■ INDIA
Sonia Gandhi hospitalized
India's ruling Congress Party chief Sonia Gandhi was in hospital but in stable condition on New Year's day following an asthma attack, the Press Trust of India news agency reported yesterday. The 61-year-old Italian-born politician was taken to New Delhi's Sir Ganga Ram hospital with breathing difficulties late on Monday. She was diagnosed with a chest infection, B.K. Roy, chairman of the hospital's board, told the news channel CNN-IBN. Her condition was reported to be stable.
■ PHILIPPINES
Guerrillas raid mining firm
Communist guerrillas attacked a copper mining firm in a remote southern Philippine town, firing grenades into the compound, burning two buildings and seizing weapons in the pre-dawn assault, police said. No one was injured in the attack yesterday on the mining compound near Tampakan township in South Cotabato Province. About 50 New People's Army guerrillas barged into the compound and overwhelmed a few civilian guards, who briefly engaged the rebels in a gunbattle, provincial police chief Senior Superintendent Robert Kiunisala said. The guerrillas seized a pistol, shotgun, two-way radio set and laptop computer from the guards at Sagittarius Mining Inc's compound in South Cotabato, an army spokesman said.
■ INDIA
Gunmen attack police camp
Heavily armed suspected Islamist militants attacked a federal police camp yesterday, killing seven policemen during New Year celebrations, authorities said. One civilian was also killed in the pre-dawn attack in Rampur town in Uttar Pradesh state. There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attack.
■ JAPAN
Seven caught in avalanche
Rescue workers headed to a mountain yesterday to recover seven climbers caught in an avalanche, four of whom were reported to be unconscious, police said. They had been reported missing after the avalanche on Mount Yarigatake, a 3,180m peak in the Northern Japan Alps, but were found by other climbers nearby and dug out of the snow. "Four of them seem to be unconscious," police said after speaking over the telephone with one of the climbers who found them. Police said in a statement that a mountain rescue team was heading to the site.
■ CHINA
WWII cave becomes resort
A giant cave used by the former Chinese Nationalist government as a secret aircraft factory during World War II is slated to become a tourist resort, Xinhua news agency said yesterday. The Haikong cave, in verdant mountains near the wartime capital of Chongqing, will cost about 500 million yuan (US$68 million) to develop, the report said. The 50m cave is "an ideal place for conferences and leisure travel," it said, citing the local investment bureau's Web site. "The tourist bureau said that the manufacturing plant could be developed into a loft art workshop," Xinhua said. The plant was abandoned in 1949, the report said.
■ AUSTRALIA
David Hicks out and about
Former Guantanamo Bay inmate David Hicks has gone swimming, met with his father and ventured out without being recognized since his release from prison three days ago, a report said yesterday. He is being shielded by supporters and has been moving from house to house to avoid detection, his father Terry Hicks told the Age newspaper. Hicks said in a statement on his release that he was not strong enough to deal with the media spotlight. He also reportedly fears he could be targeted by extremists for giving up his Muslim faith and denouncing Osama bin Laden. But he was spotted by a reporter from the Age newspaper on Monday as he met his father.
■ BANGLADESH
Chickens culled on flu fears
Nearly 20,000 chickens were culled after the H5N1 bird flu virus was detected at a state-run poultry farm in Dhaka, said Salahuddin Khan, director of the government's livestock department. Bird flu was first reported near the capital in March and has since spread mainly to northern districts, forcing authorities to kill more than 300,000 chickens. About 4 million of the country's population are associated with poultry farming, but so far there have been no cases of human infection.
■ SUDAN
USAID official shot dead
A US official died yesterday after a shooting attack on his vehicle in Khartoum in which his Sudanese driver was also killed, US and Sudanese officials said. Western diplomatic sources said the shooting occurred shortly after midnight as the official, who worked for the US Agency for International Development (USAID), was heading home in an embassy vehicle. The driver was killed instantly. The US official was taken to hospital with critical wounds and died later. Walter Braunohler, public diplomacy officer at the US embassy, said it was too early to speculate about motives. He declined to identify the US victim until his family had been informed. Sudan condemned the attack and expressed confidence the perpetrators would be caught.
■ EGYPT
Coach plunges into Nile
Eighteen people -- 17 passengers and a bus driver -- died on Monday when their coach plunged into a dugout branch of the Nile River in the southern part of the country, the state MENA news agency reported. A pickup driver who had apparently caused the accident near the village of Beni Mzar in Minya Province, also died. The accident occurred as the bus driver scrambled to avoid a collision with the speeding pickup trying to overtake him, police chief Mahmoud Noureddin in Minya, 220km south of Cairo, was quoted as saying. As the bus swerved, the truck driver also lost control and overturned his vehicle.
■ ITALY
Thousands kiss in Venice
Tens of thousands of people took part in a giant New Year's kiss in front of Saint Mark's Basilica in the romantic Italian city of Venice. Under a sky lit with fireworks, some 60,000 people kissed in the "Love 2008" event, organizer Marco Balich told Italy's ANSA news agency. The city staged the event so people "begin the New Year with a gesture of love, peace, brotherhood, and passion," it said on its Web site.
■ RUSSIA
Rat craze sweeps country
Moscow pet shops are reporting a run on rats, as keen astrologically minded people snap them up ahead of the New Year, which is the Chinese Year of the Rat, Interfax news agency reported on Monday. Desperate shoppers are even resorting to buying mice, hamsters or gerbils in lieu of a real, domestic rat, according to one shop in the capital. Chinese astrology is closely followed in Russia, which shares a long border with China, and where many newspapers deliver daily horoscopes -- and advice on how to care for new pet rats given as presents on Dec. 31. The same source said the proud new rat-owners would soon discover the intelligence, moderation and faithfulness of their new companions.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Archbishop posts message
The Archbishop of Canterbury has followed the Queen's lead in posting his annual message on YouTube, where his green theme for the New Year is "God doesn't do waste." Rowan Williams criticizes society's willingness to create waste in its ceaseless search for the latest and best. "Despite constant talk about recycling and thinking `green,' we're still a society that produces fantastic quantities of waste," he says. "Look at the number of plastic bags flapping around by the roadside, in town and country alike and you see what I mean," he said.
■ VENEZUELA
Chavez issues pardons
President Hugo Chavez said on Monday that he would pardon opponents accused of participating in a coup that ousted him briefly five years ago, a conciliatory move after a stinging electoral defeat this month. Chavez said he would publish the law in a day or so to show the government did not persecute its political rivals. "We want the path of peace. We want heated ideological and political debate but in peace," he said on state TV. It was not clear how may people would benefit from the amnesty, which also affects people involved in a shutdown of the nation's oil industry and attacks on the government.
■ CANADA
A good year, for some
Most Canadians believe this year will be a good year for their country, but are less optimistic about the rest of the world, said an Ipsos Reid institute opinion poll published on Monday. Ninety-two percent of the people surveyed said they were optimistic about how the country would fare in the new year, up 4 percent from an institute poll taken a year ago. However, only 58 percent were equally optimistic about the rest of the world. "They think it's a troubled world out there, but Canada is a cocoon," Ipsos Reid pollster Jim Wright told the Ottawa Citizen daily, adding that the booming economy underpinned the positive feelings.
■ UNITED STATES
Baby's remains a mystery
An infant's skeleton found in a dead woman's suitcase was born at 35 weeks gestation, but authorities do not know its sex or how long it had been there. There was no sign of trauma to the fetus, whose remains were found on Saturday in Hempfield Township, Pennsylvania, Westmoreland County chief deputy coroner Paul Cycak said. The cause and manner of death will likely be ruled undetermined, he said. The remains will also be examined by a forensic anthropologist at Mercyhurst College, state police said. It remains unclear when that examination will take place. Police said the investigation is ongoing.
■ UNITED STATES
Poet's home vandalized
A former home of poet Robert Frost has been vandalized, with intruders destroying dozens of items and setting fire to furniture in what police say was an underage drinking party. Homer Noble Farm, Vermont, was ransacked late on Friday night during a party attended by as many as 50 people, Sergeant Lee Hodsden said on Monday. The intruders broke a window to get into the two-story wood frame building -- a furnished residence open in the summer -- before destroying tables and chairs, pictures, windows, light fixtures and dishes. Wicker furniture and dressers were smashed and thrown into a fireplace and burned.
■ UNITED STATES
New finding on diabetes
Researchers reported that disrupting sleep damages the body's ability to regulate blood sugar levels, potentially raising the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Millions of people have diabetes and the most common form is type 2, in which the body either becomes resistant to insulin or doesn't produce enough of it to regulate sugar in the bloodstream. In a small experiment, researchers led by Esra Tasali, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago Medical Center, found that disrupting the deepest sleep periods of volunteers rapidly resulted in reduction in their ability to regulate blood-sugar levels.
‘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