Print

Mail

wiki links

World News Quick Take

PHOTO: AP

■ CHINA
More on trial for labor crime
Another 26 people accused of forced labor and brutal conditions in brickyards have gone on trial amid a scandal that has outraged the nation, state press said yesterday. The defendants are all charged with forcing people to work in "unspeakable" conditions at small brick factories in the north, Xinhua news agency said. No verdicts have yet been reached, it said. Five brickyard bosses accused of murder and forced labour were put on trial earlier this month, and more than 150 suspects have been arrested over brick factories that were allegedly subjecting workers to inhumane conditions.

■ JAPAN
Money left in washrooms
Several envelopes containing ¥10,000 (US$82) bills and well-wishing notes have been discovered in municipal toilets nationwide, media reports said, baffling civil servants and triggering a nationwide hunt. Local media have estimated that more than ¥2 million in bills were found at men's rooms in city halls in at least 15 prefectures in recent weeks. Each package of ¥10,000 bills, some wrapped in traditional washi paper, was accompanied by handwritten letters that read "Please make use of this money for your self-enrichment," and "One per person," according to reports. Officials are baffled over the identity of the benefactor or any motives, the reports said. Packages turned over to police will be kept in case someone claims them.

■ INDONESIA
Sea scoured after shipwreck
Rescue workers were scouring the sea after a ship carrying 60 people capsized in stormy weather, killing at least two children and leaving dozens of people missing, a port official said yesterday. Twenty-nine people wearing life vests were plucked from the sea by a passing oil tanker, after their boat was pounded by 4m waves on Tuesday night. The KM Wahai Star had been on a regular voyage from Buru island to Ambon, the capital of Maluku Province, and was carrying 43 passengers and 17 crew, survivors said. The cause of the accident was unclear, but port officials said a broken engine may have hampered attempts to navigate in the storm.

■ PHILIPPINES
Ferry sinks, killing 12
A ferry sank southeast of Manila early yesterday, killing at least 12 people, officials said. The army said at least 129 survivors had been accounted for hours after the MV Blue Water Princess, a ferry carrying passengers and cargo, sank off San Francisco in Quezon Province. The initial chaos produced varying accounts on the number of casualties and passengers. The coast guard reported eight dead, two missing and 50 rescued.

■ SPAIN
Stray bull tosses runners
Charging bulls gored at least four people yesterday as this year's San Fermin festival in Pamplona served up its longest and most dangerous run yet. Several others people were hospitalized for treatment of head injuries and other less serious injuries, a Red Cross spokesman said. The pack of six bulls and six steers -- meant to keep the bulls running in a single pack -- disintegrated shortly after the animals set off. One stray bull turned around and ran the wrong way. It charged and tossed several runners. The run lasted six minutes and nine seconds, compared with the normal two minutes.

■ UNITED KINGDOM
Wedding guest too early
Teacher Dave Barclay flew from Toronto, Canada, to Wales to attend his friend's wedding, only to discover he was a year early. The groom had e-mailed Barclay, 34, at the start of the year. "He just said July the 6th and I assumed it was this year," Barclay said. It was only after he arrived in Cardiff and rang the bridegroom seeking details of the venue that he discovered the wedding was next year. "I am a year early -- yeah, my mates are loving it, aren't they," he told BBC Radio Wales.

■ UNITED KINGDOM
Council goof allows puffs
Smokers can merrily puff away without fear of prosecution or a US$100 spot fine in pubs in Stoke-on-Trent because officials failed to introduce powers to impose a national ban, the city council admitted on Wednesday. Authorities failed to get enforcement powers in time for July 1, when England joined the rest of the UK in banning smoking in enclosed public spaces. The city council, ranked among the worst local authorities in England and Wales, cannot enforce the ban until councilors formally approve it at an Aug. 2 meeting. In a classic bureaucratic bungle, council bosses thought the powers were delegated to a department head, but they weren't.

■ UNITED KINGDOM
Hindus fight to keep bull
Five members of a Hindu community in west Wales were due in court yesterday to try to stop the slaughter of their sacred bull, which faces death after testing positive for bovine tuberculosis. The Skanda Vale Temple is seeking a review of the Welsh government's decision that six-year-old Shambo be killed. Shambo has been kept in isolation at the temple in Llanpumsaint, since testing positive, which the 20 monks and six nuns at the temple believe will help prevent their other animals from becoming infected. They have threatened to form a human chain to prevent the bull's slaughter.

■ UNITED KINGDOM
Woman claims Osama link
Jane Felix-Browne, a 51-year-old grandmother of five from Moulton, England, said on Wednesday that she married Omar bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader's fourth son, after they met in Egypt last year. Felix-Browne said that she met Omar, 27, while riding a horse near the Great Pyramid. She said they married on April 24 and she was Omar's second wife. It is her sixth marriage. There was no independent confirmation of her claim of marriage or that Omar is Osama bin Laden's son.

■ CANADA
Daycare for elderly offered
Torn between work, child-rearing duties and caring for elderly parents, people can now turn to a novel nursery service for help: a daycare for gramps and granny. The firm, which operates a dozen nurseries for children in the booming western metropolis of Calgary, opened its first facility for the elderly in January. Although it has not been entirely successful, the company is now considering expanding into Toronto and Montreal in the east.

■ CANADA
Bomb comments allowed
Air travelers who make comments about bombs and guns will from now on only be arrested if it is clear they are making a serious threat, officials said on Wednesday. The Canadian Air Transport Safety Authority, trying to clamp down on screeners who alert police every time they hear alarming words, has issued a bulletin urging staff to show more discretion. A person who announces "You better look through my suitcase carefully, because there's a bomb in there" or "I am going to set fire to this airplane with this blowtorch" will still be arrested. But someone who remarks "Your hockey team is going to get bombed [badly beaten] tonight," will first be warned about their behavior.

■ MEXICO
Bill on clergy delayed
A government official has ruled out the immediate approval of constitutional reforms that would allow Mexico's Roman Catholic Church to get involved in politics. Florencio Salazar, deputy secretary of religious affairs for the Interior Department, said on Wednesday that the government was too busy to consider a proposal by the Archdiocese of Mexico to give the clergy "total" freedom of expression in political affairs and to let public schools offer religious education. Salazar's comments are the first official reaction to the proposal by the conservative government, which is often allied with the Church.

■ UNITED STATES
Man poses as police officer
There were flashing lights atop his sports utility vehicle (SUV) and what appeared to be a police badge in his hand, but it was the man he tried to pull over who was the real police detective. Robert Lane, 25, was arrested on Tuesday on charges of criminal impersonation and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, Suffolk County police said. Lane was driving an SUV fitted with flashing lights when he tried to stop the off-duty New York police detective on a highway on Long Island, Suffolk police said. They said Lane told investigators the detective had cut him off. The detective got suspicious when Lane drove up alongside him, identified himself as an officer and flashed a small police badge, Suffolk police said.

■ UNITED STATES
Flight diverted after scare
An American Airlines flight was diverted to New York early yesterday after the crew reported a suspicious passenger in what the homeland security chief later said may have been a misunderstanding. The Transportation Security Administration said American Flight 136 from Los Angeles to London made an emergency landing at JFK Airport. The decision to divert was made after a flight attendant became suspicious about the behavior of one of the passengers. The Airline said the passenger has been handed over to the FBI. It offered no further details. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said he had received a report the man in question was an employee.


This story has been viewed 903 times.