■ AUSTRALIA
'Nutcase' survives test
A scientist emerged unscathed on Wednesday after spending 12 days in an underwater capsule where he had to create his own oxygen with algae and generate electricity on an exercise bike. Self-confessed "nutcase" Lloyd Godson lived at the bottom of a flooded quarry in a yellow steel capsule measuring just nine square meters to demonstrate how a closed ecological system can work. Godson admitted suffering mild cabin fever during his time in the underwater tank, which used a revolutionary Israeli-developed "Biocoil" system to generate oxygen from algae soaked with the 27-year-old's urine. The marine scientist, who was remotely monitored by a psychologist during his underwater experience, said the information could help future planning for extended missions by submarines or space vessels.
■ NEW ZEALAND
Tourist bus plunges 40m
Bloodied passengers called for help after their tourist bus plunged 40m down a bank on the South Island yesterday, rescuers said. No one was killed but many of the 33 passengers on the Kiwi Experience tourist bus were hurt, local motel owner Jack Baithilingham said. Some of the injured were covered in blood, crying and screaming as they tried to scramble up the steep bank in Fox Hills, south of the Franz Josef Glacier tourist attraction on the west coast, he said. Baithilingham, who arrived within minutes of the accident, said "bloodied, walking wounded" had already scrambled back to the roadside.
■ CHINA
Gas explosions kill nine
Nine miners were killed and 19 missing after two gas explosions at coal mines in Hebei Province, the Xinhua news agency reported yesterday. In the first blast, which occured at the state-owned Dashucun mine in Handan in the early hours of Thursday, nine miners were killed and eight were missing, Xinhua said, citing local work safety authorities. Another 11 miners were trapped in the Tao'er coal mine, also in Handan, after an explosion on Friday noon, Xinhua said. Rescue operations have been slow and careful in order to avoid new blasts, it said.
■ CHINA
Online nudist case dropped
A Beijing court has thrown out a case against a woman arrested for organizing nude online chatting because China's pornography laws do not mention chatrooms, state media reported on Wednesday. The 36-year-old, identified by the Xinhua news agency only by her surnamed Li, was arrested three years ago on pornography charges after taking off her clothes and chatting with other Internet users via Web cam, the agency said. Li, who also organized chatrooms for other nudists, has said she was "seeking excitement," Xinhua said.
■ India
Cow urine teachers arrested
Teachers sprinkled cow urine on low-caste students to purify them and drive away evil, reports said yesterday. Upper-caste headteacher Sharad Kaithade ordered the ritual after taking over from a lower-caste predecessor at a school in a remote village in the western state of Maharashtra earlier this month, the Times of India reported. He told an upper-caste colleague to spray cow urine in a cleansing ceremony as the students were taking an examination, wetting their faces and their answer sheets, the newspaper said. "She said you'll study well after getting purified," student Rajat Washnik was quoted as saying by the CNN-IBN news channel.
■ SOUTH AFRICA
"Lions maul reserve owner
A game reserve owner was mauled by a pride of lions on Friday while horrified paramedics watched helplessly, authorities said. Dirk Brink, 58, was pronounced dead shortly after the attack at the Krugersdorp Game Reserve outside Johannesburg. Paramedics called to the scene were unable to get to Brink immediately because of the danger posed by the lions, Mark Stokoe, a spokesman for South African emergency service provider Netcare 911, told the SAPA news agency. Brink had apparently been dragged into the bushes by the lions after getting out of his vehicle.
■ EGYPT
Man jailed for spying
A court convicted an Egyptian-Canadian dual citizen yesterday of spying for Israel and sentenced him to 15 years in prison, saying he had been "seduced by Satan" into selling out his country. Three Israelis, said to be Mossad agents and tried in absentia, were also found guilty in the case and given 15-year jail terms. Israel has dismissed the case as a fabrication and foreign ministry officials declined comment on the ruling. Egyptian prosecutors said Mohamed Essam Ghoneim al-Attar, 31, was recruited by Israel in 2001 while living in Turkey. They said intelligence agents helped him get a Canadian residency permit under a fake name and found him work in a bank to help him spy on Egyptians and other Arabs.
■ IVORY COAST
Ministers' fight punished
Two ministers were suspended from the new reconciliation government on Friday for one month without pay after local media reported they had exchanged punches, a government official said. Local newspapers said Trade Minister Youssouf Soumahoro and Technical Education Minister Moussa Dosso, who swapped portfolios in the new government, came to blows in a row over office furniture and because one ministry had a larger budget. The country has been divided since a 2002-2003 civil war. A home-grown peace accord was announced last month.
■ AUSTRIA
Expert blasts artificial snow
Ski resorts in the Alps should rethink the use of artificial snow as it saps water reserves, scientists say. Using artificial snow could change seasonal water cycles, hit water supplies and affect fragile ecosystems, they warned. "To make artificial snow all day long and during the whole season is just completely irresponsible for our climate," said Carmen de Jong, professor and research manager at the Mountain Institute at the University of Savoie in France. "That is insane, you cannot continue like this," de Jong said during the annual meeting this week of the European Geosciences Union in Vienna.
■ VATICAN
Catholics to reject limbo
Theologians are set to declare that limbo does not exist, a member of the papal theological commission said. "The many factors that we have considered ... give serious theological and liturgical grounds for hope that unbaptized infants who die will be saved," said a document published on Friday by the US magazine Origins. Limbo as a place where unbaptized infants spend eternity seems to reflect an "unduly restrictive view of salvation," it says. Pope Benedict XVI has approved the document drafted by the International Theological Commission, the panel's secretary said, but its conclusions will not be considered Church dogma.
■ UNITED STATES
Lotto slip-up pays off
A North Carolina store clerk's slip-up at the cash register has paid off big. Wayburn Allen on Tuesday accidentally rang up two duplicate lottery tickets for a customer. At the end of the day, after she was unable to sell the second ticket, Allen paid for it herself. The next day, Allen returned to the store and found the ticket matched all five numbers -- earning her a US$200,000 jackpot. When Allen went to Raleigh to claim her prize, she met the customer who purchased the original ticket. The customer will also receive a US$200,000 jackpot.
■ CUBA
PRC official meets Castro
Convalescing Cuban leader Fidel Castro met for one hour on Friday with Wu Guanzheng (吳官正), a member of the Chinese Communist Party's Standing Committee, Cuban television said. The meeting with the highest-ranking Chinese official to visit Cuba in more than a year was the latest sign that Castro was recovering steadily and resuming some government duties. Wu handed the 80-year-old revolutionary a letter from Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) that expressed the "excellent ties" that have been developed between the two nations and their ruling Communist parties, state TV said in its evening newscast.
■ UNITED STATES
Student `attacker' nabbed
A homeless ex-convict has been arrested in the rape and torture of a Columbia University graduate student, who was held hostage for 19 hours in her Manhattan apartment, cut with a knife and left tied up with the bed set ablaze. Robert Williams, 30, was picked up following a routine burglary report and faces attempted murder, rape, kidnapping, arson and other charges stemming from last week's assault, police said on Friday. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said neighbors of the still-hospitalized victim picked Williams out of lineups, identifying him as the man loitering outside her upper Manhattan building before the assault. An anonymous tipster had previously named the attacker as "Pooh" -- a nickname that matched one on Williams' criminal record.
■ UNITED STATES
Miss America stops intruder
Miss America 1944 has a talent that likely has never appeared on a beauty pageant stage: She fired a handgun to shoot out a vehicle's tires and stop an intruder. Venus Ramey, 82, confronted a man on her farm in south-central Kentucky last week after she saw her dog run into a storage building where thieves had previously made off with old farm equipment. Ramey said the man told her he would leave. "I said, `Oh, no you won't,' and I shot the tires so [he] couldn't leave," Ramey said. Ramey then flagged down a passing motorist, who called police. Curtis Parrish of Ohio was charged with misdemeanor trespassing, police said.
■ UNITED STATES
Convict skips jail
A convicted murderer did not show up to begin his 23-year prison sentence and questions are swirling about a judge's decision that set him free for 60 days to get "his affairs in order." Amit Livingston, a US citizen who is originally from India, did not show up at the Carrizalez-Rucker Detention Center in Brownsville, Texas, on April 14 as scheduled. He is now on the run, and warrants have also been issued for his father and uncle. Livingston was sentenced on Feb. 13 for the September 2005 death of Hermila Hernandez. Livingston had been having an affair with the 32-year-old mother of three, and said he killed her when she wanted to break up the relationship.
‘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
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