■ Philippines
Arroyo condemns killing
President Gloria Arroyo vowed yesterday to capture the killers of a congressman and political ally who was gunned down after attending a wedding. The president condemned the gangland-style death of Representative Luis Bersamin, who was shot and killed by assailants on Saturday. "This and all other acts of violence shall never be condoned," Arroyo said in a statement. "The national police shall bring the perpetrators, mastermind and all, to justice." A police officer who was escorting Bersamin was also killed.
■ Hong Kong
Coral protection working
Coral reefs are defying the odds and flourishing in the territory's polluted waters, a media report citing a government survey said yesterday. The territory's Coral Watch index -- a measure of coral density -- gave a reading this year of 4.24, up from last year's 3.85, suggesting coral is managing to get a greater toe-hold. Officials said the boost was the result of efforts to prevent boats and ships from dropping anchors on live reefs. "The better situation can be attributed to the use of coral marker buoys, which help remind boats not to drop anchor in the waters of healthy coral reefs," marine conservation officer Alan Chan said.
■ China
Hepatitis A spreads
An outbreak of hepatitis A at a school in the south has so far infected 36 people with another 27 suspected of having the disease, the official Xinhua news agency reported. The outbreak at No. 2 Middle School in Fengshan, Guangxi, was caused by contaminated water and has led to the hospitalization of 111 students since last month. Tests show 36 confirmed and 27 suspected cases.
■ Pakistan
Wedding fire kills 22
A fire erupted during a wedding ceremony killing 22 people including the bride, police said yesterday. At least 35 wedding guests were also injured in the tragedy in the town of Jhok Utra, 100km west of Multan late on Saturday, local police officer Inkisar Khan said. He said most of the victims were women and young girls who were singing wedding songs when an electric short circuit gutted a makeshift tent that had been erected outside the bride's house. Several people were also buried when a wall collapsed.
■ China
Foul play suspected
Two US mountain climbers are still missing since last month and foul play has not been ruled out in their disappearance, search and rescue workers said yesterday. Charlie Fowler and Christine Boskoff were last heard from early last month and missed their return flights to the US on Dec. 7. Fowler said in an e-mail message from Litang in Sichuan Province last month that they planned to climb two peaks in the lower Himalayan region. The area where the pair were thought to be climbing is notorious for local bandits who frequently rob travellers.
■ India
`Osama bin Laden' shot
Sharpshooters in the northeast have killed a rogue elephant blamed for 14 deaths in the region that was so feared that villagers named him after Osama bin Laden, wildlife officials said yesterday. "Dipen Phukan, a licensed shooter, shot and killed the 3m tall bull near the Behali forest reserve in northern Assam," wildlife warden Chandan Bora said. Wildlife authorities had ordered that the elephant be shot and killed by Dec.31. The order came after the bull was blamed for the death of a woman on Wednesday near the thickly wooded evergreen jungle where it lives.
■ Malaysia
Dance clubs allowed
The Islamist rulers of a northern state have decided to permit dance clubs as long as they serve no liquor, keep men and women apart and ensure the women's clothes cover their navels. Nik Aziz Nik Mat, chief minister of the state of Kelantan, has said he does not oppose dancing, but couples should not do it and women's navels must not be exposed, the Star newspaper said yesterday. Newspapers said the move to permit dance clubs was part of an effort to boost tourism in Kelantan, which is ruled by the Parti Islam se Malaysia, whose official platform is to turn the country into an Islamic state.
■ India
Teen marriages under fire
Lawmakers are in the process of approving new legislation that would slap priests who marry teenagers with jail terms and fines. Despite laws prohibiting marriage for women younger than 18 and men under age 21, such unions are common in India. On Thursday, the upper house of parliament approved the legislation, its Web site said. The legislation has to be approved by the lower house to become law. Priests and others who marry people could face up to two years in jail and a fine of US$2,200. The law would also give female minors the right to declare marriages void if they occurred against their will. "Child marriage prevention officers" will also be employed. According to 2001 Census figures, nearly 45 percent of girls between 15 and 18 are married. While the practice is dying out among urban residents and educated people, child marriages are popular in rural areas.
■ Cyprus
Polls test for president
Cypriots began voting yesterday for local elections whose outcome will could set the barometer for the Greek Cypriot presidential race on the divided island in early 2008. Cyprus could have a female mayor for the first time in its history after the elections, which also mark the first time that non-Cypriot EU nationals are taking part in a Cypriot ballot. President Tassos Papadopoulos' ruling center-left coalition of communist Akel, socialist Edek and center-right Diko have formed a three-way alliance to back candidates in major towns and villages.
■ Nigeria
Muslim candidate chosen
The ruling party yesterday chose a Muslim from the north as its candidate in next year's presidential elections, handing Umaru Yar'Adua the nomination. After a night of voting and ballot tallying, a party official announced to cheering delegates that Yar'Adua, governor of Katsina, had won 3,024 votes -- easily beating his closest rival, who received only 372 votes. Yar'Adua pledged in an acceptance speech to abide by the party's anti-corruption and economic reform programs if elected and offered thanks to the dozen other candidates who had hoped to carry the People's Democratic Party standard.
■ Italy
No ruling in right to die case
A Rome court on Saturday refused to rule on the request of a terminally ill man to legally recognize his right to die in a groundbreaking case that has divided Italians, his lawyer said. Judge Angela Salvio said that her court was not competent to deal with the case "in the absence of regulation and a judicial framework containing concrete elements of a scientific nature on sustaining life by artificial means." She added in her 15-page ruling that it was up to legislators to "fill the judicial gap" in such cases. The judge had begun examining the case of 60-year-old muscular dystrophy victim Piergiorgio Welby on Tuesday.
■ Italy
Campaign against anorexia
Government and fashion industry officials joined forces on Saturday in a campaign against anorexic models, which includes attention to "full-bodied" Mediterranean beauties and a commitment to add larger sizes to collections so young women can see that bigger can also be beautiful. The prime minister's office said that the self-regulating code for the highly competitive fashion industry would be signed in Rome this week. The death from anorexia last month of a 21-year-old model in Brazil helped spur the campaign against unhealthily rail-thin models on fashion show runways.
■ Sweden
Goat survives arson attack
Vandals tried to set fire to a giant straw goat but failed to burn down the traditional Christmas monument, which has been soaked with flame-resistant chemicals, officials said on Friday. The overnight raid was the season's first attack on the 13m-high Christmas goat in the city of Gavle, 150km north of Stockholm. The goat has been burned down more than 20 times in the last 40 years in what has become a yule tradition. "Somebody tried to set fire to the right front leg, but the flame-resistant chemical worked 100 percent," said Kurt Lagerholm, chairman of the goat committee. "There's smell of gasoline and the ribbon is a bit smutty, but otherwise it's unhurt," he said. The suspects were still at large on Friday.
■ United States
Trump to warn Miss USA
Billionaire Donald Trump has won the backing of beauty pageant organizers for giving the current Miss USA a warning for reported misbehavior, with the industry keen to protect the sanctified image of beauty queens. Miss USA Tara Conner is not the first beauty queen to face the ire of Trump, who owns the Miss USA and Miss Universe franchises. In 2002 he fired Miss Universe, Russia's Oxana Fedorova, for failing to perform her pageant duties. Trump is now evaluating Conner's "behavioral and personal issues" after newspapers reported that the 20-year-old titleholder has been partying in bars around New York, where the legal drinking age is 21.
■ United States
Wandering dog recovered
A golden retriever missing from his family since a 2004 hurricane destroyed a backyard fence in Florida resurfaced this week near Chicago, Illinois. The five-member Baines family of South Tampa finally gave up the search for the dog this summer, believing that their pet had died. No one knows how the dog, "Sam-I-Am," traveled more than 2000km and turned up as a stray at a shelter in McHenry County, Illinois, this week. Shelter workers said they do not think he walked because there was no damage to his paws. "He has wanderlust," Debra Quackenbush, spokeswoman for the McHenry County Health Department, told the St. Petersburg Times.
■ Brazil
75 policemen arrested
Federal agents arrested 75 state police troopers on Friday for links with organized crime in Rio de Janeiro's high-profile bid to get rid of corrupt cops. A special federal police unit from the capital, Brasilia, and other cities arrived in Rio to make the arrests jointly with the state police internal investigations department. In the early hours on Friday, they raided a shantytown on the outskirts of Rio where some of the officers accused of involvement in drug and arms trafficking lived. Many others were arrested at their police stations.
■ United States
Elder accused of kidnapping
An 85-year-old man is accused of kidnapping his wife from a nursing home in Michigan and taking her to Florida, where they lived for nearly a year before authorities found them. Joseph Perez has been charged with kidnapping for taking his wife from Father Murray Nursing Center in January. They lived in Florida until about Nov. 1, when a claim for government health benefits for the elderly tipped off police, authorities said. "We're looking out for the best interests of the alleged victim," prosecutor John Latella said. Latella said Perez had been a guardian for his wife, who is about the same age, for several years but was stripped of that designation because of how he cared for her.
■ France
Researchers discount relics
Researchers examining what were thought to be Joan of Arc's remains are fast coming to the conclusion that they are no such thing, a forensic scientist who is leading the investigation stated on Saturday. "The chances that we are dealing with the remains of the French heroine are diminishing," Philippe Charlier said after completing six months of research. "The results do not allow us to give an answer with certainty. But my historical prejudices on relics that turn out to be false lead me to think that we are headed towards a hypothesis of a false relic."
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
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