■ PAKISTAN
China condemns deaths
The Chinese Embassy condemned the killing of three Chinese workers in Peshawar, urging authorities yesterday to launch a probe into the attack. The three died when gunmen opened fire inside an auto-rickshaw factory on Sunday. A fourth Chinese national was seriously wounded. The assailants and motive for the attack were unknown, said Abdul Karim, a senior police official in Peshawar. The embassy said its deputy chief and other diplomats had gone to Peshawar to deal with the issue. There have been several attacks on Chinese nationals in Pakistan blamed on Islamic militants in recent years.
■ AFGHANISTAN
Anti-drugs minister quits
Counter-Narcotics Minister Habibullah Qader has resigned, a ministry spokesman said on Sunday, as the nation's farmers bring in what is expected to be another record harvest of opium. Qaderi had been suffering health problems. "He has been sick for the last five months, suffering from a sore throat and hyper-tension," said Counter-Narcotics Ministry spokesman Zalmay Afzali. "He could not cope with the burden of ministerial duties and daily meetings." He has now been posted to Canada as consul general.
■ CHINA
Flood death toll rises
Floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains have killed at least 94 people and left 25 others missing in seven provinces, state media reported. Xinhua news agency said on Sunday that about half a million people had been evacuated. It said more than 49,000 houses had been destroyed and another 240,000 damaged as a result of torrential rains in the worst-hit Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces over the past week. The estimated total direct economic losses could reach 3.83 billion yuan (US$500 million), Xinhua said.
■ NEW ZEALAND
Government offers aid
Wellington will give the Solomon Islands NZ$7.5 million (US$5.8 million) in aid over the next two years to help it recover from a deadly earthquake and tsunami, the government said yesterday. A quake and resulting tsunami in April devastated coastal parts of the western Solomons, killing 52 people, driving 9,000 from their homes and damaging or destroying around 6,000 houses and other buildings. "Three months later, 4,000 families are still living in makeshift camps, and there is a widespread need to rebuild basic infrastructure, especially health clinics, water, sanitation, housing, roads, bridges and wharves," Foreign Minister Winston Peters said.
■ ITALY
Old timer climbing high
An 89-year-old Italian man set a record on Sunday when he became the oldest person to climb nearly 3,000m to the top of a mountain, a news agency reported. Piero Paci, who turns 90 on Oct. 6, reached the top of the Gran Sasso of Abruzzo, an altitude of 2,914m, Ansa agency said. He opted not to make the climb on his birthday because he would have had to deal with snow. Paci, from Pesaro in central-eastern Italy, was accompanied by his son and a group of friends on the climb.
■ SPAIN
Few injured in bull run
The running of the bulls saw only minor injuries yesterday as six massive bulls galloped rapidly down crowded, narrow streets surrounded by thousands of alcohol and adrenaline-fueled revelers. Six Spaniards and a 30-year-old US runner -- who injured an elbow -- were treated at hospitals on day three of the festival, the Pamplona government said. The bulls completed the 850m route from a corral on the outskirts of town to Pamplona's central bullring in a fast 2 minutes, 46 seconds, officials said. Though several runners fell directly in the path of the bulls, the animals jumped over them. The runs are held every morning between July 7 and July 14.
■ GERMANY
Train drivers to strike anew
A union representing train drivers said yesterday it would stage a new walkout in a wage dispute with the national railway, while two other unions were locked in talks with the company over their own demands. The train drivers' union, GDL, said its members would walk off the job today for three hours today. A similar walkout last Tuesday helped bring parts of Germany's railway network to a standstill. GDL is seeking wage increases of up to 31 percent for some of its members and a separate wage deal with railway operator Deutsche Bahn AG for train drivers. Two other unions that represent a broad range of railway employees, Transnet and GDBA, have suspended their own campaign of limited walkouts and held weekend talks with Deutsche Bahn.
■ IRAN
Truck pile-up kills 13
Thirteen people were killed and four others injured when four trucks carrying smuggled gasoline collided in the southeast, state TV reported on Sunday. The trucks were traveling with their headlights off when the multiple pile-up occurred late on Saturday on the road between Zahedan and Mirjave, which lies on the border with Pakistan, it said. Millions of liters of cheap Iranian gasoline, which costs just US$0.10 a liter, are smuggled out of the country to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkey where 1 liter costs between US$1 and US$2.
■ FRANCE
Sarkozy rejects pardons
President Nicolas Sarkozy will not give a traditional Bastille Day pardon to thousands of prisoners, raising concerns that disappointed inmates could riot. Sarkozy, elected in May on a tough law and order program, said he was keeping his election promise. "There will be no collective amnesty," he said. Prison officers, who had hoped the annual mass pardon would ease the pressure on the nation's dilapidated jails, warned the decision could prompt riots. Official figures show the nation's 188 jails have a capacity for around 50,000 inmates but are currently holding nearly 61,000.
■ UNITED STATES
Beauty queen threatened
Miss New Jersey has received a second threatening package from someone trying to blackmail her into relinquishing her crown, her attorney says. Anthony Caruso, an attorney for Amy Polumbo, said that that the package contained a threatening letter and possibly photographs of the 22-year-old beauty queen. Polumbo announced on Thursday that someone was trying to blackmail her with old photographs and demanding that she give up her crown by Friday. She did not step down. The first runner-up to Polumbo in the Miss New Jersey pageant has denied any involvement in the blackmail scheme.
■ UNITED STATES
Cats win dispute
City officials have sided with Ernest Hemingway's former home and its celebrated six-toed felines in its catfight with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Key West City Commission exempted the home from a city law prohibiting more than four domestic animals per household. About 50 cats live there. The USDA claims the museum is an "exhibitor" of cats and needs a special license. The new ordinance states that the cats are "an integral part of the history and ambiance of the Hemingway House." The cats are descendants of a six-toed cat given as a gift to the writer in 1935.
■ UNITED STATES
Cheeky ads draw protest
A bidet company's advertising plans in Times Square are too cheeky for the pastor of a nearby church. Reverend Neil Rhodes, pastor of the interdenominational Times Square Church, is asking a state court to block a billboard company from posting huge ads that feature naked buttocks with smiley faces on them on two sides of the building that houses Rhodes' church. "You walk into a church building, you have naked bodies before your eyes. How are you going to close your eyes and seek God?" Rhodes said. The ads promote the Washlet, a bidet-toilet seat that uses warm water and air.
■ UNITED STATES
Bon bon bandit strikes again
A series of armed robberies over the last three months at chocolatiers, ice cream shops, a patisserie and other establishments has the Boston police scrambling to give the robber his just deserts. "He's considered armed and dangerous," Elaine Driscoll, a police spokeswoman said. Since April 17, 18 robberies have occurred at shops like All Things Chocolate, Lindt Chocolate, Bon Bon and Ben & Jerry's. Usually wielding a knife, a handgun or a sawed-off shotgun, the robber has made off with a total of about US$10,000 in cash so far. Nobody has been injured. He has struck at all hours, every few days and picks "boutique-style vendors" likely to have lighter security and more women employees.
■ UNITED STATES
Pennsylvania budget woe
The governor has ordered a range of state government services shut down and placed about a third of Pennsylvania's government workforce on indefinite unpaid furlough after frantic last-minute negotiations failed to break a budget stalemate. Governor Ed Rendell said the shutdown would go forward but he and legislators will continue to work toward a deal. "I sincerely hope that this will be a one-day furlough and I have reason for optimism," he said. Starting yesterday, Pennsylvanians were no longer able to take driver's license tests and state-run museums were shuttered.
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