■ 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.
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
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The