■ India
US student wins election
A US national, who calls himself a Marxist, has won a student election at Jawaharlal Nehru University on a campaign that accused Washington of pursuing imperialist policies. Tyler Walker Williams is perhaps the first foreigner to win university elections in India, where student politics is taken very seriously and is closely watched by national political parties. Williams was elected on Saturday to the post of vice president, contesting as a candidate of the All India Students' Association, an affiliate of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist).
■ India
Tigers under threat
At least four endangered tigers have been run over by trains in a reserve in the northern part of the country in the past three years, local officials said, renewing calls to railway authorities to find an alternate route. The Dudhwa National Park has 77 tigers, according to a census held last year, but these animals were increasingly threatened by trains that travel through the sanctuary,wildlife officials said. India has half the world's surviving tigers, but conservationists say the country is losing the battle to save the big cats.
■ New Zealand
Revealing survey
People may be able to do without many things, but it seems that when it comes to travelling, they can't do without their mom, according to a survey released yester-day. Moms were identified as the fourth most important item to take along when heading overseas, behind credit cards, a camera and a copy of a Lonely Planet travel guide. The survey, conducted for GlobalPlus credit card, also revealed 87 percent of New Zealanders preferred to sit beside family or friends when flying.
■ Somalia
Clashes break out in north Troops from a powerful Somali Islamist militia clashed with fighters allied to the interim government and seized a town near the semi-autonomous northern Puntland region, the Islamist forces said yesterday. "The government troops ambushed us last night, forcing our troops to push them," Islamist spokesman Abdirahman Ali Mudey said. There was no independent confirmation of the clash. The government forces were led by warlord Abdi Awale Qaybdiid, whom the Islamists ejected from Mogadishu in July after defeating him and his US-backed allies.
■ United Kingdom
Jagger senior dies
The father of Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger has died in the hospital from pneumonia at the age of 93, a spokesman for the rock legend said in a statement. Joe Jagger passed away late on Saturday after being admitted to the hospital just over a week ago following a fall at his home, he added. The 63-year-old Rolling Stone, who is currently on tour in the US, flew back to Britain on Friday to spend time with his father in the hospital. He then returned to Nevada, where he was due to perform with the band.
■ Serbia
Defendant hunger strikes
A Serb ultranationalist leader awaiting trial before the UN war crimes court in The Hague has gone on a hunger strike. Vojislav Seselj -- in detention at the UN court, which indicted him for alleged war crimes during the 1990s wars in Croatia and Bosnia -- has started "refusing food or drink except plain water," and also declines any medication for his high blood pressure and asthma, said Aleksandar Vucic, an official of Seselj's hardline Radical Party. Seselj has demanded that the court allow his wife to visit him," Vucic said in Belgrade. He has also demanded that he be given "free choice of legal advisers, and normalization of conditions for preparing his defense," Vucic said.
■ United States
Italy threatens Getty ties
Italy may break cultural ties with the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles unless progress resumes in talks over returning what the country claims are looted antiquities, it was reported on Saturday. The trust that operates the museum has returned three artworks but the fate of 21 other pieces, including a prized statue of Aphrodite, remains unresolved. Italian Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli said last month that six months of negotiations over the return of the items had stalled. The museum has clashed with Italian and Greek officials over the allegations that a former antiquities curator knowingly received dozens of priceless archaeological treasures between 1986 and the late 1990s that were stolen from private collections or dug up illicitly.
■ Georgia
National referendum held
Nationals were scheduled to vote yesterday in a referendum to reaffirm independence from Georgia that is likely to pit the West -- which calls the vote illegal -- against Russia -- which says the result should be respected. Nestling on the Russian border in the foothills of the Caucasus mountains, South Ossetia declared independence from Georgia after a war in 1991-1992 that killed hundreds and forced tens of thousands to flee their homes. Some 55,000 eligible voters will, in addition, elect a regional leader. Most of those who turned up first at the polls backed independence for the region.
■ Brazil
Woman survives six shots
A woman who was shot six times in the head after an altercation with her ex-husband was out of the hospital and talking to the media on Saturday. "I know this was a miracle," 21-year-old housewife Patricia Pereira told Globo TV. "Now I just want to extract the bullets and live my life." Pereira was shot on Friday in the small city of Monte Claros, about 900km north of Sao Paulo, after quarreling with her former husband, who was reportedly upset because she refused to get back together with him. She was also shot once in the hand. Doctors could not explain why the .32-caliber bullets did not penetrate Pereira's skull and didn't even need to be extracted immediately.
■ United States
Swimmer injured by shark
A shark attacked a man swimming at a Maui beach, injuring his leg and hand, authorities said. Kyle Gruen, 29, of Vancouver, Canada, was about 9m to 12m offshore on Saturday when the shark grabbed his left side, said his twin brother, Jeff Gruen, who was at the beach when the attack happened. "He was swimming along when just all of a sudden it got him," Jeff Gruen told the Honolulu Advertiser. "He pulled away and kicked it off, and it took off right away." Maui County spokeswoman Ellen Pelissero said the victim was attacked near Kihei. He was listed in stable condition at Maui Memorial Medical Center.
■ United Kingdom
Top cop to be cleared
Metropolitan Police Com-missioner Sir Ian Blair is to be cleared by a report out this week into the death of a Brazilian man mistakenly shot on suspicion of being a suicide bomber, the Sunday Times said. The newspaper quoted unnamed "senior sources" at the Metropolitan Police as saying Blair is "in the clear" over claims he lied to the public after Jean Charles De Menezes' death on July 22 last year. The Independent Police Complaints Commission opened an inquiry into Blair following a complaint from the dead man's family, who accused him of a cover-up and called for him to resign.
■ United Kingdom
Alleged arms dealer nabbed
A former Iranian ambas-sador to Jordan has been arrested in Durham, England, on behalf of US authorities, accused of plotting to sell military equipment from the US to Iran, police said. Officers from London's Metropolitan Police arrested Nosratollah Tajik at his home on Oct. 26, a spokesman said. The details came to light in a front-page article of the Mail on Sunday newspaper which claimed that Tajik was caught in a "sting" operation by undercover US agents. The paper claimed the officials from the Depart-ment of Homeland Security "set up" Tajik by posing as arms dealers wanting to sell night-vision goggles to Iran in breach of US export controls.
■ Poland
Polls test Kaczynski support
Polling stations opened yesterday for local elections which are seen as a key test of support for the 14-month-old conservative government of identical twins Lech and Jaroslaw Kaczynski. The polls were scheduled to close at 8pm. Some 47,000 council seats are up for grabs, as well as 2,500 mayorships from village level through to the high-profile job at Warsaw city hall. Lech, who is president, and his identical twin brother Jaroslaw, the prime minister, helped sweep a corruption-tainted left-wing government from power in parliamentary elections in September last year.
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
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