■ India
Officials frown on the skinny
India does not want waif-like young women sashaying down the catwalk and acting as role models for thousands of girls who are starving themselves to get svelte figures, the Indian health minister said. The minister's statement comes after the unprecedented decision taken by fashion organizers in Madrid this month to ban underweight models from walking the ramp, saying they wanted to project an image of beauty and health, not a waif-like look. The Times of India newspaper quoted Anbumani Ramadoss on Tuesday as saying that many girls in India's cities and small towns were suffering from osteoporosis due to strict dieting.
■ India
School to regulate `fatwa'
A prominent Islamic school said on Tuesday that it plans to regulate the issuing of fatwa after a television sting caught clerics issuing religious edicts in return for cash. "To stop the misuse of edicts we are seriously considering constituting a body that can regulate the issue of fatwas," Maulana Shahid Rehan, a senior official at the school in northern India, told reporters. "It is really a matter of shame that a few clerics are misusing their power and are issuing fatwas by accepting money ... it was most un-Islamic," he said. Three clerics, including the chief of the Dar-ul-Uloom Deoband seminary's fatwa department, have been caught up in the undercover sting.
■ Kazakhstan
Mine blast kills 43
Forty-three people were killed yesterday in an explosion at a mine in Kazakhstan belonging to Mittal Steel, Interfax news agency said. A spokesman contacted by reporters at the Emergencies Ministry in the town of Karaganda said: "There was an accident in the mine. There are casualties. A rescue operation is under way ... It has definitely been established that they all died because there was a methane gas explosion," a spokesman at the mine said, quoted by Interfax.
■ Afghanistan
Insurgent violence kills four
Clashes and bombings left four suspected insurgents dead and three Afghan soldiers wounded in eastern Afghanistan, the defense ministry said yesterday. The insurgents were killed in a clash with Afghan soldiers in the eastern Paktika Province on Tuesday, a statement from the defense ministry said. The troops recovered an unspecified amount of ammunition and a mortar. Three Afghan soldiers were wounded by a roadside bomb in neighboring Khost province, the ministry said. In the south, in Zabul and Kandahar provinces, soldiers detained four suspected Taliban insurgents, who are battling government and foreign troops throughout the country, the statement said.
■ Indonesia
Three men face execution
Security in Central Sulawesi Province was tightened ahead of the execution of three Christians convicted of leading a mob that killed Muslims six years ago, police said on Wednesday. The three men -- Fabianus Tibo, Marianus Riwu and Dominggus Silva -- are due to face a firing squad today in the provincial capital, Palu, a move that many fear could spark fresh religious tensions in the area. The poor farmers were sentenced to death in 2001 after being found guilty of leading Christian mobs in a series of attacks that killed about 200 people, including over 70 at an Islamic boarding school, during Muslim-Christian clashes in the Poso region.
■ West Bank
Palestinian cash confiscated
The Israeli army confiscated millions of dollars during a series of pre-dawn raids yesterday on Palestinian banks across the West Bank, saying the cash was used for funding "terrorism." Palestinian security sources said that "millions of dollars, documents and files were stolen" when Israeli troops raided banks and money exchange shops in several towns, including Ramallah, Nablus and Jenin. An Israeli army spokesman confirmed it had carried out the raids, saying the operation targeted "Palestinian financial infrastructure financing terrorism."
■ Italy
Thief turns himself in
A thief accidentally turned himself in after losing his cellular phone while robbing an elderly lady, calling his own number to meet the finder -- and unwittingly arranging a date with police. The 77-year-old victim handed over the phone that the bag snatcher had dropped to police, who lured the thief to a meeting where he was arrested, news agency Agi reported on Monday. Agi said the man had been freed from prison recently under a mass pardon meant to ease congestion in jails. By the time police were waiting for him at the meeting point, the 35-year-old had already robbed another old lady and was riding a stolen scooter, Agi said.
■ Israel
New mossie-killing method
Mosquitoes' thirst for sugar could help kill the pests and eradicate the malaria they spread, scientists said on Tuesday. Yosef Schlein and Gunter Muller of Jerusalem's Hebrew University said they wiped out virtually the entire mosquito population of a southern oasis by spraying a sugar solution mixed with "Spinosad" insecticide on acacia trees. "The mosquitoes are about 30 times more attracted to the acacia than other plant life," Schlein said, explaining why that particular tree was chosen. Acacias are also common in Africa, where malaria has been on the rise due to environmental changes, drug resistance and mosquito resistance to conventional insecticides, according to the researchers' study published in scientific journals.
■ United Kingdom
Cherie Blair investigated
The wife of Prime Minister Tony Blair only pretended to slap a cheeky teenager, but child protection officials reported her to the police and officers questioned her before dismissing the incident. Cherie Blair was being photographed with teenager Miles Gandolfi at the UK Schools Games sports event in Glasgow, Scotland, when the 17-year-old jokingly raised his hand behind her head to make a "bunny ears" gesture. In response, Blair, a prominent human-rights lawyer and mother of four children, took it in good humor and pretended to slap Gandolfi, telling him he was cheeky. Newspaper pictures then showed them laughing and hugging each other. But officials from the Child Protection in Sports Unit reported Blair to police who then questioned promising fencer Gandolfi about the incident.
■ Russia
Gorbachev admires Putin
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said on Tuesday he supported tough measures taken by President Vladimir Putin and wished he had adopted them. Gorbachev, whose political reforms led to the collapse of the communist empire, said he should have squashed the challenge from Boris Yeltsin, his arch-rival.
■ United States
Longer stay in Iraq?
The top US commander in the Middle East said on Tuesday that more than 140,000 soldiers could be needed in Iraq at least until spring because of continuing sectarian violence and the need to secure Baghdad. "I think that this level probably will have to be sustained through next spring, and then we'll re-evaluate," General John Abizaid said, adding that more troops would be deployed if needed. These comments were the first indication that senior commanders believed reductions were unlikely until well into next year. He also acknowledged that after five years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, the military would be hard pressed to come up with more troops.
■ United States
New York is safest
New York remained the safest of the country's 10 largest cities last year, with about one crime reported for every 37 people, according to FBI statistics. The large city with the highest crime rate was Dallas, with about one crime reported for every 12 people. Los Angeles ranked third- safest, with about one crime for every 26 people. San Jose took the No. 2 safest spot, while San Diego ranked fourth, followed by Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, San Antonio and Phoenix. The number of reported crimes in New York fell 4.3 percent last year, while the number nationwide dropped 1.2 percent. Meanwhile, national figures showed that violent crime rose 2.3 percent last year, the first increase since
2001.
■ Nicaragua
Ten jailed over killer hooch
Ten people have been jailed to face charges of stealing methanol and mixing it into a moonshine cane liquor that killed 44 people and poisoned around 800. Police said on Tuesday the 10 could face more than 20 years in jail. The poisonous hooch caused chaos in the northern city of Leon earlier this month. Apart from the 44 killed, 12 people were blinded and five are still in critical condition. The suspects are accused of stealing methanol from a truck and selling it to distributors of a local firewater. The truck driver was part of the conspiracy and is on the run, police said.
■ Iraq
Saddam kicked out
The new chief judge in Saddam Hussein's genocide trial ejected the ousted Iraqi leader from the courtroom for refusing to sit down moments after hearings began on yesterday. Defense lawyers also stormed out in protest against the sacking of Mohammed al-Ureybi's predecessor. "Take him out of the courtroom," Ureybi ordered guards after a defiant Saddam refused to sit down. Ureybi was named to take over the court after the government sacked Abdullah al-Amiri for saying Saddam was "not a dictator." All the defendants -- Saddam's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majeed, known as "Chemical Ali," and five others -- remained as the trial continued, with testimonies from Kurdish witnesses.
■ Nuclear Power
Buffett goes nuclear
Billionaire Warren Buffett pledged US$50 million on Tuesday to help set up an international nuclear fuel bank that aspiring powers could turn to for reactor fuel instead of making it on their own. Buffett's aim is to curb the risks of nuclear proliferation by providing an alternative to the kind of indigenous production of nuclear fuel that Iran is embarking upon, which carries the risk of military diversion for weapons. "This pledge is an investment in a safer world," Buffett said in a statement.
‘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