■ AUSTRALIA
Robbers take a beating
Two would-be robbers got more than they expected in their attempt to rob a Sydney fruit and vegetable shop — a beating. The men, one armed with a knife, confronted the owner of the store just before closing time and forced their way into his office, where they seized money from the safe and several cash registers, police said in a statement yesterday. But staff members chased the thieves after the robbery on Sunday and began beating them, retrieving the bag of money. “These guys just used their fists,” the owner of Casula Fruit World told the Sydney Morning Herald about the heroics of his staff. One of the robbers ended up carrying his accomplice to their getaway car, the store owner said.
■VANUATU
Quake strikes off island
A magnitude 7.0 undersea earthquake struck in the South Pacific ocean off Vanuatu yesterday, but there were no immediate reports of injury or damage. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said the temblor struck 229km north of the town of Luganville on the island of Espirito Santo. It did not trigger a tsunami alert. The US Geological Survey said the quake was centered 130km below the sea floor and struck at 5:52am local time.
■THAILAND
Web sites to be shut down
A court has ordered hundreds of Web sites to be shut down for carrying content disrespectful to the kingdom’s revered royal family, a media watchdog reported yesterday. The government’s communications ministry asked the court to close some 400 Web sites, including 344 deemed offensive to the royal family, the Bangkok-based Southeast Asian Press Alliance said. Media reported the sites included two with religious content, one containing a video sex game and five with obscene material.
■AUSTRALIA
Residents deny racism
Residents of a Sydney suburb yesterday denied they were racist for objecting to a Muslim school but supporting plans for a Catholic school nearby. The Camden/Macarthur Residents’ Group, set up earlier this year to fight a proposed Koranic Society Muslim school, said the yet to be approved Catholic school “ticked all the boxes.” “Catholics are part of our community so we should be supporting it on this basis alone,” group president Emil Sremchevich told the Sydney Morning Herald. “Why is it discriminatory? It’s very simple: people like some things but don’t like other things. Some of us like blondes, some of us like brunettes.”
■GREECE
Pair charged with murder
A retired Japanese diplomat and his Greek wife have been charged with killing their 36-year-old daughter in their home. Masami Tanida, 77, and his wife Maria, 67, appeared before an examining magistrate on Monday. They were given 24 hours to prepare their defense, their lawyer Athanassios Tartis said. “My clients’ position is that their daughter committed suicide, slashing her wrist,” Tartis said. Police said authorities became suspicious after the woman’s mother approached doctors at a hospital on the island of Evia to request a death certificate for her daughter, Amphithea Tanida, claiming she had suffered fatal head injuries falling down a flight of stairs. Investigators said a deep cut to her left wrist was made after her death and the direction of the cut was not consistent with a self-inflicted wound.
■ SOUTH AFRICA
Cartoon angers ANC
The governing party has been angered by a cartoon depicting its leader preparing to rape justice. The cartoonist and his newspaper aren’t apologizing. Johannesburg’s the Times said in an editorial yesterday the ANC’s interpretation of the cartoon was “shallow.” The image appeared on Sunday. In a statement on Monday, the ANC, the South African Communist Party and the ANC Youth League called the cartoon “disgusting.” ANC leader Jacob Zuma was acquitted of rape in 2006. The Times says the cartoon was a comment on accusations Zuma was undermining justice with a campaign to have corruption charges against him dropped.
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