■ China
Police fuming over lecture
An AIDS prevention lecture In Harbin aimed at sex workers who were given free condoms has sparked a strong rebuke from police, the Beijing News said yesterday. The Center for Disease Control held the lecture last week, calling the group of more than 50 sex workers "sisters" and telling them to call if they need help, the paper said. The lecture was "unacceptable," the police said. "The usually underground prostitutes labelled their profession on their foreheads this time. Being unable to crack down, the police were really upset," the paper said. "Education can be carried out in various forms," an unnamed police officer said. "But it is hard for us to accept this kind of public lecture."
■ China
Dysentery downs students
Seventy middle school students in Anhui Province were hospitalized with dysentery spread by their school's drinking water, the Xinhua news agency said yesterday. Starting Friday, more than 100 students at the Xincang Middle School in Taihu County had diarrhea and other symptoms of dysentery, Xinhua said. Yesterday, 34 students were still receiving treatment but were said to be stable.
■ American Samoa
Chinese deny sex trafficking
Two Chinese pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking charges in a US federal court in Honolulu on Friday following allegations they held two young compatriots as virtual sex slaves in their American Samoan karaoke bar. Wang Shengji, 35, and her business partner Kuo Fu Sheng, 39, could face up to 50 years in prison if found guilty. They are alleged to have lured two 24-year-old women with work in a shop, but put them to work as bar hostesses instead.
■ Indonesia
Gunman kills priest
A masked gunman killed a Christian priest yesterday on the island of Sulawesi, where religious tensions have been mounting since last month's executions of three Roman Catholic militants, officials said. National Police Chief General Sutanto said he ordered an investigation into the death of Irianto Kongkoli, who was shot in the head while visiting a shop with his wife in Palu, the provincial capital of Central Sulawesi. "We need to make sure such killings do not happen again," he told reporters in the capital Jakarta. Central Sulawesi Police Chief Badrudin Haiti said the shooter, who shot the priest with a 9mm pistol, sped off on a motorbike with an accomplice.
■ Malaysia
Boys stung to death
Two young Indonesian brothers who were attacked by wasps in Malaysia died after adults who saw them being chased by the swarm locked them out of a room to prevent getting stung themselves, news reports said yesterday. Aziz Rahman, 3, and his 4-year-old brother Fazrul were playing with their friend Nuri Mestinal at a palm oil plantation near Sibu in central Sarawak on Borneo island when they hit a wasps' nest on Sunday afternoon, the New Straits Times reported. The boys ran toward the plantation canteen screaming for help with the wasps close behind, the paper said. Plantation workers sitting in the cafeteria locked the door after seeing the swarm approaching, and only emerged after the wasps had left, the national news agency Bernama said.
■ Malaysia
Motorist drags, kills man
Fearing mob fury, a motorist fled the scene of an accident with a motorcyclist trapped under his van, killing the victim after dragging him for 2km, a news report said yesterday. The 29-year-old motorcyclist, G. Ragupati, was knocked down by a car in northern Kedah State on Sunday night. He was lying sprawled on the road when the van plowed into him, the New Straits Times said. The driver of the van stopped to see what he hit, but didn't realize that a person was entangled in the vehicle's undercarriage. The man panicked when he saw a crowd running toward him and sped away, the newspaper said. Villagers gave chase in cars and motorcycles, shouting and waving to draw his attention.
■ Indonesia
Violence for Islam supported
About 9 percent of Indonesians support the use of violent attacks such as the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 civilians if the attacks are aimed at defending Islam, a recent poll indicated. At the same time, the survey by the Indonesian Survey Institute released on Sunday found more than 80 percent of the Indonesian population strongly condemned tactics used by al-Qaeda and affiliated Indonesian terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah and favored peaceful democracy.
■ Solomon Islands
Ministers quit over dispute
Two ministers have quit their posts after differing with Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare over the country's diplomatic spat with Australia, one of the ministers said yesterday. Agriculture Minister Trevor Olovae said he and Finance Minister Bartholomew Ulufa'alu resigned from the Cabinet over the weekend after both men refused to participate in a no-confidence vote on Sogavare held in parliament last week.
■ Iran
Killer sugar loaf molds
At least four workers at a sugar factory were killed and 15 wounded on Sunday when they were hit by solid sugar loaf molds, state radio reported. The report said the early morning accident happened when the molding machine malfunctioned and molds hit the 19 workers in Eslamabad-e Gharb, about 650km southwest of Tehran. Three workers were killed instantly when the molds struck them, and the other died on the way to the hospital, the radio said. Two of the 15 injured workers were in serious condition.
■ France
Brief closure of Pompidou
One of the most popular tourist attractions in Paris, the Pompidou Center, was closed for the fifth day running on Sunday due to industrial action by staff demanding better wages and conditions. The unions are seeking 62 extra staff in addition to the present 1,000, while the culture ministry, responsible for the museum, is offering 20 posts and has committed itself to a basic minimum staff wage of 1,350 euros (US$1,690) per month. Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres said he had high hopes that the situation could be gradually resolved in the next few days.
■ Greece
Conservatives leading
Greeks voted on Sunday in municipal elections, with partial results indicating continued support for the nationally governing conservatives. With nearly 20 percent of votes counted, conservative Nikitas Kaklamanis was leading the race for Athens mayor with 46.4 percent, election officials said. Exit polls also indicated he would comfortably surpass the 42-percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff. His Socialist opponent, Costas Skandalidis, conceded the race after exit polls suggested he would garner less that 30 percent for the job, which has been held by the conservatives for 19 years.
■ United Kingdom
Warning on Afghan patience
If the aspirations of Afghans are constantly frustrated and the international community fails to deliver on its promises, Afghans will turn against foreign troops there, Lieutenant General David Richards said, also insisting that NATO was "succeeding" in fighting off a violent insurgency by the Taliban militia. "But the issue is how long do we take to succeed, because constant frustrated aspirations and failed delivery on promises will slowly turn the population against us," he said. Richards also deflected comments made by General Richard Dannatt, the head of the British army, over the condition of British troops in Iraq.
■ Spain
Minks set loose
Vandals broke into three mink farms in the northwestern part of the country and freed more than 15,000 of the prized furry animals, officials said on Sunday. The raiders -- believed to be environmental activists -- acted under cover of darkness late on Saturday in three towns in the Galicia region, which has about 80 mink farms. The operation was so well organized that the vandals propped boards on the walls to help animals scale them and placed fish outside the walls as bait for them to keep going, a police official said. The biggest raid occured at a farm in the town of Oza dos Rios, where some 11,000 of the animals were allowed to scurry out of their cages.
■ Ecuador
Earthquakes rock Quito
Two sharp earthquakes shook the capital on Sunday morning during the country's presidential elections. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The nation's Geophysics Institute said the first quake struck with a magnitude of 4.1 and the second, of unspecified magnitude, hit 10 minutes later. The epicenter of the first was in the town of Calderon, 5km north of Quito.
■ Panama
Cough syrup kills 22
A woman died this weekend of kidney failure resulting from contaminated cough syrup, raising to 22 the number of people killed after drinking the tainted product, health officials said. In a statement released late on Saturday, the Health Department also said 49 people had been treated for kidney and central nervous system damage after drinking the medicine and 23 of them were still hospitalized. The deaths beginning in July had baffled authorities until last week, when US health officials traced the cause to an industrial chemical in a red, sugarless cough syrup made by a government-run pharmaceutical factory.
■ Venezuela
Chavez opens new rail line
President Hugo Chavez inaugurated a new US$2.4 billion rail line that could boost his popularity among Caracas commuters as he seeks re-election in December. The 41km rail line runs from the town of Cua, south of Caracas in central Miranda state, to La Rinconada, home to a new subway station on the edge of the capital. The train will transport tens of thousands of people daily to and from working class suburbs home to 290,000 people. Chavez said the line will form part of a nationwide rail network connecting all the South American country's main cities -- an ambitious undertaking that may take decades to finish.
■ Bolivia
Mines to be nationalized
President Evo Morales said on Sunday that La Paz would nationalize its mines as part of an overhaul of the country's mining regulations following a violent clash between rival miners groups this month that claimed 16 lives. Morales nationalized the nation's oil and gas reserves on May 1, giving international companies six months to cede majority control of their local operations to the state or leave the country. "We started with hydrocarbons, and the next step are the minerals," Morales said as he gave away tractors to local farmers in the town of Challapata, 200km south of La Paz.
■ United States
Rally against gay marriage
Conservative religious and political leaders rallied in opposition of gay marriage, arguing that their rights to religious expression are being threatened. The event on Sunday, broadcast to churches across the nation, is part of a larger effort to energize conservative voters before the Nov. 7 congressional and gubernatorial elections. "Here in Massachusetts, activist judges struck a blow to the foundation of civilization -- the family," Republican Governor Mitt Romney told a crowd of about 1,000 people. Romney, during his speech inside Tremont Temple Baptist Church, criticized the state's highest court for its 2004 ruling legalizing same-sex marriage. The Washington-based Family Research Council chose Boston for the site of its annual "Liberty Sunday" because Massachusetts is the only state that has legalized marriage for same-sex couples.
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
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
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