■ HONG KONG
Hotels targeted in attacks
Anti-triad police are investigating a series of attacks on buildings, including a Marriott hotel, linked to one of the territory's biggest property developers. Attackers rammed a car into the front entrance of the JW Marriott hotel in the city center early on Thursday morning, shattering the door and scattering glass over the lobby, the Standard newspaper reported. Minutes later, a car crashed into the headquarters of the New World Group, which is run by billionaire Cheng Yu-tung (鄭裕彤) and has links to Marriott International. Earlier in the week, more than a dozen mobile phone shops run by a New World subsidiary were daubed with paint and attackers drove a car into a Renaissance hotel.
■ CHINA
Nightclub blast investigated
An illegal stash of mining explosives was probably to blame for a nightclub blast that killed at least 25 people, media reports said yesterday. The explosion ripped through the Liaoning Province club, killing at least 25 and injuring 41. "The explosion was so powerful that there must have been about one tonne of explosives," the Beijing News quoted an investigator as saying. The owner of the club, who was killed in the blast, had stored the explosives in a vault, the newspaper quoted local residents as saying. "The boss of the club was quite rich and ran a coal mine as well," a resident surnamed Liu said.
■ CHINA
No clouds allowed
The weather forecast for Beijing's Olympics Games in August next year will be fine and sunny. Next month, the city plans to fine-tune "rain prevention" techniques to ensure good weather prevails during the Games, state media reported yesterday. The project is still in the experimental stage according to an official from the capital's artificial rain prevention program, the China Daily reported. China's Olympic hosts fear the capital's stormy August weather could put a damper on the Games, and worry that an untimely deluge could ruin the opening ceremony at the uncovered National Stadium.
■ MALAYSIA
Woman refuses to revert
Revathi Masoosai, 29, an ethnic Indian, was released from an Islamic rehabilitation center on Thursday after being detained for six months. The Islamic Religious Department detained Revathi in January and sent her for religious counseling after officials discovered she had married a Hindu man despite being born to a Muslim family. Malaysians who are born as Muslims are legally barred from changing religion. Revathi appeared in a High Court yesterday in an attempt to have her detention declared illegal. Revathi claimed officials at the center tried to make her pray as a Muslim, wear a head scarf and eat beef, but she refused.
■ SWIZERLAND
Seven wonders poll closes
The Great Wall of China, the Colosseum in Rome and Peru's Machu Picchu are leading contenders to be among the new seven wonders of the world, as a massive poll draws to a close with votes already cast by more than 90 million people, organizers said. As yesterday's midnight voting deadline approached, also in the top 10 were Greece's Acropolis, Mexico's Chichen Itza pyramid, the Eiffel Tower, Easter Island, Brazil's Statue of Christ Redeemer, the Taj Mahal and Jordan's Petra. The winners will be announced today in Lisbon. The Great Pyramids of Giza, the only surviving structures from the original seven wonders, are assured of staying on the list.
■ GERMANY
Woman drives through cash
A motorist surprised by euro notes swirling in the air around her car hit the brakes and collected a "substantial amount of money" before turning it over to police, authorities in Worms said on Thursday. A police spokesman in the small western town said the 24-year-old woman saw the money flying through the air in her rear-view mirror late on Wednesday. She pulled over and tried to collect all the notes, but was unsuccessful. A spokesman at Worms city hall said police were withholding details on the exact sum and location of the find before learning more about the money's origin.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Postman delivers baby
A postman turned midwife while out on his daily rounds, helping to deliver a baby girl as he was about to hand over the mail to a heavily pregnant woman. Ryan Davenport, 27, was called into action as he reached the home of Melanie Newman, 33, in the Welsh capital Cardiff, taking advice from medical staff over his mobile phone and delivering the girl, Sophie, in her mother's hallway. The baby girl, who weighed in 4.1kg, was born three weeks premature. "It all happened so quickly -- one minute I was delivering mail, the next minute I was delivering a baby," Davenport said. "I thought I was OK, but when I got to the end of the street, I realized I hadn't given Melanie her mail. So I had to go back and hand it over."
■ BELGIUM
EU defends risque video
Talk of monetary union and wine quotas gave way to controversy over orgasms and innuendo at the European Commission on Wednesday as it defended a risque Internet video clip highlighting its backing for European cinema. The EU executive's usually dry daily news briefing sprung to life with questions over whether a 44-second clip of 18 couples achieving ecstasy in a variety of positions and venues was the best way to show how Brussels uses taxpayers' money. The raunchy clip is made up of snippets from various general release films that have been funded by the EU, including Amelie and Good Bye Lenin!
■ FRANCE
Cecilia Sarkozy returns card
Cecilia Sarkozy, the wife of the French President Nicolas Sarkozy, has handed back her presidential credit card following questions over her right to tap state funds, a government spokesman said on Wednesday. Cecilia received the credit card in May to pay for official expenses shortly after her husband won power. Government spokesman Laurent Wauquiez said Cecilia Sarkozy had only used the card twice -- for two dinners in restaurants costing 410 euros (US$559) -- but had decided to return it "to avoid any controversy."
■ MEXICO
Earthquake rocks Chiapas
A strong earthquake hit Chiapas state at 8:09pm on Thursday night, sending thousands of residents fleeing from buildings into the streets. There were no immediate reports of injury or damage. The magnitude 6.1 earthquake was centered near Tuxtla Gutierreze, the US Geological Survey said. Electricity for much of the city was also cut off for several minutes. The tremor also rattled buildings in Villahermosa in neighboring Tabasco state and was felt as far away as Mexico City and northwestern Guatemala.
■ UNITED STATES
Sisters kidnap toddler
Oklahoma detectives arrested a 12-year-old girl and her 10-year-old sister for allegedly abducting their neighbor's one-year-old son and demanding US$200,000 for his return. Brandon Wells was safe back at home in Enid on Thursday night, hours after he was taken while his mother, Sheila Wells, slept, police said. Police said the girls left a ransom note: "If you want to see your son again then you won't call police and report him missing and you will leave $200,000 on the sofa tonight and we will return your son back safe." The plan began to unravel when the girls' mother saw them with the child, police said. Sheila Wells said she knew the girls and had banned the 10-year-old girl from her home a few weeks earlier.
■ South Africa
Parcel sparks anthrax scare
Eleven people were sent to hospital yesterday after coming into contact with a suspicious powder at a post office that raised fears of anthrax, police said. Police were called to the post office at a mall in Alberton, south of Johannesburg, after staff discovered the powder in a torn envelope, police spokeswoman Juanita Kilian said. "The envelope was torn on the side and they could see the white powder, which prompted the first officers on the scene to call the bomb disposal unit," Kilian said. "We cannot confirm that the powder was actually anthrax, but the action that we took was just to be cautious." It was not clear where the envelope had come from or to whom it had been sent. The 11 people who came into contact with the powder were hosed down in decontamination booths and taken to hospital for observation and treatment. They were later released.
■ UNITED STATES
Cat survives 18-day voyage
A cat spent nearly three weeks crossing the Pacific Ocean in a shipping container with no food or water -- and appears to be fine. Pamela Escamilla lost sight of her three-year-old calico, Spice, while packing a shipping container with household goods in Hawaii. The container was shipped on June 15 to California. The cat spent 18 days in the container before arriving at the San Bernardino home of Escamilla's parents on Tuesday. When Escamilla opened the container, she noticed fluffs of cat hair on the floor. "I saw [Spice] poke her head out from behind some bicycles, and I started to scream," she said. A veterinarian said Spice's kidneys had shrunk and its bowels were backed up, but the prognosis was good.
■ UNITED STATES
Fossil sorry for being a fossil
Watch-maker and clothier Fossil Inc agreed to pay US$3,600 to a woman who was barred from breast-feeding her infant while visiting a showroom, the New York Civil Liberties Union said on Tuesday. Lass King, 37, said she received a letter of apology and the payment from Fossil after threatening the company with a lawsuit.
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