to clear an abortion pill for use in the country voted yesterday to strip authority for regulating the drug from the health minister -- an outspoken Catholic who opposes abortion. The Senate voted 45 to 28 to take regulatory control over the abortion pill mifepristone (RU-486) away from Health Minister Tony Abbott and hand it to the country's main drug regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration. The bill now moves to the House of Representatives for a vote next week.
■ Cambodia
Khmer Rouge trial next year
The UN and Cambodia said yesterday the genocide trial of former dictator Pol Pot's top surviving Khmer Rouge henchmen, who are blamed for the deaths of 1.7 million people, should begin in earnest next year. However, neither side set even a vague start date for the long-awaited tribunal, which has been dogged by years of tortuous negotiations and accusations of bad faith from both sides.
■ India
`Lost' prisoner discovered
The Supreme Court has asked a lower court for the details of a murder after it discovered that a man has spent 38 years in jail without a trial because police lost his papers, a lawyer said yesterday. Jagjivan Ram Yadav has never appeared in court although he has been incarcerated for nearly four decades in Faizabad town, about 150km south-east of Uttar Pradesh's capital, Lucknow. "It is inhuman to see a man languishing in jails because there is no one to pursue his case," said I.B. Singh, convenor of lawyers group, which has taken up the cause. Yadav, 70, is charged with the murder of a married woman in 1968.
■ India
Russian rocket deal inked
A US$500 million deal with Russia has been signed for Smerch long-range surface-to-surface multiple rocket systems, a news report said yesterday. The 300mm BM 9A52-2 rocket systems will be inducted in two Army artillery regiments. The deal was inked on Dec. 31 after nearly five years of negotiations, the IANS news agency reported, quoting Defense Ministry sources. The multi-barrel rocket system is capable of firing six types of rockets to a range of 70km. Thirty kilometers further than the range of the 155mm howitzers with the army. Deliveries of the rocket systems which begin this year are due to be completed by 2008.
■ Bangladesh
Textile blaze kills workers
A fire broke out at a textiles factory outside the capital early yesterday, killing at least five people and injuring several others, an official said. The fire occurred at Shamim Textiles Mills in Shafipur town, about 30km north of Dhaka, fire official Abdus Salam said. Rescuers pulled out five charred bodies from the debris, he said. Several injured people, including a firefighter, were taken to a hospital, the official said. United News of Bangladesh, a news agency, put the death toll at seven and said more bodies were feared trapped in the debris. Nearly 500 people were working at the factory when the fire broke out, the agency said, quoting unnamed witnesses.
■ India
Riot deaths re-examined
Police have reopened nearly 1,600 cases related to communal violence in the western state of Gujarat in 2002 in which some 2,000 people were killed, a top official said yesterday. Police will also hold inquiries into the conduct of 41 police officials who investigated the bloodletting. The move comes after India's Supreme Court asked police in Gujarat to reinvestigate 2,020 cases it had closed. Human rights groups accuse the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party state government of turning a blind eye to the riots, in which Muslims were targeted. They also accuse the police of helping the rioting mobs and hushing up police cases against the accused after the violence.
■ Japan
Web suicides increasing
Police said yesterday that 91 people died in suicide pacts arranged through the Internet last year, up 65 percent from 2004 as the trend continues to soar. Authorities have been seeking ways to curb the phenomenon, in which people who are often strangers form pacts online to support one another as they die. The number of deaths was 55 in 2004 and 34 in 2003 when police started compiling data on the growing trend. About 40 percent of the 91 who died last year were in their 20s. The number of online suicide pacts rose to 34 from 19 in 2004, the national police agency said.
■ Israel
Rights group calls for probe
The international watchdog group Human Rights Watch on Wednesday demanded that the military investigate the recent shooting deaths of two Palestinian children. On Jan. 23, soldiers shot and killed a 13-year-old boy on a West Bank road used by Jewish settlers near the Palestinian village of Mughayer. On Jan. 26, soldiers shot dead a nine-year-old girl near Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip. The group said international standards require the use of lethal force only when it is "strictly unavoidable in order to protect life."
■ United States
CIA officer accused of theft
Virginia police said they had charged CIA administrative officer George Dalmas with a string of 17 robberies which netted goods worth tens of thousands of dollars. Dalmas, 44, has been held in jail since his arrest last week. A judge set bond conditions at US$1.65 million at a preliminary hearing. The Washington Post reported that among items nabbed from homes were 1,000 pieces of women's underwear, a haul of antiques, jewelry and car license plates. Police in Fairfax County said the crime spree took place between last October and Jan. 24. The Post reported that some of the houses belonged to CIA employees.
■ United States
Kiss of life saves chicken
A retired Arkansas nurse saved her brother's chicken, Boo Boo, by administering mouth-to-beak resuscitation last week after the fowl was found floating face down in the family's pond. Marian Morris said she had not had any cardiopulmonary resuscitation practice in years, but she was interested to see if she "still had it." "I breathed into its beak, and its dadgum eyes popped open," Morris said. "I breathed into its beak again, and its eyes popped open again. I said, `I think this chicken's alive now. Keep it warm.'"
■ Germany
Penguins remain `gay'
Shy female penguins sent to seduce "homosexual" male Humboldt penguins in a German zoo have failed to break up any of the male-male twosomes, officials said on Wednesday. Bremerhaven Zoo has far too many male penguins, while Kolmarden Zoo in Sweden has an oversupply of females. At Bremerhaven, the birds, which find new mates every year, form all-male pairs and adopt pebbles as if they were eggs. Last year, officials said the females had arrived too late for pairing. And this year, the birds arrived in time, but were too shy.
■ Israel
Mile-high sex offered
An Israeli company is now offering a romantic experience at an altitude of9,144m. During the 45-minute flight from Tel Aviv, a couple can enjoy the luxury of a romantically decorated bedroom equipped with different accessories, the Yediot Aharonot daily reported on Wednesday. Passengers also receive a complimentary basket with wine and chocolates, as well as condoms and other sex accessories. The flight costs US$200.
■ Netherlands
Students urged to jump
Students at the Haagse Hogeschool can score points towards their final result by taking a course in parachuting. The course, "The Sky is the Limit," aims to help students cope with stress, learn to focus and to experience the importance of group dynamics. The school says there has been an enthusiastic response.
■ United States
Shark smugglers indicted
A federal grand jury has indicted a church pastor and five others for trying to catch and sell small leopard sharks found off the Pacific Coast, officials said on Wednesday. In a Jan. 24 indictment unsealed on Tuesday and announced on Wednesday, the Attorney for Northern California said the group harvested thousands of sharks smaller than 36 inches (91cm), which are protected by law. Then about 465 were sold to pet trade distributors in the US, the Netherlands and Britain, according to the indictment. One of the accused men, Kevin Thompson, 48, was a pastor at a San Leandro, California church which co-owns a boat. Several others charged had links to aquariums.
■ United States
200 evacuated from building
A suspected nerve agent set off an alarm at a US Senate office building on Wednesday night, forcing the evacuation of about 200 people, including several senators, police and witnesses said. Tests on the material showed it was not a nerve agent, police said, and no one was showing any symptoms. Tests were continuing. The Russell Office building, across the street from the US Capitol where Congress meets, was evacuated after an alarm sounded indicating the possible presence of a nerve agent, police said. Two groups of people in hazardous material suits walked into the building after the security scare.
■ United States
Activist denied entry to US
Jose Bove, the militant French farmer and anti-globalization activist best known for ransacking a McDonald's restaurant near his home in 1999, was stopped at an airport upon arrival, denied entry by customs officials and put on a plane back to France. Bove, who had been invited to speak at an event sponsored by Cornell University, was not eligible to enter the US under the visa waiver program, US Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman Janet Rapaport said on Wednesday. Bove had been set to speak yesterday in New York at an event sponsored by Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
■ United States
Teen murder trial begins
The murder trial began on Wednesday in the case of a teenage girl who killed a friend and dismembered her body in an argument over a boy. Prosecutors say Sarah Kolb killed 16-year-old Adrianne Reynolds in January last year after the two fought in Kolb's car. Prosecutors say Kolb, 17, and a teenage boy who was in the car with them killed Reynolds, then later burned and dismembered her body and hid the remains. Kolb, 17, is charged with first-degree murder and concealing a homicide. Her first trial ended in a mistrial last fall after jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of conviction. The other teen, Cory Gregory, 18, is scheduled to stand trial on May 1.
■ United States
Drilling ban may end
Officials in Washington on Wednesday proposed lifting a ban on oil and natural gas drilling off Virginia's coast and in an area off Florida. The Interior Department hopes drilling in areas where it is currently banned will boost US oil and natural gas supplies at a time of high energy prices and reliance on foreign suppliers. Energy companies say they could help meet growing demand if they get access to offshore areas where drilling is not allowed. Environmentalists oppose more drilling, and urge more conservation and development of alternatives to oil and gas.
‘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