■ SRI LANKA
Navy says 12 rebels killed
The navy said yesterday that at least 12 rebels were killed when it sank a suspected Tamil Tiger arms smuggling ship in international waters. "At least 12 to 15 Tiger cadres should have been on board," navy spokesman D.K.P. Dassanayake said. "There were no known survivors after we attacked and sank their ship." Three naval craft were involved in the attack, he said, adding that there were no casualties among government troops.
■ INDIA
Judge sent to law school
New Delhi's High Court justices, annoyed with lower court judges who issue problematic rulings, have decided to send one of them back to law school. In an order issued late on Friday, Judge R.K. Tiwari was told to return for a three-month refresher course after issuing an arrest warrant in defiance of a previous High Court ruling. "Since Tiwari does not have even elementary knowledge of the criminal law and procedure it would be appropriate that he undergoes a refresher course," Justice V.B. Gupta wrote.
■ PAKISTAN
Twenty-six killed in clashes
At least 26 people, including four civilians, were killed yesterday in clashes between militants and soldiers in a restive area, the military and residents said. Security forces launched an attack against militant bases and hide-outs in North Waziristan region bordering Afghanistan, military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said. At least 20 militants and two security officials were killed in the fighting south of the town of Mir Ali, Arshad said. "We got this information by intercepting the militants' own communications," the general said. Local residents said four civilians also died, including three women.
■ EGYPT
Bedouins raid rival clan
Bedouins in trucks raided a rival clan on Saturday, wounding three people and sparking protests by residents in the northeastern Sinai city of Al Arish that police used tear gas to break up. Members of the Tarabin tribe arrived in six trucks shortly after the breaking of the Ramadan fast in the evening and shot at members of the Fawhakariya tribe for 15 minutes, lightly wounding three people, police said. Ten thousand members of the Fawhakariya then marched on the center of the city and threw stones at city hall, the police station and a university, accusing the police of having let the Tarabins escape and shouting anti-government slogans, a local politician said.
■ ISRAEL
Olmert investigated for graft
Police will question Prime Minister Ehud Olmert tomorrow in connection with the privatization of the nation's second-largest bank -- one of two cases in which the leader is being investigated on suspicion of corruption. Police said yesterday that Olmert would be questioned in his office. Olmert has been dogged by corruption allegations throughout his three-decade political career but never has been convicted. He consistently has denied any wrongdoing. Authorities suspect that when Olmert was finance minister in 2005, he tried to influence the sale of the government's controlling interest in Bank Leumi to favor two associates.
■ ITALY
`Big babies' get tax break
Economy Minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa has sparked uproar by offering "big babies" a tax break if they let go of their mother's apron strings and leave home. More than a third of men over the age of 30 live at home with their parents, a phenomenon blamed on sky-high apartment rents and bleak job prospects as much as a liking for mamma's cooking. Padoa-Schioppa offered to come to the rescue with a 1,000 euro (US$1,411) tax break for 20 and 30-somethings who rent. He said the move was aimed at bamboccioni, which evokes images of clumsy, overgrown male babies.
■ NETHERLANDS
Orangutan has tattoo fetish
Sibu the orangutan has miffed his keepers by refusing to mate with females and showing sexual interest only in tattooed human blondes. Apenheul Primate Park hoped Sibu would become its breeding male when he arrived in Amsterdam two years ago, but orangutans aren't his type. "He chases them, or ignores them, but he doesn't do what he should do," said a spokeswoman for the park. Instead, Sibu fancies his female keepers, especially blondes. That, the spokeswoman said, was common for orangutans but Sibu has a fetish for tattoos, harking back to a tattooed keeper who reared him.
■ RUSSIA
Activists detained at event
Officials briefly detained five foreign activists on Saturday, as international pressure mounted on Moscow to find the killers of journalist Anna Politkovskaya almost a year on from her murder. The activists -- a Briton, three Spaniards and a German -- were arrested along with a local colleague in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, in the western Volga region. They were there to join events marking the anniversary of the murder of Politkovskaya, who was one of few local journalists to investigate war crimes in Chechnya and openly criticize President Vladimir Putin.
■ UNITED STATES
Nude sandwich offer offends
"Naked Lunch" just doesn't sound appetizing to some people. A sandwich called the Skinny Dip, featuring sliced prime rib in a baguette roll, has been offered free of charge to anyone willing to plunge naked from The Black Frog Restaurant's dock into a lake in Greenville, Maine. Since the free sandwich offer was introduced three years ago, owner Leigh Turner has found plenty of takers. ``We've had two or three a week,'' he said. But now the promotion is running into trouble: A patron apparently suggested to town officials that the activity be banned. Turner did not attend the selectmen's meeting, but said he would remove the free lunch offer if asked to do so. The skinny dip was typically done at night, no frontal nudity was exposed to customers and a towel was readily available, Turner said.
■ CUBA
Train hits bus, 28 dead
At least 28 people were killed and 73 injured after a train slammed into a bus on Saturday, state television reported. The train had left the nation's second city, Santiago, headed for Manzanillo, in Granma Province. It slammed into the bus at a crossing in Yara, the report said. Officials rushed to the scene and other people came to help the injured and give blood, the report added. Police are investigating the cause of the crash.
■ UNITED STATES
Ostrich killer sentenced
A California man was sentenced to five months in jail after he and a friend gunned down an ostrich that had kicked them as their female companions laughed, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on Saturday. "This whole thing is about male pride," prosecutor Steve Wagstaffe said. The bird, named Gaylord, kicked Timothy McKevitt, 19, and Jonathon Porter, 21, last October when they trespassed on an ostrich ranch south of San Francisco after a night of drinking. McKevitt was kicked in the ribs and knocked over, while Porter suffered scrapes and bruises. The two men returned with a rifle and shotgun seeking revenge, the Chronicle said. They fired at least seven shots at Gaylord, according to a police report. McKevitt, free on bail, was ordered to turn himself in on Nov. 3. Porter was sentenced in March to seven months in jail.
■ UNITED STATES
Virginia lawmaker dies
Representative Jo Ann Davis, who represented Virginia in the House of Representatives, died Saturday after losing a battle with breast cancer, her office announced. She was 57. Davis was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 and had a re-occurrence earlier this year, officials said. President George W. Bush said in a statement he was "deeply saddened" by Davis' passing. "She was a fine example of a public servant who worked hard to cut government waste to ensure the people's money was used wisely," Bush said.
■ UNITED STATES
Bus fits big family's needs
A 15-bed bus once used to transport the now-defunct Port Huron Flags, Michigan, minor league ice hockey team has been sold to an Arkansas couple with 17 children. When the team folded in May, Fred Minnie posted an ad trying to sell the bus in an auto magazine. He was contacted by Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, whose 17th child Jennifer Danielle was born on Aug. 2. "There's not too many of those buses with 15 beds in it," Minnie said. Jim Bob Duggar said the family hopes to travel to visit relatives in Ohio. "We've done a limited amount of travel in it so far," he said.
‘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
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