■ INDONESIAN
Woman dies of bird flu
An Indonesian woman has died of bird flu, taking the nation's death toll from the virus to 92, a health official said yesterday, the highest number globally. The 28-year-old woman from Tangerang, southwest of Jakarta, died on Monday after being treated in a hospital in the capital, said Suharda Ningrum, an official at the health ministry's bird flu center. It was not clear whether the woman had been in contact with sick fowl, but her neighbors kept chickens, the official said.
■ CHINA
Man sues wildlife office
Hao Jingsong, a legal academic, has sued the State Forestry Administration after it turned down his demands to appoint a "professional organization" to verify a farmer's controversial "snapshots" of a wild tiger believed to be extinct, the prosecutors' office journal Procuratorial Daily said yesterday. In October, Zhou Zhenglong of Shaanxi Province produced photos of the tiger he said were taken in the forest near his village. But Internet users have accused Zhou of making the tiger images with digital software, and local authorities of approving the photographs to bolster tourism.
■ CHINA
Village chief sentenced
The head of a central Chinese village has been sentenced to death after being convicted of killing six people following business and other disputes, Xinhua news agency said yesterday. Xing Guoping, 36, head of Liguizuo Village in Henan Province, was found guilty of killing two business partners and four other villagers in October, Xinhua said. The business partners were shot repeatedly in a dispute over profits at a jointly run brick kiln, it said. Xing then went on to shoot four others in a neighboring village because of arguments over local affairs, it said.
■ REUSSIA
Putin for PM: Medvedev
Dmitry Medvedev said yesterday that he wanted President Vladimir Putin to become prime minister in the next government to guarantee stability and continuity. Such a move would offer Putin a way to retain influence after he steps down as head of state if, as expected, his long-time ally Medvedev is elected president next March. Medvedev, in his first public broadcast since being named as his preferred successor by Putin, was quick to declare his loyalty to his mentor. "Expressing my readiness to stand as a candidate in the presidential election, I ask him [Putin] to agree to head the government of Russia after the election of the new president."
■ TURKEY
Migrants die at sea
A boat carrying illegal migrants sank off the Aegean coast over the weekend and at least 43 people died, an official said on Monday. The 15m boat sank in rough weather late on Saturday off the coast of Seferihisar, local Governor Orhan Sefik Guldibi said. Six people were rescued and hospitalized, mostly for shock. Citing survivors, the Coast Guard said a total of 85 people were on board. Guldibi said 43 bodies had been recovered.
■ FRANCE
Sarkozy plans `Pentagon'
President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to regroup the country's different military commands into one new headquarters on the edge of Paris, a ministry official said on Monday. The commands of the navy, the army, and the overall military command, will move in 2012 to one building next to the existing air force command, the official said. Around 10,000 people will be based at the new site in the Balard district, including the 5,000 already located in the air force headquarters, creating what Le Figaro newspaper dubbed a "French Pentagon." The military already owns eight hectares of land at the site and plans to sell off three to finance construction, the paper said.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Couple arrested for murders
A registered nurse and her husband were arrested on Monday on suspicion of murdering five elderly residents at a care home in southwest England, police said. Rachel and Leigh Baker were questioned on suspicion administering a noxious substance after the death of a 97-year-old woman at the home in Butleigh on Jan. 1. The investigation led to the exhumation of the remains of three other former residents to establish whether they had been poisoned. Another three residents at the now defunct care home, whose deaths were being treated as suspicious, had already been cremated.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Toilet trip lasts four days
Survival course training came in handing for 55-year old David Leggat when he found himself trapped in the men's bathroom of the Kittybrewster and Woodside bowling club in Aberdeen, Scotland. "I knew I had to keep my feet warm," he said, "so I kept running a basin of hot water and putting my feet in, to send the heat through my body." Leggat was locking up the outdoor bowling clubhouse on Dec. 3 when he went to the bathroom without bothering to switch the lights on. He didn't hear the telltale clonk of the outside handle dropping off. Cathy Scollay arrived to clean the club on Thursday and heard Leggat's cries for help. "The only thing I regret is not being trapped behind the bar," Leggat said.
■ CHILE
Pinochet judge resigns
The judge handling the embezzlement trials of relatives and aides of the late General Augusto Pinochet submitted his resignation from the case on Monday after defense lawyers accused him of bias against the former dictator. The Santiago Court of Appeals said in a communique it will soon decide whether to accept Judge Carlos Cerda's resignation from the case, which stems from the multi-million dollar secret accounts owned by Pinochet. Cerda is said to have told reporters he believed Pinochet was guilty of illegally amassing his fortune abroad.
■ MEXICO
Drug war needs US aid
The country's year-old war on drug trafficking has weakened key cartels but it cannot crush them unless Washington cuts off their illegal supply of arms, cash and chemicals, Mexico's attorney general said on Monday. A crackdown by 25,000 soldiers and police has put hundreds of smugglers behind bars and extradited dozens to the US. But drug-related murders continue unabated and are set to top 2,500 this year, up from 2,100 last year, officials say. Mexico is still awaiting a delivery date for US$1.4 billion of drug-fighting equipment pledged by the US, amid signs US lawmakers may try to attach conditions to the aid.
■ UNITED STATES
Lone gunman identified
A loner with a grudge was identified as the gunman in attacks on a Colorado church and missionary center that left five people dead, police and reports said on Monday. Police in Colorado said the shooting sprees that took place within 12 hours of each other on Sunday were most likely carried out by 24-year-old Matthew Murray, who was shot dead by a security guard after killing four people. Murray is believed to have gunned down two workers at the Youth With a Mission training center where he was dismissed in 2002 in the Denver suburb of Arvada. Later Murray opened fire at the New Life evangelical church in Colorado Springs -- some 120km away. Several media reports described Murray as a reclusive loner from a devoutly religious family.
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