■ Indonesia
Ten killed in stampede
Ten people were killed and dozens injured in a stampede at a packed music concert in Central Java province, hospital workers and reports said yesterday. The stampede occurred late on Tuesday in the town of Kedungwuni, 90km west of the provincial capital of Semarang, as popular band Ungu played in a packed soccer stadium. "We have identified nine of the victims," Pekajangan district hospital staffer Wawan said, adding that the identity of one man was not yet known.
■ Australia
Dating with text appeal
A 150-year old public library has a new true-romance section after introducing speed-dating nights for lovers of classic texts. The state library of Victoria in Melbourne introduced dating with a literary twist after the idea was raised at a staff party. Those who attend must bring a book they either love or loathe as a conversation starter, ensuring there are no uneasy silences during the series of five-minute dates. "It's speed dating with books. It's designed to bring book lovers together," the library's project manager, Jackie Felstead, said yesterday.
■ Solomon Islands
Deputy PM resigns
The deputy prime minister resigned from his post yesterday and also as the nation's environment minister, an official said. Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare was expected to comment on the resignation later yesterday, according to Alfred Maisulia of the prime minister's information department. Media reported that Deputy Prime Minister Job Dudley Tausinga did not say why he resigned but quoted him as saying that he would continue as a lawmaker.
■ Hong Kong
Maid jailed for serving urine
An Indonesian house maid who poured urine in her employer's drinking water in revenge for a dressing down has been jailed for two weeks, media reports said yesterday. Duladi Sunartin, 27, twice served her 34-year-old female employer the doctored water, the Chinese-language Apple Daily said. The maid told a court she did it after she had been berated for having a bad attitude. She also said the woman had mistreated her, the report said. The incident came to light after the employer, who was resting at home on maternity leave, questioned Sunartin about the odd taste in her water.
■ China
Escapee's mistress jailed
The mistress of a building contractor has been jailed for six years for arranging the "rescue" of her lover from police who were questioning him over alleged corruption, state media said yesterday. Liu Qian, 27, orchestrated the escape of Yao Chuanrui, a former manager of a state construction company, from a Beijing hotel where he had been held secretly for months.
■ Japan
`Hibernation' saves man
A man who was lost in the mountains survived for 24 days without eating or drinking anything, except a few drops of barbecue sauce, by going into a bear-like state of hibernation, his doctor said. "I lay down on the second day in a grassy area, which felt good in the sunshine, and eventually I fell asleep," said Mitsutaka Uchikoshi, 35. "That's the last thing I remember." His saga started on Oct. 7, when he went with friends to climb Mount Rokko in Kobe. He left his party to descend by himself but fell off a cliff. He hurt his back and was unable to move. The only food he had with him was a container of barbecue sauce.
■ United Kingdom
Randy man compensated
A devout Christian who said an accident at work boosted his libido and wrecked his marriage as he turned to prostitutes and pornography was awarded more than £3 million (US$5.89 million) in damages on Tuesday. Stephen Tame, 29, from Suffolk, suffered severe head injuries in a fall, transforming him from a loyal newly-wed into a "disinhibited" character who had two affairs. He was in a coma for two months after falling from a gantry while working at a bicycle warehouse shortly after his marriage in January 2002. Doctors said it was a miracle he survived.
■ United States
Cheney to appear at trial
US Vice President Dick Cheney will be called to testify as a defense witness at the trial of his former top aide who is charged with perjury and obstruction of justice in the CIA leak case, a defense lawyer said on Tuesday. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff, is accused of lying to investigators as they sought to find out who leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame in 2003 after her diplomat husband accused the administration of US President George W. Bush of manipulating intelligence to build its case for invading Iraq.
■ United States
Trump cuts Miss USA slack
Donald Trump gave Miss USA a reprieve, allowing the beauty queen to keep her title after she agreed to enter rehab and undergo drug testing. In a moment of television drama filled with redemptive tears, a tough-talking Trump, co-owner of the pageant, turned soft and decided to forgive Tara Conner for her behavior on Tuesday. Conner had come under criticism for frequenting bars even though she is younger than the legal drinking age of 21. Conner turned 21 on Monday. "I've always been a believer in second chances," said Trump, who owns the Miss Universe Organization with the NBC television network.
■ Switerland
Anaconda has 40 babies
Zoologists have more than a few hungry mouths to feed this Christmas after a giant anaconda gave birth to 40 babies, a tropical gardens institution said on Tuesday. The snakes were born on Dec. 2 at the tropical gardens in the small town of Kerzers. Their mother had given birth to another 40 babies just two years previously. The mother weighs around 80kg and is more than 6m long, while the new arrivals are already 70cm long and "a lot sturdier than the previous ones," the institution said. Anaconda births are rare in Europe. The snake is regularly killed out of fear, superstition and the desire for trophies in its native habitat.
■ United Kingdom
Wanted man skips country
A Somali suspect in the killing of a British policewoman escaped the country by disguising himself as a woman wearing a veil, the Times reported yesterday. According to the newspaper, citing unidentified police sources, Mustaf Jamma assumed the identity of his sister, using her passport and wearing a veil, to evade British security checks at London's Heathrow Airport. He apparently fled for his homeland after being implicated in the November 2005 murder of constable Sharon Beshenivsky during. Jamma, 26, escaped Britain between Christmas Day last year, and New Year's Day. At the time of his departure, he had 21 criminal convictions and was one of Britain's most wanted men.
■ United Kingdom
Pricey door sign
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Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott spent £645 (US$1,266) of taxpayers' money to change his door sign, an official document showed on Tuesday. The scandal-prone Prescott admitted that was the cost of switching the sign on his door from "Office of the Deputy Prime Minster" to "Deputy Prime Minister's Office." In a written parliamentary statement, he also said he had spent £726 on new business cards when he lost his official duties but kept the same Whitehall office. Prescott was stripped of his departmental responsibilities in a Cabinet reshuffle after he admitted to having an affair with his diary secretary.
■ United States
`Freedom Tower' rises
Two 25-tonne steel columns -- one bearing signatures of American steelworkers who helped make it -- rose at the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, a milestone in prolonged efforts to build the skyscraper that will replace the twin towers of the World Trade Center. As construction workers, politicians and architects applauded, a massive crane lifted the first, 9.3m-high column, which was painted with a US flag and the words "Freedom Tower" and set it over steel bars on the southern edge of the tower's base on Tuesday.
■ United States
Iraq deadliest for journalists
Iraq was by far the deadliest country for journalists this year, with most of the 32 killed there targeted by insurgents, the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists said yesterday. An analysis by the media watchdog found that 55 journalists were killed as a direct result of their work there this year, up from 47 last year. The group is still investigating whether another 27 deaths were work-related. Afghanistan and the Philippines, which each had three journalists killed, were the most dangerous datelines after Iraq. Two reporters were killed in Russia, Mexico, Pakistan and Colombia.
■ United States
This crack just isn't good
A North Carolina woman was arrested after she complained to a police officer about a batch of "bad" crack cocaine she bought, authorities said on Monday. Eloise Reaves, 50, approached a police officer on Friday in the parking lot of a convenience store in Putnam County and told him she had been sold poor quality crack and wanted his help getting her money back, police said in a statement. "She then took the crack from out of her mouth and placed it on the trunk of Deputy Pedrick's patrol car," police said. The sheriff's deputy, Jeffery Pedrick, warned Reaves that if the substance tested positive, she would be arrested.
■ United States
No baptism for Wiesenthal
In life, Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal was among the most famous Jews of the 20th century. In death, he wound up on a list of people eligible to be posthumously baptized as Mormons so they could enter heaven. Bowing to protests from Jewish groups, The Church of Latter Day Saints said on Tuesday that it had removed Wiesenthal's name from its International Genealogical Index, a database of names of people who be could be baptized after death. "From their point of view they thought they were doing him a favor by making sure he can get into heaven. For us, it is very offensive ... I don't think he needs help getting into heaven," Rabbi Marvin Heir said.
‘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
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
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in