■ CAMBODIA
Foreigners in drug bust
Three foreigners — a Briton, a Pakistani and Taiwanese-American — have been arrested for trying to smuggle 750g of drugs out of the country, police said yesterday. Steven Bushel, Sha Hihan and Victor Chhan, were arrested at midnight on Friday in a hotel room where they were discovered with 450g of crystal amphetamines known as “ice” and 300g of a white powder used to produce the drug, anti-drug police investigator Chea Leng said. “We have monitored them for almost three months and we knew that they were trying to smuggle the drug out of Cambodia,” he said. Police were still trying to learn where the suspects were smuggling the drugs, he said. The three men were being held at the Interior Ministry’s anti-drug unit to await trial, he said.
■ MALAYSIA
Leatherback returns
The endangered leatherback turtle has made a surprise return to nest where they were feared to have been wiped out, but experts are worried the precious eggs will not hatch. After a no-show last year, the rare giant turtles have nested twice on the Rantau Abang beach in northern Terennganu state, on June 23 and 24. “This is exciting for us and it has given us new hope in our conservation efforts,” said Munir Mohamad Nawi, director of the state’s fisheries department. Workers from the state’s Turtle and Marine Ecosystem Center hatchery have recovered just 41 eggs from the latest two nests, less than half what would be expected. He said it was likely the eggs had been poached by locals who sell them illegally at markets. The leatherbacks are the largest of all sea turtles. In Terengganu in the 1950s up to 10,000 female turtles came to lay their eggs each year. By 1984 the number had fallen to 800 and in 2006 only five nests were found from two turtles, without any hatchlings.
■ CHINA
Villagers riot over verdict
Villagers set fire to a police station and a government office in Guizhou Province to protest an official ruling on a student’s death, state media and a villager said yesterday. The violence erupted on Saturday afternoon in Wengan County, Xinhua news agency said. Residents also torched office buildings and some cars. The report said the people were angry over a ruling on how a student died but it did not provide details on what the official finding was or how the girl died. Headlines on Chinese bulletin boards said the girl had been raped and murdered but the postings could not be opened, an indication the items were considered sensitive and had been removed.
■ SINGAPORE
Dragonflies have a new use
Dragonfly young could soon be the aquatic version of the canary in a coalmine, a researcher said in a published report yesterday. Just as the singing birds were used by miners to warn them of toxic air, young dragonflies that live in reservoirs and ponds hold the potential of alerting humans to water pollution, the Straits Times said. Researcher Nanthinee Jeevanandam, at the National University of Singapore, said she hoped to use their genetic fingerprint to help national water agencies like the Public Utilities Board determine the level of cleanliness in reservoir water. Different dragonfly species have varied tolerance to pollutants such as lead and sulphate, the report said.
■ JAPAN
Police arrest body dumper
A Brazilian woman was arrested on Saturday on allegations of abandoning the body of a Brazilian man that was found in a forest south of Tokyo, a local police official said. Factory worker Macedo Karina Kato, 28, allegedly disposed the body of a 35-year old temporary worker earlier this month in Shizuoka Prefecture, where many Brazilians of Japanese descent live, he said. The man was found with multiple stab wounds and a dislocated chin, Jiji Press reported. The woman, who admitted to driving her car near the location where the body was found, denied the charges, the police official said.
■ CHINA
Hu wants help on climate
Addressing climate change head-on is in China’s best interests, but it needs developed countries to do their fair share, President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) said in a speech reported by Xinhua news agency on Saturday. Hu called on developed countries to step up efforts on emission reduction, and provide financial and technical support for developing countries. China will participate in next month’s G8 meeting in Hokkaido, Japan, where climate change is top on the agenda. Countries are trying to set new targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions that will take effect after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
■ CHINA
Tiger fraudsters arrested
Several government officials have lost their jobs and a farmer is under arrest in connection with a set of fake photographs that were used as proof of the existence of a highly endangered tiger. In October, forestry officials in Zhenping County in Shanxi Province published photos of a tiger in a forest setting, saying they were proof of the existence of the south China tiger. The local farmer who produced the photos was paid a 20,000 yuan (US$2,900) reward. Nine months later, officials admitted the photos were faked, state media said, citing sources at a press conference held by the Shanxi Province government.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Company practices slammed
A meat company has been branded Dickensian after forcing its employees to clock-off every time they want to go to the toilet. The union Unite has criticized the meat processor for “essentially stopping staff pay when they visit the toilet.” The company, based in Dumfriesshire, insists anyone wanting to be excused from the system has to provide medical evidence, the union said. Unite joint general secretary Tony Woodley said in a statement on its Web site: “We believe these are Dickensian employment practices … It’s outrageous that in 2008 workers should have to endure the indignity of clocking out for toilet breaks as well as other practices which we believe invade their privacy.”
■ ALGERIA
Militants killed in clashes
Six police officers and soldiers have been killed and 14 people injured in clashes with suspected terrorists belonging to the al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) group, media reported on Saturday, citing security sources. The clashes took place on Thursday and Friday, the reports said. In the spa resort of Aftis near Jijel, a group of 30 AQIM fighters who had been cornered by the military split into three commandos and tried to fight their way out of the area. Four members of the security forces were killed when the first commando attacked their vehicles.
■ HOLLAND
Credit card thief caught
Police have arrested a 20-year-old man suspected of hacking on the Internet and stealing the details of 50,000 credit cards, a court said on Friday. The man, detained in Maastricht on Tuesday, is also alleged to have hacked into the server of a US gamemaker and stolen a copy of the award-winning videogame Enemy Territory: Quake War while it was in development. Police seized the man’s computer and a gun during their search of his home. He is thought to have used the credit card identities, obtained through a British ticketing agency, to make numerous online purchases, racking up US$20 million in infrastructure damage.
■ RUSSIA
Nine die in violence in south
Officials said five militants and four police were killed and four more wounded in the violence-plagued south. The local interior ministry said police killed three suspected militants, including one woman, in Dagestan Province on Saturday. A police spokesman in Chechnya said that a clash in the province left two militants and four police dead and four more police wounded. The spokesman said the clash occurred on Friday when police pursued a group of militants suspected of killings of civilians and arsons. Years after the end of major fighting, Chechnya and provinces in the Northern Caucasus region are still plagued by violence.
■ BULGARIA
Gay pride under attack
Extremists throwing rocks, bottles and gasoline bombs attacked the capital’s first gay pride parade. Police said they blocked the extremists from harming the 150 or so people in the procession through Sofia. No serious injuries were reported. Police said they detained about 60 people for harassing the parade participants. Gays face widespread hostility in the country and opposition to Saturday’s parade has been fierce. The far-right Bulgarian National Union called for “open resistance” to the gay pride parade with a campaign featuring posters that said: “Be Intolerant, Be Normal.” The Orthodox Church said the march undermines the country’s Christian traditions.
■ UNITED STATES
Stilt walker covers 1,335km
A 24-year-old man has completed a 1,335km trek on aluminum stilts across Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas to raise awareness of cerebral palsy. United Cerebral Palsy of Michigan reports that Neil Sauter ended his eight-week journey on Friday in Ironwood, Michigan, on the Upper Peninsula border with Wisconsin. He began walking early last month from Lambertville in southeast Michigan. Sauter has raised US$16,000 for United Cerebral Palsy of Michigan. A three-to-one matching federal grant pushed that total to US$64,000. Sauter has mild cerebral palsy and used three pairs of stilts on the walk.
■ UNITED STATES
Toddler survives on cat food
Police in California say a two-year-old boy survived on dry cat food for up to six days after his mother died. The Sacramento Bee newspaper reported that a social worker heard the toddler crying while making a visit to check on the family on Thursday morning. The worker called police after no one answered the door. Inside, authorities found the body of 36-year-old Lisa Gonzales. It was not immediately known how she died, but a Child Protective Services spokeswoman said the woman suffered from a chronic illness. A Sacramento police spokesman said foul play was not suspected. The boy, identified only as Noah, is in protective custody while social workers determine whether he can be placed with a family member.
■ UNITED STATES
Hate crime charges filed
Police say four teenagers in New York have been arrested on hate crime charges for throwing rocks at a school bus full of Jewish toddlers. Police said the three girls and one boy yelled epithets last month as they broke windows on the bus in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights. The children were not hurt. The case is part of a string of incidents that have stirred tensions between black and Jewish residents in Crown Heights. The teens are all 14 and are black. The flash points have included an assault on a black college student and an attack on an Orthodox Jewish teen. A race riot erupted in 1991 after a Jewish driver hit and killed a seven-year-old black boy. A 29-year-old Hasidic scholar was stabbed to death in the chaos.
■ UNITED STATES
Elizabeths gather in Illinois
The world’s most famous Elizabeth didn’t show, but about 400 others did. The northern Illinois community of Elizabeth tried on Saturday to set a world record for the largest Gathering of Elizabeths. Women with Elizabeth in any part of their name were allowed in; one participant had Elizabeth as a last name. The event drew women from more than 20 US states. Those participating had to show a copy of a birth certificate or driver’s license. “We did invite Queen Elizabeth II, but she politely declined,” said Susan Gordy, who helped organize the event. Elizabeth Taylor was also invited but did not reply, Gordy said. The event was designed to celebrate the community and honor famous Elizabeths, including one for whom the community of about 700 people was named. In 1832, Elizabeth Armstrong, one of at least three Elizabeths living in the Apple River Fort settlement, played a prominent role in defending the community during an attack in the Black Hawk War, Gordy said, adding that the community plans to submit an application to the Guinness Book of World Records.
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
‘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
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