■ Philippines
Landslides kill five
Pounding rains triggered landslides and flooded six villages in the south over the weekend, killing at least five people and forcing 600 others into emergency shelters, officials said yesterday. Landslides and floodwaters damaged or blocked portions of a major road leading into the villages in Kapatagan town in Lanao del Norte Province, making it difficult for rescue workers to access the affected villages, police said. Water was so deep in some neighborhoods that residents were forced to climb on top of their shanties, where they waited for hours for rescue, officials said.
■ China
Top official in Tehran
A top official in charge of nuclear nonproliferation issues headed to Iran yesterday, state media said, amid international efforts to persuade Tehran to give up its nuclear program. The official Xinhua news agency said Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai (崔天凱) would discuss nuclear issues and other topics of mutual concern with Iranian officials. The brief report gave no other details. Iran vowed this month to expand uranium enrichment, defying a UN Security Council deadline for it to suspend its nuclear activities by Aug. 22 or face the threat of political and economic sanctions. Tehran has denounced the July 31 UN nuclear vote as illegal.
■ Malaysia
Horse patrols begin
Police have started using horses to patrol Kuala Lumpur's major shopping zone in a move to clamp down on petty thefts and robberies as well as encourage tourism, a news report said yesterday. The police horse unit, which had previously only been used during riots and for crowd control, was chosen for its maneuverability. "They will be able to cover more ground, especially in crowded areas and alleys," district police chief Kamal Pasha Jamal said.
■ China
Bills to help displaced
The state plans to hike electricity bills to help pay for a new compensation package for some 22 million people forced to relocate for dam and reservoir projects, state media said yesterday, amid rising public anger over graft. The official Xinhua news agency said the central government will pay those displaced people 600 yuan (US$75) a year over 20 years, with money transferred directly into their bank accounts to prevent local officials from skimming profits off the fund. The program, announced on Sunday by the State Development and Reform Commission, is meant to relieve poverty among displaced communities and help to restore social stability, Xinhua said.
■ New Zealand
Industry fails in flab fight
The food, media and advertising industries have failed to tackle a growing trend toward obesity, despite their voluntary accord two years ago to trim the nation's expanding waistline, a researcher said yesterday. Half of those aged 15 and over are overweight or obese and their numbers are increasing, according to recent government figures. But Janet Hoek, a marketing professor at Massey University, said that her review of results so far showed that stronger measures were needed, and that it was time for the government to step in. "Foods high in fat, salt and sugar are still regularly advertised and discounted, and consumers are rewarded with loyalty gifts and competition entries for purchasing them," she said.
■ Iran
Ahmadinejad launches blog
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has launched his own blog. The hardline leader's debut on the international blogosphere came in the form of a 2,300-word tract that asked readers to decide if the US and Israel were trying to start a new world war. Ahmadinejad, who has identified himself with Iran's army of poor people, also described his humble origins in an impoverished rural village. His entry into the mass ranks of bloggers marks the latest step in a concerted effort to communicate directly with ordinary Iranians over the heads of the elites.
■ Iran
Activist fasts in protest
One of the nation's most famous political dissidents has gone on hunger strike to protest his imprisonment. Ahmad Batebi, of the country's student pro-democracy movement, told his family he would fast after being arrested more than two weeks ago in a crackdown on political activists. Close relatives say he is in a section of Tehran's Evin prison for political prisoners run by the feared intelligence ministry. Batebi, 28, gained fame when he was photographed during a 1999 rally holding the bloodied T-shirt of a fellow protester.
■ Germany
Docs slam grubby Germans
The stereotype of German tidiness and cleanliness has received a blow from health experts who say that Germans are making themselves and others sick because they do not wash their hands or change their underwear often enough. "As a nation, we have become dangerously lax about the most fundamental behavior concerning personal hygiene and health safety," according to the report by the German Hygiene Council compiled by eight leading health experts. "On the contrary, it has become fashionable, even trendy to refuse to inoculate your children and to take the attitude that too much cleanliness is actually bad for you," says Martin Exner, managing director of the Institute of Hygiene and Public Health at the University of Bonn.
■ France
Mystery feline on the loose
Scores of policemen, some armed with shotguns, are hunting a mysterious big black feline spotted in northern France, officers said. The operation was launched last Wednesday near the town of Boulogne-sur-Mer after several people first raised the alarm on seeing what they described as a "panther" about 1.2m long on a popular beach. Some 80 officers and a helicopter were immediately deployed on a search, but they failed to find their quarry. Belgian tourists and residents then reported seeing it on Friday, and on Saturday people out strolling saw it in the middle of a cornfield. Police finally spotted the feline through binoculars. One officer said it that it disappeared into forested areas, frustrating efforts to catch it or kill it.
■ United States
Protester mocks Islam
A protester staked out the home of a Muslim candidate for the Maryland House of Delegates, holding a sign and wearing a T-shirt that mocked Islam. Timothy Truett sat in a folding chair on Saturday on the street outside Saqib Ali's home in Gaithersburg with a sign reading "Islam sucks," and a shirt with the slogan, "This mind is an Allah-free zone." Montgomery County police sent a trespass notification form to Truett warning that he would be subject to arrest on trespassing charges if he steps onto Ali's property within the next year.
‘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
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
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in