■ SRI LANKA
Suicide bomber kills 12
At least 12 police, including three female constables, and 23 others were injured when a Tamil rebel suicide bomber set off an explosion outside the office of a senior police officer yesterday morning, military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said. The bomber set off the explosion in the Vavuniya town, 240km north of Colombo, as the police personnel were waiting for their duty assignments. Four civilians, including three schoolchildren, were among those injured.
■MYANMAR
Police detain journalist
A popular sports writer who helped deliver aid to Cyclone Nargis victims has been arrested, the second aid volunteer detained in two weeks, his wife said yesterday. Zaw Thet Htwe, 42, was arrested on Friday by special branch police in Minbu, where he was visiting his ailing mother, his wife said. He had organized five trips to deliver aid to Nargis victims in the Irrawaddy Delta, but police said that was not the reason for his arrest, his wife Khaing Cho said. No reason was given for his detention, she said, adding that police had searched their home in Yangon and seized his computer and cellphone.
■PHILIPPINES
Shootout kills six
A policeman and five other suspected members of a criminal gang have been killed in a firefight with police in Manila, Superintendent Magtanggol Gatdula said yesterday. All six fatalities were suspected members of the Kuratong Baleleng, a gang believed to have engaged in kidnappings and bank robberies in the past, he said. The slain suspects included an active-duty Manila policeman who had recently been reinstated in the service after being implicated in organized crime, Gatdula said. Six other policemen were wounded in the shootout in the Quezon late on Sunday, he said.
■AUSTRALIA
Deportee commits suicide
A Chinese dissident who was forcibly deported from Australia despite voicing fears of persecution if he was returned home has killed himself, a refugee advocate claimed yesterday. The democracy activist, known only as Mr Zhang, who had complained of being beaten and tortured by authorities after being sent back to China a year ago, has now committed suicide after losing hope, according to Frances Milne. Immigration Minister Chris Evans said he was unaware of the case but would seek more information on the fate of Zhang, who spent almost a decade arguing his case for asylum on the grounds that his links to pro-democracy groups put him in danger in China.
■JAPAN
Tenth quake victim found
Soldiers digging through the wreckage of a hot spring resort buried in a landslide discovered the body of one of the missing yesterday, bringing the death toll in Saturday’s quake to 10, police said. Rescuers kept up their search for 12 remaining missing, but hopes dimmed that any of them would be found alive. The body of a 58-year-old man was discovered midday at an inn that was inundated by a torrent of mud, rocks and trees early on Saturday.
■HONG KONG
Parents fear gambling habit
One-third of parents in the territory have a gambling habit and regularly bet on horse racing and soccer matches, a poll published yesterday said. The poll found that two-thirds of the 864 respondents believed the gambling problem in the territory to be serious and more than half feared their children would become addicted. Agencies
■UNITED KINGDOM
Bishop probes gay ceremony
The bishop of London said yesterday he would order a probe into a wedding-like church service for two male priests. The priests exchanged rings and vows in a service at one of London’s oldest churches marked by a fanfare of trumpets and capped by a shower of confetti on May 31, Britain’s Sunday Telegraph reported. Bishop of London the Right Reverend Richard Chartres said in a statement that such services were not authorized in the Church of England and said he would ask the archdeacon of London to investigate. While civil partnerships between homosexual couples are officially recognized in Britain, the Church of England’s guidelines ask clergy not to bless such partnerships.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Birds get singing lessons
Wildlife officers are giving baby birds singing lessons to help them hone their twittering skills before they are released into the wild. Recordings of birds are being played to hundreds of orphaned fledglings twice a day at wildlife centers of the UK’s Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The ability to sing is crucial for males of most species as it declares their territory to rivals and plays an important role in attracting a mate. Because birds are taught to sing by their parents, being raised in captivity can leave the orphans at a serious disadvantage. “The majority of bird species benefit from being played birdsong. They listen to it and it helps them become good singers, which will in turn help them to survive when they are released,” said Tim Thomas, a wildlife officer.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Man, dog survive 60m fall
Authorities say a man and his dog survived a 60m fall down a remote cliff face in the south. Coast guards say the man’s car went over a cliff near the town of Swanage early Sunday morning. Local police believe the man was thrown clear of his vehicle when it fell halfway down the 120m cliff. They say the man was found barely conscious near the crumpled wreckage of his vehicle. The car had crashed onto a large ledge on the cliff face. Both the man’s legs were broken. The man’s dog, a black New Zealand sheepdog named Zin Zan, could not be found. The dog later made its own way home and was found under the kitchen table.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Scots more likely to kill
Scots are almost twice as likely to commit homicide or kill themselves as people anywhere else in Britain, a study has found. Research published yesterday blames alcohol and drug consumption for the markedly higher homicide and suicide rate. The study found that there were 500 killings in Scotland over a five-year period and 5,000 suicides over six years, figures that, proportionately, are almost double those for England and Wales. The victims and culprits were mostly young men and the incidents often involved knives.
■SWEDEN
Pianist dies in scuba mishap
Jazz pianist and composer Esbjorn Svensson, who helped break genre boundaries and attracted a young audience outside the traditional jazz scene, died in a scuba diving accident on Saturday, his manager said. Burkhard Hopper, manager of the Esbjorn Svensson Trio (EST), said Svensson, 44, died on Saturday in the Stockholm archipelago. Svensson was a big name in international jazz circles, with EST winning critical acclaim and commercial success from Japan to the US, mainly in European countries such as Germany, France and Britain.
■IRAQ
Sadr boycott ends
Followers of anti-US cleric Moqtada al-Sadr will run candidates on other party tickets in upcoming Iraqi provincial elections, a top aide said, in an apparent bid to sidestep what they believe is a government campaign against their movement. The decision is part of a sweeping strategic change by the militant cleric as the Shiite-led government gave Shiite militiamen in an al-Sadr stronghold four days to surrender heavy weapons or face arrest.
■IRAQ
Zebari: pact on target
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said on the weekend that US-Iraq negotiations for a long-term security pact were not dead and that despite difficulties, a deal would be signed “by the end of July.” Zebari said Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s statement last week in Amman that Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) talks were at an impasse had been “corrected and clarified.” Zebari said that in the SOFA agreement Iraq had “made it absolutely clear that Iraq will not be used for any offensive actions or for any attacks against any of Iraq’s neighbors.”
■ITALY
Troops plan under fire
A plan to put 2,500 soldiers on the streets of Italy to fight crime has come under fire from opposition politicians, police unions and a former top military commander. “It does not give a good impression to see soldiers doing in our cities what they’ve done in Kosovo and Albania,” said former military chief of staff General Mario Arpino. Opposition politician Antonio di Pietro said “only Colombia” used troops to patrol its streets, while a police union spokesman called it “a publicity stunt.”
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in 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
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was