■ China
Thirty-one still missing
Rescuers have found two survivors and four bodies after a Panamanian freighter sank off China's southeastern coast with 37 people aboard, state television reported yesterday. Another 31 sailors were still missing following the sinking on Thursday off Pingtan Island in Fujian Province, China Central Television reported on its midday newscast. No details of the identities or nationalities of the dead or survivors were announced. The Hengda 1 sank after hitting a reef in stormy weather, according to the government. A rescue official said earlier that the ship was bound for Indonesia with a cargo of seafood.
■ India
Star gets jail for slaying deer
Bollywood film star, Salman Khan, has been sentenced to a year in jail for killing two rare deer, his lawyer said on Friday. A court in the western desert state of Rajasthan, where Khan shot the black buck, a protected species, in 1998 also slapped a fine of 5,000 rupees (US$112.5) on the star, known for his wild tantrums. Khan's lawyer, Hastimal Saraswat, said his client had indicated he would appeal the ruling to a higher court and was freed on a one-month bond. The black buck is revered as a sacred animal by the people of Rajasthan.
■ Philippines
Police on full alert
The 117,000-strong police force has been put on full alert nationwide due to a new coup plot against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and planned protests by groups seeking her ouster, a police official said yesterday. The red-alert status went into force on Friday night, requiring at least two-thirds of police personnel to be on standby, said police spokesman Senior Superintendent Samuel Pagdilao Jr. Arroyo met with the military's top brass at the presidential palace on Thursday to discuss security threats, including what a general described as a new coup plot against her by disgruntled soldiers.
■ South Korea
Uri Party selects new chair
Former Unification Minister Chung Dong-young was elected yesterday as the new chairman of the ruling Uri Party, securing the upper hand to become the party's candidate in next year's presidential election. Chung, who served as the government's point man on North Korea until December, received 4,450 votes, followed by his rival, former Health Minister Kim Geun-tae, with 3,847 votes at the party's annual convention. Chung, 53, will guide the party through local elections in May that will serve as a key indicator for its chances in next year's election to succeed President Roh Moo-hyun, whose single five-year term expires in February 2008.
■ Hong Kong
Boy dies in suitcase
A Chinese man and his Japanese wife were charged with the murder of their 10-year-old son yesterday after locking him in a suitcase, Hong Kong police said. The couple called the police on Thursday after they discovered the boy was unconscious. When officers arrived, the boy was in a coma. He was rushed to hospital and died early yesterday morning, after which the man, 49, and woman, 35, were charged with murder. It was not immediately known how long the boy had been locked inside the 1.22m by 0.61m suitcase that police found in the couple's apartment.
■ Germany
Ex-hostage returns to Iraq
Germany's Foreign Minister said on Friday former hostage Susanne Osthoff had returned to Iraq against his ministry's advice two months after it had helped win her release, and urged the archeologist to get out of Iraq. "I have learned it has been confirmed that she is again in Iraq," Frank-Walter Steinmeier said of Osthoff, 43, who was seized on Nov. 25 by gunmen and then released in December. "I can only hope that she leaves Iraq again as soon as possible." Osthoff, who converted to Islam and lived in Iraq, was seized heading north from Baghdad by gunmen who threatened in a videotape to kill her and her driver unless Germany ended all support for the Iraqi government.
■ Bjibouti
US helicopters crash
Two US Marine Corps helicopters have crashed in Africa off the coast of Djibouti and two injured crew members have been found alive but 10 are still missing, a Pentagon spokeswoman said on Friday. There was no reason to believe hostile fire was involved in the crash, CNN said, quoting US officials. "There is an investigation under way," said Tech Sergeant, Cindy Dorfner, a US Air Force spokeswoman in the Horn of Africa office. Each of the CH53 marine transport helicopters was carrying six crew members.
■ Iran
Russian nuke offer `useful'
A senior Iranian legislator on Friday called Russia's proposal to enrich uranium for Iran "useful" and said Tehran was open to talks with Europe and China. "What is important about the Russian proposal and some others is that they do not prevent Iran from making use of nuclear energy," Iran's parliament president Gholam Ali Hadad-Adel said. "If the Russian proposal does not violate any of the rules of the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA], we can study it," he said.
■ Zimbabwe
Mugabe slams ministers
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has accused some of his cabinet ministers of "self-centredness" and says they haven't met the goals he set them, reports said yesterday. In an unusual criticism of his closest lieutenants, the longtime Zimbabwean leader warned that "the fact that no-one has been axed so far [from cabinet] does not mean the chop is not coming," the state-controlled Herald newspaper reported. Shortly after parliamentary elections in March, Mugabe named what he called a "development cabinet," which was supposed to spearhead a turnaround in Zimbabwe's battered economic fortunes.
■ Iran
Two die in border clashes
Two supporters of the former Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) were killed in clashes with Iranian police along the Iranian-Turkish border, ISNA news agency reported yesterday. The governor of Maku in northwest Iran told ISNA that leaflets were distributed among Kurdish residents in the border city calling for a gathering at the Bazargan border crossing to commemorate the anniversary of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan's arrest. The governor said that despite a ban by Iranian authorities on such a gathering, Kurds gathered on Thursday at the crossing and tried to occupy the customs office. Clashes broke out between the group and Iranian border guards, during which two demonstrators were killed and five injured.
■ Canada
Five die in blizzard pile-ups
Over 100 vehicles piled up and five people died on Friday in two separate crashes caused by strong winds and blowing snow in eastern Canada, police said. Four people died after 38 vehicles collided on a highway outside Ottawa, officials said. Dozens more were injured in a pile-up east of Montreal after some 60 vehicles slammed into each other, leaving at least one person dead. Meanwhile, a freight train was left hanging off a bridge west of Montreal after a derailment, and electricity was knocked out at 154,000 homes, also blamed on bad weather.
■ Colombia
Horse bomb kills two
A bomb strapped on a horse exploded outside a Colombian police station, killing two civilians and injuring nine, authorities said on Friday. It was unclear who was behind the bombing in the city of Cali. At least nine other people were killed in fresh clashes between Colombian soldiers and left-wing Revolutionary Armed Revolutionary Forces, authorities said. Rebel attacks have increased in recent weeks ahead of parliamentary elections in March and the presidential poll in May.
■ United States
Police seek blowtorch bandit
A robber who used a blowtorch to threaten a drug store worker and a gas station clerk was being sought for two failed heists, authorities said on Friday. The man went into the store and demanded cash. He pulled a self-igniting propane torch out of a bag, lit it and pointed the 60cm flame at a worker, authorities said. The clerk refused to give him money and yelled at the man, who fled. About 15 minutes later, however, he pulled the torch on a gas station cashier, San Diego County sheriff's deputies said. The cashier pulled a stick from behind the counter and began to hit the robber, who fought back with the blowtorch and then ran outside. The station worker was not injured.
■ United States
Laser pointer sentenced
A man who pleaded guilty to shining a laser beam at a passing airplane, temporarily blinding the pilot and co-pilot, was sentenced to two years of probation in federal court on Friday. David Banach, 39, of Parsippany, New Jersey, could have faced up to 20 years in jail but reached a plea deal in which prosecutors agreed not to pursue charges that he lied when questioned by federal agents. Banach's lawyer said her client was in his backyard with his 7-year-old daughter on Dec. 29, 2004, using a handheld laser pointer to illustrate the stars, when the green beam shined into the cockpit of a passing Cessna Citation plane. Two days later, one of the Cessna pilots was joining federal agents in a police helicopter to search for the site of the laser appearance when another laser crossed near the cockpit. Banach was arrested soon after.
■ United States
Fingertip faker nabbed
A man who had his fingertips surgically removed to avoid identification was sentenced to 10 years in jail on charges of drug trafficking, according to a media report. Jesus Jimenez-Mejia, 29, pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Federal prosecutors said Jimenez-Mejia was deported to Mexico from Texas, in 1996 and illegally returned to the US after having his fingertips surgically altered to make fingerprint comparison impossible. Assistant US Attorney Bud Ellis said Jimenez-Mejia had his fingertips replaced with fingertips from another person. He said it was not known where the new fingertips came from.
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
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
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the