■ NEPAL
Devout cuts off right hand
A 23-year-old man cut off his right hand after morning prayers and offered it to Kali, the Hindu goddess of power, the Annapurna Post local daily said yesterday. Rajesh Tajpuria, who runs a drug store in the southeastern town of Rangeli, is undergoing treatment at a hospital, it said. More than 80 percent of the country's 26 million people are Hindus who frequently sacrifice animals such as goats, buffaloes and roosters in temples.
■ CHINA
`Potter' magically appears
The final Harry Potter book is still being translated into Chinese for the China market, but eager fans have posted their own translations online, a move that could lead to counterfeit books in a country where piracy is rampant. The authorized publisher of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows yesterday denounced the freelance translators and urged them to delete the translations. Users of the Potter fan Web site called the "International Wizards' Alliance" in Chinese have posted translations of several chapters of the new Potter book. Some chapters were restricted to registered users, but a reporter could access at least two chapters yesterday without signing in.
■ CHINA
Tigress kills zookeeper
A tigress in a small city zoo killed a zookeeper who forgot to remove her from her cage before cleaning it, Xinhua news agency said. Police shot the tigress after discovering the zoo's only tranquillizer gun was also inside the cage. Zhang, a keeper in his 60s, drove a tiger into an inner cage before entering the outer cage at the zoo in a park in Xinyi, in Jiangsu Province, colleagues told Xinhua. But he forgot about the tigress who shared the outer cage. Police evacuated tourists and park workers after Zhang was mauled on Monday.
■ THAILAND
Bomb blasts in south
Seven coordinated bomb blasts rocked the Muslim-majority south yesterday, killing one and wounding at least 12, police said. The blasts all happened at 7:45am yesterday at locations around Narathiwat, one of three provinces along the southern border with Malaysia hit by deadly separatist unrest. A 49-year-old Buddhist woman was killed and 10 others injured when a bomb hidden in a motorcycle exploded in a busy market, police said. A roadside bomb injured two marines who were part of a security detail protecting a convoy of schoolteachers. Two bombs exploded at Kasikornbank branches while three bombs went off at other spots around Narathiwat town.
■ AUSTRALIA
Sydney ready for terror
Dozens of loudspeakers have been installed in Sydney to tell residents what to do in a terrorist attack, an official said yesterday. Approximately 40 speakers should be operational in time for next month's meeting of 21 world leaders at the APEC summit, New South Wales state Police Minister David Campbell said. "If there were a terrorist event or a major building fire and there were people in the streets, this is a way of giving them information," Campbell told ABC. A wailing siren would attract residents' attention, followed by a police announcement directing people to evacuation points plotted around the downtown area.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Early election discussed
Officials in the governing Labour Party have been put on alert to expect an early election, the Times reported yesterday, quoting a senior party official. The daily quoted Martin Salter, Labour vice-chairman, as saying: "I can confirm that the party has been put on alert for an early election that could take place as soon as this autumn." Salter later said there was not an official timetable in place. But he added: "We have been put on an election footing and preparations are under way so that we are ready for an election whenever the prime minister chooses to call it." But a senior Downing Street official, speaking on condition of anonymity, however, denied that the reason Labour was drumming up funds was because Brown wanted to call an early election.
■ GAZA STRIP
Russia invites Hamas
Russia has invited a Hamas delegation to visit Moscow in the next few days, a Hamas official said yesterday, just a day after Russia publicly embraced Hamas' nemesis, moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The announcement from Hamas lawmaker Khalil al-Haya came a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin told Abbas in Moscow that he is the "legitimate leader of the Palestinian people." But the Russian Foreign Ministry said yesterday it had no information on a visit by Hamas officials. Al-Haya said the Russian government had officially invited a Hamas delegation headed by Khaled Mashaal, the Islamic group's exiled leader.
■ HUNGARY
Rare fossilized trees found
Scientists in Budapest said on Tuesday they have discovered a group of fossilized swamp cypress trees preserved from 8 million years ago which could provide clues about the climate of pre-historic times. Instead of petrifying -- turning to stone -- the wood of 16 Taxodium trees was preserved in an open-cast coal mine allowing geologists to study samples as if they were sections cut from a piece of living wood.
■ NICARAGUA
Ortega offers missiles
Leftist President Daniel Ortega offered on Tuesday to give hundreds of Soviet-made anti-aircraft missiles to the US in exchange for medical equipment or helicopters. Washington wants Ortega, a former Marxist guerrilla and Cold War enemy, to destroy or hand over more than 1,000 SA-7 shoulder-fired missiles, which it says could be used by terrorists to shoot down airliners. Nicaragua has been considering destroying 650 of the missiles, and keeping the rest for self-defense purposes. "We'll turn over these rockets and they can take them away if they want," Ortega said.
■ POLAND
Parachutist jumps at 84
Krystyna Zbyszynska, 84, became the country's oldest parachutist when she made her first jump with her daughter-in-law, news channel TVN24 reported on Sunday. "I survived World War Two and wasn't afraid, so what's there to be afraid of now?" she said after clambering out of her jumpsuit this weekend. "Babcia [granny] Krysia is not your ordinary gran," explained one of her teenaged granddaughters. "She tells me I'm not playing my music loud enough and comes into my room and wants to dance." Asked whether she planned another jump Zbyszynska, from the northern city of Olsztyn, told the channel: "Yes, the day I turn 100."
■ MEXICO
Amnesty suspects torture
Amnesty International urged the Mexican government on Tuesday to investigate suspected torture and abductions by state officials during months of protests in the city of Oaxaca last year. Amnesty International secretary general Irene Khan called for the probe during a visit to Oaxaca, saying Governor Ulises Ruiz's government appeared to be implicated. After meeting with Khan, Ruiz said Amnesty was wrong and that the rights organization had not asked his government for its side of the story. Last year leftist protesters called for the resignation of Ruiz. More than 20 people died in the disturbances and protesters say more than a dozen of the dead were activists killed by police.
■ UNITED STATES
Church stops cheeky ad
A church that went to court seeking to cover up the bare buttocks in a Times Square advertisement will get its way. A deal has been struck to cover the bare backsides on a planned billboard advertising a bidet seat that uses warm water and air. The ad will instead show the models' legs and torsos, with their derrieres covered by the slogan for Toto, maker of the Washlet bidet. The billboard is wrapped around the building that houses the Times Square Church. The church went to court to stop Toto from putting up a cheekier version that featured smiley faces on people's bare bottoms. "This is our bottom line," reads the new slogan. "Clean is happy. No ifs, ands, or ..."
■ canada
Titanic boy identified
The nameless child who became a symbol for the many children who died aboard the Titanic has been identified -- again. After more DNA testing, Canadian researchers said on Tuesday the child they declared a few years ago to be a 13-month-old Finnish baby is actually a 19-month-old English boy. In 2002, the researchers declared the remains were those of the Finnish boy, Eino Viljami Panula. But they began to question the results after one did not match the Finnish family. The team eventually found a match with a surviving maternal relative of the English boy, Sidney Leslie Goodwin. According to the researchers, the boy died with his entire family, including five siblings, as they set out for a new life in America.
■ UNITED STATES
Fake captain to tend graves
A man who posed as a decorated US Marine Corps captain for two years will tend graves at a military cemetery as part of his sentence to serve 500 hours of community service, a judge ruled. Reggie Buddle, 59, pleaded guilty in April to unlawful wearing of US military medals and decorations. He told US Magistrate Judge Kelly Arnold at his sentencing on Monday that he was ashamed of his conduct. Buddle never served in the Marines. He bought the uniform at a military surplus store, and the medals belonged to his brother, a Marine who died in Vietnam.
■ UNITED STATES
Monkey cuts loose
A white-faced capuchin monkey at zoo in Mississippi outsmarted the park's staff on Tuesday, unlocking his own pen and leading them on a chase through the park's trails before escaping. Ann Stewart, an employee at the Tupelo Buffalo Park and Zoo, said Oscar would respond to his own name and may take bait of bananas, marshmallows or grapes. However, she urged people to call the park if they spot the mammal. "He will bite. People around here have handled him, but he will bite. Just call the Buffalo Park," Stewart said.
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
‘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