■ India
Factory fire kills seven
A fire gutted a garment factory in eastern India yesterday, killing seven workers, officials said. The fire hit a sari embroidery factory in Howrah, a suburb of Calcutta, when sparks from electrical wires ignited a can of diesel fuel lying in the factory, said Gopal Bhattacharjee, the director of the staste fire department. The fire, which broke out very early yesterday, has been brought under control, he said, adding that a detailed investigation is under way.
■ India
Bangalore police on alert
Thousands of riot police fanned out across India's technology hub of Bangalore yesterday ahead of a court ruling on a century-old water dispute which authorities fear could lead to a repeat of deadly 1991 riots. Bangalore is the capital of Karnataka, a southern state in dispute with neighboring Tamil Nadu over access to water from their shared Cauvery river. A 1991 interim court order telling Karnataka to release 205 billion cubic feet of water from Cauvery river to Tamil Nadu sparked riots against Tamils in Bangalore, a linguistic minority in the city, leaving more than 18 people dead.
■ India
Suspected rebels arrested
Police arrested four suspected Islamic rebels after a gunbattle on a busy street in the Indian capital, a news report said yesterday. The shootout took place on Sunday night in the center of New Delhi after the police, acting on a tip, intercepted the suspected militants, the Indian Express reported. Police also seized explosives and weapons, including 3km of the explosive RDX, used in past bombings in India, six hand grenades and four detonators, the report said. The police say the men are members of Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based Islamic militant group, which has been blamed for several attacks in India, including numerous bombings and shootings in New Delhi's part of Kashmir.
■ Malaysia
Man wants to reject Islam
An ethnic Chinese man who was mistakenly handed to a Muslim couple at birth in a hospital mix-up found his biological parents 21 years later, but now faces a new battle -- to renounce Islam and acquire a Chinese name, the Star reported yesterday. The family went public with their story only now because Zulhaidi Omar, 29, wants to take up a Chinese name and change his religion to Buddhism. But the Constitution does not allow Muslims to renounce their religion. Doing so is considered apostasy and is punishable by jail. Michael Tay, a politician who is helping the family, said that if negotiations with state officials and the hospital where Zulhaidi was born failed, the family might have to seek legal recourse.
■ Australia
Fugitive to fly home
An Australian fugitive wanted on fraud charges in two South Pacific nations said he would fly home yesterday from Vanuatu where he was jailed for a visa offense. Peter Foster, 44, was sentenced in the Port Vila Magistrates Court last Friday to six weeks in prison and fined 120,000 Vanuatuan vatu (US$1,080) for arriving on Vanuatu without a visa last month. Foster, who gained international attention for dating former British topless model Samantha Fox and for advising Cherie Blair, wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair has served time for fraud-related offenses in Australia, the US and Britain.
■ Israel
President's lawyer quits
The main lawyer of Israeli President Moshe Katsav, faced with a looming indictment for rape and sexual harassment, announced on Sunday he would no longer represent the embattled head of state. David Libai, a former justice minister, said he had agreed to defend Katsav before the revelations of alleged sexual harassment, the media reported. His decision to resign was taken after the rape and harassment charges emerged. "Moshe Katsav and David Libai jointly decided a week ago that Katsav would no longer be represented by lawyer Libai," the president's office said.
■ Spain
Mayor murderer confesses
In a case that could be the plot of a murder mystery novel, the main political and business rival of a murdered mayor in a remote Spanish hamlet has confessed, newspapers said on Sunday. "I did it all on my own. I killed the mayor because I couldn't stand him any longer," Santiago Mainar, forester, hotel owner and losing candidate in recent mayoral elections, confessed to the Spanish daily El Pais. However, sources close to the enquiry cited by the Spanish media on Sunday said that the confession of Mainar, who was arrested on Friday, contained "several discrepancies" and that he is suspected of having had accomplices. The murder victim, Miguel Grima, 50, had defeated Mainar in elections and ran a rival hotel.
■ Germany
Tenants' space restricted
More than 100 German housing association tenants are obediently following tough new rules by agreeing not to use all the space in their apartments to avoid being forced to move out. The housing authority in the town of Loebau said on Friday the new regulations stipulate the tenants now only qualify for smaller homes. Because there is a shortage of smaller dwellings, the tenants are being allowed to stay, so long as the space they use does not exceed the new limit. Not everyone sees the sense of living in an apartment with off-limits areas. "It feels stupid not being able to go into all the rooms of your apartment any more," one 49-year-old woman was quoted as saying in the Dresdner Morgenpost newspaper.
■ United Kingdom
Molly set to go to convent
A Scottish girl who was at the center of an international custody battle will enrol in a convent school in Pakistan, the Daily Mail reported yesterday. The Pakistani Supreme Court decided earlier this year that 12-year-old Molly Campbell could stay with her father, Sajjad Ahmed Rana, after a lower court decided to order the girl to return to her mother in Scotland. "I am looking for a good school. My friends have suggested I get my daughter enrolled in Catholic schools because they have high educational standards and a safe and disciplined environment," Rana was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
■ United States
`Oz' actor arrested
An actor from the former HBO prison drama Oz was arrested in connection with the death of a man who fell down an elevator shaft during a scuffle at a nightclub, police said on Sunday. Granville Adams, 43, was arrested on Saturday and charged with criminally negligent homicide, police said. Adams acted in more than 20 episodes of Oz, playing the character Zahir Arif. He had been working as a manager at the upscale nightclub BED in Manhattan.
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