■ NEPAL
Assassins kill politicians
Police arrested one suspect yesterday after assassins on motorcycles killed two political leaders in a spray of gunfire in the restive south, a local administrator said. Gobari Yadav, a leader of the Nepali Congress, and Bechai Yadav of the Nepali Congress Democratic, were walking along a street in Bhujhawa village, Nawalparasi District, when the killers gunned them down as they sped past on motorcycles, said Bal Bahadur Malla, an administrator in the area. The gunmen fled after the attack, Malla said. Police arrested one suspect yesterday, Malla said.
■ NEW ZEALAND
Man survives 20m fall
A bid to take the perfect photo from a bridge at a national park nearly cost a young Irish tourist his life when he leaned over, lost his footing and fell 20m into a river below. Desmond Loy was hospitalized after tumbling from the Falls River swing bridge in Abel Tasman National Park on Monday. Loy suffered only cuts and bruises. Loy, 19, almost reached the end of the bridge when he turned to take a photograph. "I leaned forward and remember feeling a bit woozy and a bit dizzy," the Nelson Evening Mail quoted him as saying. "I closed my eyes and I could hear the trees and then boulders going thud, thud. It seemed a long way down."
■ CHINA
Penguins fed garlic
Keepers at Shanghai's zoo are feeding the penguins garlic to help ward off respiratory problems and other illnesses during the long, humid, summer rainy season, local media reported yesterday. Penguins are highly sensitive to a mold that grows in their enclosure, and in past rainy seasons some have become weak and sick after ingesting it. Garlic helps fortify their respiratory systems, as well as protect their intestines and stomach, the Shanghai Morning Post said. Getting them to eat it isn't easy. Zookeepers have to stuff three to four cloves of garlic per bird in the fish they regularly feed on, the reports said.
■ EAST TIMOR
Coalition government likely
The country was headed for a coalition government after election results yesterday showed no party would win an overall majority in polls many hope will bring stability after a year of violence and political turmoil. With 86 percent of the 426,237 votes cast counted, the ruling Fretilin party had a lead of more than 22,000 over second-placed National Congress for the Reconstruction of East Timor, a party formed by independence hero Xanana Gusmao. Mari Alkatiri, the head of Fretilin, said his party was in talks with smaller parties, but ruled out a deal with Gusmao's party. Smaller parties look likely to play a key role in propping up any government.
■ INDONESIA
US delegate banned
The government has banned a US congressional delegate known for his criticism of Jakarta's rule over Papua Province, fearing his presence could spark violence, the delegate said yesterday. Eni Faleomavaega, from the US territory of American Samoa, said he had originally been invited by Jakarta to visit Papua as part of moves by the government to convince the US Congress that its policies there were not as harsh as human rights group say. But authorities canceled the trip saying he might incite demonstrations by separatists, Faleomavaega said from Jakarta. Indonesia occupied Papua in 1963 and a low-level insurgency has simmered ever since.
■ ESTONIA
Exhumed soldiers re-buried
Eight World War II Red Army soldiers were re-buried on Tuesday, weeks after their exhumation and the removal of a monument sparked rioting by local ethnic Russians and hurt relations with Moscow. The Russian ambassador refused to attend the reburial. "Now that the eight have found their place in the cemetery, they cannot be used in provocative action against the Republic of Estonia," Defense Minister Jaak Aaviksoo said after the ceremony, which took place amid tight security. State authorities said the monument and graves had become a focus for nationalist protests in the center of the capital, Tallinn, and that the military cemetery was a more appropriate location.
■ GAZA
Hope for Shalit release
Ousted Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya said yesterday he hoped a deal would be reached that would allow the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who has been held in Gaza since June last year. "We hope the kidnapping of Shalit to end with a good deal to assure to [sic] the release of our prisoners," Haniya said at a news conference following the release of BBC journalist Alan Johnston. Shalit was captured on June 25 last year from an army base in Israel, near the Gaza Strip, by militants from Hamas and two allied groups.
■ GERMANY
Rail strike enters third day
German railway employees staged strikes for a third day yesterday, causing disruption with walkouts at signal boxes in the west of the country before new talks in a wage dispute. National rail operator Deutsche Bahn AG said the walkouts disrupted services on several major long-distance routes, including the Berlin-Frankfurt and Hamburg-Munich lines. However, yesterday's delays fell short of the disruption seen on Tuesday, when a union that represents many of Deutsche Bahn's train drivers called a four-hour strike.
■ SOUTH AFRICA
Murder rate rises
The country's already high murder rate rose further in the past year while rape figures dropped, according to police statistics released in one of the world's most crime-ridden countries on Tuesday. Crime information head Chris de Kock told journalists in Pretoria that 40.5 people out of every 100,000 were murdered in the fiscal year that ended March, a 2.4 percent rise from 39.6 per 100,000 in the previous 12 months. Rape cases decreased by 5.2 percent, attempted murder by 3.0 percent, and indecent assault by 5.5 percent, he said. But aggravated robbery, which included such categories as cash-in-transit and bank heists, rose by 4.6 percent.
■ SPAIN
Baby bonus offered
The family of every child born in the country will get 2,500 euros (US$3,400) to help raise the country's low birth rate and support the fast growing economy, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said on Tuesday. The baby bonus follows similar moves in Scandinavia and France to encourage larger families and counteract a trend towards ageing populations that places a burden on pension and social security systems. "To keep progressing, Spain needs more families with more children and families need more support to have these children," Zapatero told Spain's Congress in his state of the nation address. Spain's birth rate rose to 1.37 per woman of child bearing age last year.
■ UNITED STATES
Sex offenders on MySpace
More than 140 sex offenders convicted in New Jersey had profiles on the networking Web site MySpace, the state's attorney general said on Tuesday. Of the sex offenders identified on MySpace, 80 were found to be on parole or probation, and officials are working to determine if those individuals violated the terms of their sentences, a spokesman for Attorney General Anne Milgram said. The identified individuals may now be subject to tougher prohibitions against using the Internet, she said. Those identified are among a national total of about 7,000 registered sex offenders whose names were deleted and handed over to law enforcement authorities by Fox Interactive Media, the owner of MySpace.
■ UNITED STATES
Knife-biting fish identified
A fish that bared its teeth and bit a fisherman's knife in North Carolina was identified as a piranha. The catch highlights the growing problem of people keeping exotic animals and fish as pets and later dumping them into local waters, said Paul Barrington, an ichthyologist with the Fort Fisher Aquarium. "I hadn't seen anything like it before," said fisherman Jerry Melton, 46. He said the fish's bite left an impression on the blade of his pocketknife on Saturday. Melton, who is keeping the piranha in his freezer until he can have it mounted, said the experience will keep him out of the river.
■ UNITED STATES
Park singer not guilty
Saying "This is America, not Afghanistan," a judge found a man not guilty of disorderly conduct for refusing to obey a police officer's request that he stop singing in a public park. Anthony Riley, 20, had faced a three-month sentence after loudly singing A Change is Gonna Come in downtown Philadelphia in March. Greg Wilkinson, the arresting officer, said Riley was singing so loud his voice drowned out his police radio. "All he had to do was lower his voice and this never would have happened," prosecutor William James said. The city is now reviewing what kinds of music should be allowed in its public parks.
■ UNITED STATES
Strippers at golf club
A golf outing for local Democrats left some participants embarrassed after they found out strippers were handing out drinks at the event. One participant said he saw a woman flash a group of golfers. Others at the fundraiser for the Lucas County Democratic Party said they did not see any inappropriate acts. "When the word got out that these girls are strippers, it gave the party a black eye," Clerk of Courts Bernie Quilter said. Ryan Kemp, the general manager of a local strip club, said he paid for four people to golf at the outing and club waitresses staffed it.
■ CANADA
Porn pizza a hit
A new pizza restaurant in Winnipeg that delivers pornography with every pie has once again proven the adage: sex sells. Porno Pizza has been doing brisk business since opening last week, titillating the hungry with racy pictures at the bottom of every pizza box. "They range from softly-lit, lube-on-the-lens pictures like in Playboy, to raunchy, hardcore photos that would make [porn publisher] Larry Flynt blush," pizzeria owner Corey Wildeman said. "The image is revealed as you eat the pizza." The "ultra erotic" marketing gimmick has attracted "scowls" from some observers, "hooting and hollering" from others and at least one "drive-by flashing" of breasts, he 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