■ China
Eight more miners perish
A gas explosion at a coal mine has killed eight miners and trapped an unknown number just days after a flood at another mine stranded 57 underground, official media reported yesterday. Monday's accident in the northern province of Henan, following last week's flooding at a pit in neighboring Shanxi province, reinforces China's reputation for running the world's deadliest mining industry. The owner of the unlicensed Henan mine and some of his officials had fled.
■ Thailand
Holiday gone wrong
A Thai court on Wednesday sentenced a British man to 10 years in prison for killing his girlfriend during an argument on the resort island of Phuket, a court official said. Paul Chetwynd-Talbot, of Bristol, said when he was arrested last August that he had thrown 31-year-old Debra O'Hanlon on a bed during a drunken argument, apparently breaking her neck. He then tried to kill himself by slitting his wrists. Phuket provincial judge Noparat Suwanakul sentenced Chetwynd-Talbot to 10 years in prison.
■ Japan
Teach your children well
The prime minister yesterday denied criticism that a bill revising the education law to teach ``love of the nation'' and other patriotic themes would promote militarism. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said criticism of the bill -- drafted by the ruling coalition and approved by the Cabinet on April 28 -- was based on a "contorted view." "We are not intending a law that would draw us into war. The bill [places] heavy importance on an education suitable for a new era and is aimed at nurturing admirable manpower for the benefit of Japan," he told a parliamentary committee.
■ Malaysia
Confiscated drugs missing
Drugs seized during 12 police raids in Malaysia last year went missing from a vault where they were being kept as evidence, a news report said yesterday. The drugs went missing from Kota Bahru police headquarters in Kelantan State, and included more than 1,000 psychotropic pills, seven grams of heroin, and 0.4l of a banned cough syrup mixture, the New Straits Times reported. Also missing were investigation papers relating to trafficking and drug possession implicating at least 10 suspects, the report said. The drugs were estimated to have a street value of about 40,000 ringgit (US$11,000).
■ Australia
Fat pets a big worry
The nation's animal lovers may be loving animals to death as they pass on rising levels of obesity by overfeeding their cats and dogs, the country's main animal welfare body says. Obesity rates for Australians have doubled over the past 20 years, with 62 percent of men and 45 percent of women now deemed overweight or obese. The same trend applies to household pets, said the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), which even had one case of an obese pet mouse. Lawrie said surveys had found that between 40 and 44 percent of dogs and more than one in three household cats were now overweight, due to poor diet and a lack of exercise.
■ Indonesia
Suharto feeling better
Ailing former president Suharto has started recognizing family members and is conscious for longer periods, but his health remains critical, doctors said yesterday. The former autocrat, who turns 85 next month, was admitted to hospital early this month due to bleeding in his digestive system, which lowered his body's oxygen level, including to his brain. His health worsened on Tuesday due to fresh internal bleeding, but a doctor, Adji Suprajitno, said the bleeding had since stopped. Indonesia's attorney-general said this month that his office had stopped pursuing graft charges against Suharto because of his poor health. His illness had prevented his prosecution on charges of corruption.
■ Australia
Solomons troops to be cut
Australian Defense Minister Brendan Nelson said yesterday he would soon cut the number of troops deployed to the Solomon Islands last month to restore law and order after the election of a new prime minister sparked riots. Nearly 500 troops and an extra 120 police from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga and Papua New Guinea were sent to the Solomon's capital, Honiara, to quell protests over the election of Snyder Rini, which spiraled into violent rioting and looting. "We will commence a withdrawal of a number of our defense force elements very shortly and continuing over the next two weeks," Nelson told parliament.
■ India
`Da Vinci' to have warning
The Da Vinci Code will be released in movie theaters tomorrow -- one week late -- after the censor board and the film's distributor reached an agreement to display a statement saying the film is fiction. The movie didn't hit movie theaters at the time of its worldwide release last week because of negotiations over the statement. After protests by Roman Catholic groups against the movie, the censor board cleared it without any cuts but ruled last week that only adults could watch the film, and that a statement saying it was fiction must be displayed.
■ Congo
30 foreigners arrested
The government said on Wednesday it had arrested 30 foreigners, including Nigerians, Americans and South Africans, in a suspected coup plot ahead of elections set for July 30. "About 30 people claiming to work for a security company have been arrested. They say they were working for the company but our information suggests they had other intentions," government spokesman Henri Mova Sakanyi said. "They wanted to destabilize the institutions of the country, that means a coup attempt."
■ Finland
Taxpayers should be happy
People should be happy about paying some of highest income taxes in Europe. At least that's what Finland's new Happy Taxpayers' Association says. The association wants people to focus on the public services they receive rather than dwelling on negative thoughts about income tax. "I don't think there is another official association like ours in the world," group vice-president Anna Tommola said on Monday. She was speaking after the association, boasting some 250 members, was recognized by the national board of patents and registrations.
■ Hungary
Apes enjoy red wine
Monkeys and apes in Budapest's Zoo drink their way through 55 liters of red wine each year, albeit in small quantities each day, to help boost their red blood cells, the zoo said on Monday. Budapest Zoo spokesman Zoltan Hanga said it was the 11 anthropoid apes who drank most of the wine last year. "Obviously, they do not have it all at once and get drunk, but they get it in small amounts mixed in their tea," Hanga said. "And it's not Eger Bulls Blood or some expensive wine that they are getting but simple table wine, as it's mainly good for their blood cells."
■ qatar
Number fetches millions
A special mobile phone number has been auctioned for 10 million riyals (US$2.8 million), the state-owned news agency QNA said on Tuesday. Eight participants at an auction dinner held in Doha by the national telecommunications company Qtel pushed up the stakes for the number 6666666, which was being offered for the first time. The identity of the highest bidder was not divulged. Proceeds from the sale will go towards a charity project to upgrade the sewerage system in one of the Gulf Arab state's less-privileged regions, it added. The country has the world's third largest gas reserves, and is currently enjoying an unprecedented economic boom thanks to record energy prices.
■ lithuania
Record drunk driver
Police were so astonished when a truck driver's breathalyzer test registered 18 times the legal alcohol limit that they thought their testing device must be broken. It wasn't. Police said on Tuesday that 41-year-old Vidmantas Sungaila registered 7.27 grams per liter of alcohol in his blood repeatedly on different devices when he was pulled over for driving his truck down the center of a two-lane highway 100km from the capital, Vilnius, on Saturday. The legal limit is 0.4 grams per liter. "This guy should have been lying dead, but he was still driving. It must be an unofficial national record," said Saulius Skvernelis, the director of the national police traffic control service. "He was in high spirits and grinning the whole time."
■ United States
Burglars to pay in next life
Karma probably was not on the mind of thieves who stole a 270kg gold concrete Buddha from a Florida restaurant. The owners of Sakura Restaurant and Steak House of Japan said they don't know how the thieves made off with the weighty sculpture. "It's definitely like a three-man work," owner Ado Tarallo said. "It's very heavy. It's not that easy to move." The statue had sat in the restaurant's rock garden on top of a large water fountain for 16 years. The 1m statue cost US$1,500, Tarallo said.
■ Peru
Toledo complains to Chile
President Alejandro Toledo said on Tuesday that he has complained to Chilean President Michelle Bachelet that former Peruvian leader Alberto Fujimori was interfering in next month's elections with his statements from Chile. Fujimori was freed on bail last week by Chile's top court pending an extradition trial to face charges ranging from abuse of power and graft to sanctioning a paramilitary death squad during his 1990-2000 government. Over the weekend, Fujimori said his 30-year-old daughter, Keiko, who was elected to Peru's Congress in April 9 elections, will announce which presidential candidate will get Fujimori's support in a June 4 runoff. "I relayed my concern that an accused person is set free to campaign politically," Toledo told reporters. Bachelet said her government has asked Chile's Supreme Court to ensure that Fujimori avoids making political comments.
■ United States
Mother claims `God told me'
A woman accused of murdering her three young sons by tossing them into frigid San Francisco Bay said God summoned her to sacrifice her children, her lawyer said on Tuesday. Lashuan Harris, 23, who faces three counts of murder in last October's drownings, was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic with delusional thought disorder, defense lawyer Teresa Caffese said at Harris' preliminary hearing in San Francisco Superior Court. "The voice of God called upon her to sacrifice her three children," Caffese told the judge. The hearing will decide whether there is enough evidence for a trial. The children ranged in age from 16 months to six years.
■ United States
`Stargazer' arrested
A man who got stuck in a California home's chimney claimed he fell in when he climbed onto the roof to look at stars. But police arrested him for investigation of residential burglary. "I've read and heard of things like that before but I've never seen it," said Brawley Fire Captain Manuel Sevilla. "The situation, it was more funny than anything." Police said the 27-year-old man told them he got stuck near the bottom of the chimney on Friday night and removed his pants and waved them around to set off the home's motion detectors. Officers responded twice to the home on Saturday morning but saw no signs of an intruder. They returned after neighbors reported commotion coming from the home.
■ Venezuela
Stone denies movie claim
Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone and British producer John Daly are denying claims by President Hugo Chavez on Sunday that they planned to make a film about a 2002 coup that briefly unseated him. "Rumors that I am directing a film about the 2002 coup in Venezuela are untrue and unfounded," Stone said in a statement e-mailed by his publicist on Tuesday. Daly also said in the statement that there had been "no discussions" for such a film.
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