■ China
Scientists control pigeon
Scientists have succeeded in implanting electrodes in the brain of a pigeon to remotely control the bird's flight, state media said. Xinhua news agency said the scientists at the Robot Engineering Technology Research Center at Shandong University of Science and Technology used the micro electrodes to command the bird to fly right or left, and up or down. The implants stimulated different areas of the pigeon's brain according to electronic signals sent by the scientists via computer, mirroring natural signals generated by the brain, Xinhua quoted chief scientist Su Xuecheng as saying. It was the first such successful experiment on a pigeon in the world, Su said.
■ Malaysia
Fraudsters steal flood aid
Malacca state, which suffered devastating floods earlier this year, has lost thousands of dollars in flood aid to false claims, a report said yesterday. Malacca's Chief Minister Mohamad Ali Rustam said the state had handed over 698,400 ringgit (US$200,000) in flood aid to more than 3,000 families who had made multiple or fraudulent claims. "Taking advantage of the situation is not right and the money was to be used to help others who needed it," he was quoted as saying in the New Straits Times. Offenders made claims for vacant houses or for homes where they were not living, and also amended their names or addresses to make multiple applications, Mohamad Ali said.
■ Cambodia
Web sites anger king
The royal palace has condemned four Web sites that use the name of King Norodom Sihamoni to promote Las Vegas casinos, discount airfares and dating services. The palace called for those behind the sites to be prosecuted for slander. "The royal palace condemns vigorously all persons usurping [the king's name] for their personal use or to slander the sovereign,'' said a statement from the palace dated Feb. 23. The king's official Web site is www.norodomsihamoni.org. The Web sites in question include one which provides links to Las Vegas hotels and casinos and to online dating services, and another which offers travel deals and free music downloads. Neither has any connection to the Cambodian king.
■ South Korea
Bodyguards for children
Students who have trouble with school bullies can soon call on the government to provide them with bodyguards. The government plans to start a trial service next month to cut down on school violence. As a part of that, it will provide personal protection for those bullied students who seek it as they travel to and from school, an official said yesterday. "We are going to try to protect the student who is being bullied and find out who is doing the bullying," said Park Jung-hee, an education ministry official.
■ China
Coal mine boss jailed
A court has jailed a coal mine boss for 16 years for trying to cover up the death toll of a mine flooding last year which killed 56 people, the Beijing News reported yesterday. The People's Court in Datong, a city in Shanxi province neighboring Beijing, meted out prison sentences ranging from 10 months to six years and six months to 11 co-defendants for complicity in under-reporting the number of casualties. The coal mine boss, Li Fuyuan, was found guilty of failing to adopt effective measures after learning of flooding in his mine.
■ Italy
Nazi lieutenant acquitted
A military court on Monday acquitted an 87-year-old former lieutenant in the German army of the 1944 World War II massacre of some 50 civilians in Tuscany, news agencies reported. The tribunal in La Spezia ruled that there was no evidence to convict Herbert Hantschk, an Austrian who was tried in absentia as the only defendant in the case, the ANSA news agency reported. In 2005, German prosecutors said they were investigating a 90-year-old former lawmaker in the massacre. Klaus Konrad was suspected of involvement in killing 48 civilians, who were either shot, buried alive or killed with explosives.
■ Japan
Middle East meet planned
Tokyo plans to host a meeting with Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian officials next month to help broker peace in the Middle East, officials said yesterday. The meeting, which Foreign Minister Taro Aso said would be aimed to be held on March 14, would be a follow-up to plans proposed by former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi last year in which the country said it would provide economic assistance and promote cooperation in the region. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he hoped Tokyo would be able to contribute to efforts to build trust and peace in the region. Tokyo has planned to help build an agro-industrial park on the West Bank.
■ United States
White powder shuts campus
Nearly two dozen people were being decontaminated yesterday after a white, powdery substance was found on a man threatening "terrorist-type" actions at the University of Missouri-Rolla, school officials said. "Possible bomb materials" were also found with the man, identified only as a student at the school in Rolla, officials said in a statement. The student was in custody and being questioned, the statement said. Twenty-three people were sent through a decontamination process at the university's civil engineering building, where a police standoff with the student had started around 2:30am. The university was shut down during the standoff and classes were canceled until midmorning.
■ Sweden
Bus crash kills six
Two buses crashed yesterday on a slippery road, leaving at least six people dead and about 40 injured, nine of them seriously, a rescue spokesman said. The crash occurred outside Uppsala, about 70km north of Stockholm, rescue service SOS Alarm spokesman Leif Hammarstedt said. He said 10 ambulances, seven fire trucks and several rescue helicopters were dispatched to the scene. The cause of the crash was not yet clear, but roads in the area were dangerous because of wintry conditions.
■ Thailand
Russian tourists murdered
Detectives were yesterday investigating the murder of two young Russian women tourists whose bodies were found slumped in their deckchairs in Pattaya. The bodies of Tatiana Tsimfar, 30, and Liubov Svirkova, 25, were discovered at a beach a few feet from the sea. Both had been shot dead. They had apparently been waiting to watch the sunrise. The women's mobile phones lay untouched on a table -- apparently ruling out the possibility their murder had been a robbery. Murder squad police yesterday said they suspected a gang of foreigners living in the area could be behind the slaying of the women.
■ United States
Libby trial juror dismissed
A jury finished a fourth day of deliberating on Monday in the perjury trial of former vice presidential aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby, after the judge dismissed one member who said she was exposed to outside information about the case. The 11 remaining jurors continued to weigh evidence through an afternoon power outage that left much of the courthouse dark after one of their colleagues was sent home by US District Judge Reggie Walton. Walton did not say what information the juror had received on the case. The jury began deliberations yesterday.
■ United States
Embezzler pleads poverty
A man who siphoned millions of dollars from a pornography Web site and fled to Mexico pleaded poverty and asked a judge in San Jose, California, to erase the US$65 million he owes the rightful owner of Sex.com. Stephen Michael Cohen was released from prison in December so he could surrender assets to Gary Kremen, the online entrepreneur who registered the domain name in 1994. But Cohen told US District Court Judge James Ware on Monday that he is jobless and broke. Ware ordered the defendant to cooperate with plaintiff's attorneys, who plan to question Cohen this week in hopes of discovering a hidden bank account, stash of jewelry or other valuable investment.
■ Peru
Interior minister sworn in
Peruvian President Alan Garcia swore in a new interior minister on Monday in his first Cabinet shake-up and vowed to crack down on crime, a growing political issue. "Peru ... needs a strong hand to vigorously battle gangs [sowing] disorder, kidnappers and organized crime," Garcia said in delivering the oath of office to Luis Alva. Alva succeeds Pilar Mazzetti, whose relations with Peru's 92,000-strong police soured after she said one-fifth of the force was corrupt. Peruvians' top complaints against the seven-month-old Garcia administration are its failure to cut crime and overhaul the slow-paced courts, according to pollster Apoyo.
■ Saudi Arabia
French travelers killed
The specter of anti-Western terrorist attacks returned to haunt Saudi Arabia on Monday when three French nationals were shot dead in a remote desert area in the north of the country. A teenager wounded in the attack initially survived but later died after undergoing surgery to extract a bullet from a lung. Few details were available beyond a brief report on state-run Saudi television which said that some of the victims were Muslims on their way to Medina after performing the hajj pilgrimage in Mecca. If confirmed as the work of jihadist militants this would be the first significant attack on foreigners since 2004. Women and children also were with the group, but they were uninjured.
■ Uganda
Child sexual abuse rampant
More than half the children in refugee camps in Africa's troubled Great Lakes region have been victims of some form of sexual abuse, a report by aid agency World Vision said on Monday. Some of them are forced to have sex just to get food because conditions in the camps are so wretched, the charity said. In one camp in eastern Congo, 43 percent of girls were estimated to have been raped. Its report said the victims' fellow refugees were to blame, with people having power over children, such as school teachers or foster parents, committing the abuse.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
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