■ China
Quake kills one in Yunnan
One person was killed and 31 injured by a moderate earthquake that struck southwestern China, toppling buildings and forcing thousands of people from their homes, state media reported yesterday. More than 1,500 houses were destroyed when the quake, measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale, struck the counties of Yanjin, Daguan, Yiliang and Suijiang in Yunnan Province at midday on Friday, Xinhua news agency quoted the Ministry of Civil Affairs as saying. It said that 10 of the injured were in serious condition, and added that 45,520 people had been relocated. "Many houses collapsed and water, electricity, communication and transport facilities have been damaged," Xinhua quoted a ministry notice as saying. Officials had sent tents, food and medicine to the quake zone, it said.
■ China
Auditor dies of `gluttony'
A 25-year-old auditor apparently ate and drank himself to death while he was supposed to be inspecting a government department, a state newspaper said yesterday. Zhang Hongtao went to many banquets organized by a power company in Hebei Province in April, and instead of working did little else but eat, drink, play cards and enjoy massages, the official China Daily said. He collapsed and died following one of the banquets, after which "his team and two officials from the electricity bureau traveled for a sightseeing tour around east China," the report said. "Zhang's colleagues said most of them were too upset over the death to stay in the office, so they went to Yangzhou to relax," it added. The National Auditors' Office said the incident had "marred the image and influenced the public's trust" in the government body.
■ Thailand
Cheap AIDS drug to be sold
US pharmaceutical firm Gilead is set to begin selling its AIDS-fighting tenofovir drug in Thailand at a price about 90 percent cheaper than in the US and Europe, activists said yesterday. Thailand's Food and Drug Administration approved tenofovir for sale at about 38 baht (US$1) per tablet, and the drug should be available next month, the AIDS Access Foundation said. "The new drug would be a good alternative for AIDS patients, especially those who have become resistant to GPO-Vir, which is made by the Government Pharmaceutical Organization," foundation director Nimit Tienudom said.
■ Japan
Religious conference opens
Religious leaders from around the world gathered for a conference in western Japan yesterday to discuss building peace and how to prevent conflicts from breaking out, an organizer said. The eighth assembly of the World Conference of Religion for Peace kicked off in Kyoto, with about 2,000 people from 100 countries and regions attending for four-day event, according to Nobuo Kinoshita, a spokesman for the organizer. Those attending include more than 500 religious leaders from 70 countries, according to Kinoshita. Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said that the global community must work as one to overcome religious differences to tackle today's global issues.
■ China
Police hold anti-terror drill
Border forces from China and Kazakhstan held an anti-terrorism drill yesterday with armed helicopters and anti-riot vehicles, state media reported. The exercise by some 700 border police included a simulated battle in which Chinese guards were supposed to force terrorists into a narrow valley and cliff caves near Yining, a Chinese city near the Central Asian border with Kazakhstan, the Xinhua News Agency, newspapers and state television said. The two-hour drill was held under the auspices of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a six-nation Central Asian group led by China and Russia that is meant to combat Islamic extremism.
■ Vietnam
Bird flu detected
Bird flu has been detected in poultry for the second time this month, igniting fears of a possible resurgence of the H5N1 virus in the country that has been touted for beating it back, officials said yesterday. The virus was found in one duck in the southern Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre, Mai Van Hiep, director of the provincial animal health bureau said, adding it was among eight samples taken from a farm of 45 ducks in Thanh Phu town. All the ducks, none of which showed any sign of bird flu symptoms, were destroyed yesterday morning, Hiep said. The farm was disinfected, he added.
■ Vietnam
Robber joined police force
A convicted robber who escaped from prison 20 years ago chose a sly way to hide from the law -- inside the police force and as a member of the ruling Communist Party. A police newspaper reported on Friday that Ngo Thanh Tam, 51, was re-arrested on Tuesday, two decades after joining the police under a false identity in the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong. The Capital Security newspaper described Tam as a "dangerous criminal" on the national wanted list. After his arrest he was purged from the party, which he joined in June.
■ United Kingdom
HIV drug could fight cancer
A commonly used HIV medicine may also help prevent cervical cancer and could be developed into an anti-cancer cream, early laboratory tests by scientists suggest. Researchers at the University of Manchester said on Friday that test-tube studies showed the drug lopinavir selectively killed human papilloma virus (HPV) -- the virus that causes cervical cancer -- as well as HIV.
■ Bolivia
Morales chides `dinosaurs'
President Evo Morales used the ribbon-cutting ceremony of a dinosaur theme park on Friday to take a gentle dig at opponents of his leftist policies. High on a hill outside the colonial former capital of Sucre, Cretaceous Park includes one of the world's largest and best-preserved collections of dinosaur tracks. "When we were first invited here to see this Cretaceous Park, I didn't understand what they were talking about," Morales deadpanned to a crowd of dignitaries at the opening. "And so they told me there were dinosaurs here. Well, so many people talk about political dinosaurs, I thought maybe I'd see monuments to those old politicians here." Morales often chides his conservative opponents for resisting social reforms.
■ United Kingdom
Webcam foils robbery
An American helped foil a burglary in northern England whilst watching a Beatles-related Webcam over the Internet, police said on Friday. The man from Dallas was using a live camera link to look at Mathew Street, an area of Liverpool synonymous with the Beatles and home to the Cavern Club where the band regularly played. He saw intruders apparently breaking into a sports store and alerted local police. "We did get a call from someone in Dallas who was watching on a Webcam that looks into the tourist areas, of which Mathew Street is one because of all the Beatles stuff," a Merseyside Police spokeswoman said. "He called directly through to police here," she said.
■ United Nations
Disabled convention passed
A treaty to protect the rights of the world's 650 million disabled people cleared a key hurdle on Friday as a UN General Assembly panel approved a draft text of the convention. The text now goes to the full 192-nation General Assembly, which is expected to approve it during its 61st annual session to open next month. It would then be opened for signature and finally for ratification. "You are sending an absolutely wonderful message to the world. You are sending the message that we want to have a life with dignity for all and that all human beings are equal," Assembly President Jan Eliasson told cheering delegates after its adoption by consensus, without a recorded vote.
■ United States
Plague cases increasing
Thirteen cases of plague, including two deaths, have been reported in four western states this year, the highest number of cases in 12 years, health officials said. Seven cases were reported in New Mexico, three in Colorado, two in California and one in Texas, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Friday. Eight of the cases were bubonic and the other five were septicemic plague. The two fatalities were women in New Mexicans. On average, about seven people a year are diagnosed with plague, CDC officials said. Fourteen cases were reported in 1994.
■ United States
Chemical spill affects 23
A chemical released into the air from an industrial plant sent 23 people to the hospital and closed some roads, officials said. The release of the chemical at Dow Reichhold Specialty Latex on Friday was visible around a railroad tanker car parked on the plant site, state police spokesman Corporal Jeffrey Whitmarsh said. The rail car contained styrene, which is potentially flammable and can cause irritation if inhaled, Whitmarsh said. John Hughes, Secretary of the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, said first responders reported that the leak was a result of a defective valve on a railroad tanker car carrying 9 tonnes of styrene.
■ United States
Reserve robbers sentenced
Four people were sentenced to prison for their roles in one of the biggest heists in Florida history -- a brazen daylight armed robbery of US$7.4 million in cash from a Miami warehouse. The cash was part of a US$80 million deposit shipped by a bank in Frankfurt, Germany, to the Federal Reserve Bank branch in Miami on Nov. 6 last year. The masked robbers, at least one armed with a gun, ordered warehouse and security personnel to lie on the floor while they loaded bags of currency into a pickup truck that had pulled into one of the cargo bays. The ringleader, Karls Monzon, and getaway driver, Jeffrey Boatwright, were each sentenced to more than 17 years in prison on Friday.
■ United States
Hacker sentenced
A man was sentenced to three years in prison for launching a computer attack that hit tens of thousands of computers, including some belonging to the Department of Defense, a Seattle hospital and a California school district. Christopher Maxwell, 21, of Vacaville, California, was also sentenced to three years of supervised release. He pleaded guilty in May to federal charges of conspiracy to intentionally cause damage to a protected computer and conspiracy to commit computer fraud.
■ United States
Senator to manage anger
State Senator Ada Smith was ordered on Friday to enroll in an anger-management class and fined US$250 after a judge found that she threw a cup of coffee at a member of her staff this spring. Smith, 61, a Democrat from Queens who is running for re-election this year, was found guilty of one count of harassment by Judge William Carter of Albany City Court after a nonjury trial. She did not take the stand in her own defense. In March, one of Smith's aides, Jennifer Jackson, told the police that the senator had thrown coffee in her eyes and pulled her hair after a brief conversation about the senator's efforts to lose weight. Smith denied the accusation, telling reporters that she doesn't drink coffee.
■ United States
Jackson's ranch fire put out
Flanked by water-dropping helicopters, about 100 firefighters fully contained a 16-hectare blaze on Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch. The blaze came within 800m of the main residence on Friday, but there were no injuries and Jackson's menagerie of animals were also unhurt, said Santa Barbara County Fire spokesman Captain Keith Cullom. "It's pretty much been knocked down," said Cullom. Jackson, 47, was not at the house. He has been living in the Middle Eastern kingdom of Bahrain since being acquitted of child molestation charges in California in June last year. The ranch's amusement park rides were within the burned area, Cullom said, but no structures caught fire.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in 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
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was