■ AFGHANISTAN
Coalition kills militants
US-led coalition and Afghan troops killed up to 19 suspected Taliban militants in two separate clashes in the south and a roadside blast killed four Afghan soldiers in the east, officials said yesterday. In the Taliban-held Musa Qala district of Helmand Province, militants ambushed the joint US-Afghan force on Monday, a coalition statement said. The joint force fought back, targeting militants who were using several compounds and trenches for cover, the statement said. It said about a dozen militants were killed in the clash.
■ CHINA
Merkel raises rights issues
German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday emphasized the need to respect human rights and discussed media freedom with journalists critical of Beijing during the second day of her visit. "The issue of human rights is of vital importance from our point of view," Merkel told an audience at the Chinese Academy of Social Science, the nation's top government think tank. Merkel earlier met with a group of journalists who have criticized the Beijing government, including Li Datong (李大同), the former editor of a hard-hitting weekly supplement in the mass-circulation China Youth Daily.
■ INDIA
Man extradited in ambulance
A man who swallowed a knife four years ago to avoid deportation from Germany on fraud charges reached New Delhi on Monday where police said the blade in his belly would not prevent prosecution. Amarendra Nath Ghosh fled six years ago after being charged with defrauding several banks. He was caught in 2003 by German authorities but swallowed a knife when he learned a deportation order to India had been approved. German police then said they could not extradite him because he was a sick man. Germany finally agreed to Ghosh's extradition on the condition that he was flown back in an "air ambulance."
■ MALAYSIA
Boy's trapped testicles freed
Doctors performed a 30-minute operation to free the testicles of a nine-year old stuck in a metal pipe after the boy slipped while bathing, a newspaper said yesterday. The boy climbed up a partition in the bathroom, but fell on an uncovered metal pipe, trapping his testicles in the narrow tube, the New Straits Times said. Medical staff answering the emergency call at the boy's home on Penang were unable to remove the L-shaped pipe and had to call in firemen. They used a hydraulic cutter to open both ends of the pipe before the child could be taken to hospital.
■ SOUTH AFRICA
Defective condoms recalled
The government issued a recall notice on Monday for 20 million condoms after a scandal in which safety certificates were allegedly issued for defective contraceptives. The health ministry said that all 20 million of the condoms so far supplied by Zalatex as part of a government-funded distribution program were being recalled "as a precautionary measure to ensure maximum safety of the public." "The department of health has already quarantined close to 3.6 million condoms," a statement said.
■ SOUTH AFRICA
Diamond is world's biggest
The world's biggest diamond was found Monday in a mine in North-West Province, according to a radio report late on Monday. SAfm public radio said the stone found was twice the weight of the previous record-holder, the Cullinan Diamond, which weighed about 3,106 carats when found in present-day Gauteng Province in January 1905. The Cullinan was cut into several smaller stones, which now adorn the British crown jewels. The stone was to be transported to Johannesburg under tight security, SAfm said.
■ SWEDEN
Iran unhappy about cartoon
Iran summoned a Swedish diplomat in Tehran on Monday to protest against a drawing of Mohammed in a Swedish newspaper, Sweden's Foreign Ministry said. The charge d'affaires at the Swedish embassy, Gunilla von Bahr, was summoned to Iran's Foreign Ministry over the drawing in the Nerikes Allehanda paper, ministry spokesman Claes Jernaeus said. "They presented a verbal protest to the Swedish government," Jernaeus said. The newspaper on Aug. 19 published one of a series of controversial drawings by Swedish artist Lars Vilks, depicting Mohammed's head on a dog's body. Several Swedish art galleries have refused to exhibit Vilks' drawings.
■ ETHIOPIA
Foreign diplomats ousted
The government has ordered six Norwegian diplomats to leave the country by Sept. 15, expressing "dissatisfaction" with Norway's conduct in the Horn of Africa region, the Norwegian foreign affairs minister said. Ethiopia asked Norway to withdraw the six diplomats on Aug. 15 and Norwegian officials have asked for a clarification, but with no success, Norwegian Foreign Affairs Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said on Monday. "We are surprised and regret the Ethiopian authorities' unilateral decision," Stoere said in a statement. "We are ... making preparations to withdraw six diplomats," he said.
■ RUSSIA
N Koreans released
Fifty-eight North Korean fishermen and nine boats were released after they entered Russian territorial waters and were detained for a week, the Interfax news agency reported yesterday. Their boats entered waters off the coast of the far eastern Primorsk region, which borders North Korea, a border guard spokesman in Primorsk told Interfax. "Fishing nets and squid were found on board all the detained watercraft. The boats' technical condition left something to be desired, and they had minimal food and water," the spokesman said. Last year, more than 300 North Korean fishermen were detained for poaching by Russian border guards, making North Koreans the most frequent violators of the border, the border service said.
■ MEXICO
Police dog kidnapped
A top sniffer dog working for an elite drug squad was stolen during an airport transfer by thieves who left a mixed-breed puppy in its place, the attorney general's office said. Rex IV, a highly trained Belgian Malinois sheepdog, was checked on to a flight from Mexico City to Sinaloa state this week with seven other police dogs. But when the dogs arrived at Mazatlan airport, the police discovered a small black puppy inside Rex's cage. A Public Security Ministry spokesman said the worry was the dog could help smugglers find new ways to conceal drugs. "It's like kidnapping an intelligence agent," he said.
■ UNITED STATES
Bus driver fired
A man who drove a city bus while a passenger clung to the sideview mirror for almost a kilometer has been fired, a Madison, Wisconsin, official said. Kris Burke, 31, was fired last Thursday after Metro Transit finished an internal investigation into the July 29 incident, general manager Chuck Kamp said Monday. Metro officials said Burke got angry and refused to allow Michael Cooper onto the bus after learning from another passenger that Cooper had earlier urinated on the bus. When Cooper tried to reboard about 30 minutes later, Burke recognized him, barred him from boarding and pulled away. Cooper grabbed the sideview mirror, put his feet on the bumper and held on for 73 seconds as the bus reached speeds of up to 56kph. He finally jumped off at an intersection. He has denied urinating on the bus.
■ UNITED STATES
Senator denies lewd acts
US Republican Senator Larry Craig on Monday denied "inappropriate conduct" in a bathroom in a Minnesota airport after his arrest was reported in a Washington newspaper. Craig was arrested in Minneapolis-St Paul in June by a plainclothes police officer, the Roll Call, which covers Congress reported. Roll Call said Craig, 62, pleaded guilty this month to misdemeanor disorderly conduct and paid more than US$500 in fines and fees, and had a 10-day jail sentence stayed. Shortly after the story was posted on paper's Web site, Craig, who represents Idaho, issued a statement saying he had erred by admitting wrongdoing. "At the time of this incident, I complained to the police that they were misconstruing my actions. I was not involved in any inappropriate conduct," said Craig, who is married, and up for reelection next year. "In hindsight, I should not have pled guilty."
■ UNITED STATES
Emu at Wal-Mart not on sale
Employees of a Wal-Mart Supercenter used shopping carts to corral a wayward emu outside the store about 6am on Monday, West Bend, Wisconsin, until help arrived,police said. Richard Takacs, the owner of three-year-old Myron, speculated the bird had been chased from his farm -- which is about 3km away -- by a coyote. Two other emus also bolted from their pen but were found unharmed nearby.
■ UNITED STATES
Owen Wilson recuperating
Owen Wilson, known for films such as Wedding Crashers, is seeking time to "heal in private" after media reports claimed he was hospitalized in Santa Monica, California, for a suicide attempt. "I respectfully ask that the media allow me to receive care and heal in private during this difficult time," Wilson, 38, said on Monday in a statement. Firemen and police officers went to Wilson's home late on Sunday and transported a person to a hospital for treatment, but they did not give his name.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia