■JAPAN
Centenarians at record high
The number of people living beyond 100 has more than doubled during the past six years to a record high of more than 36,000 this year, with women dominating the centenarian club, the government said yesterday. The country will have 36,276 people aged 100 years or older at the end of this month, surpassing last year’s 32,295. Female centenarians comprised 86 percent of the total, the Health and Welfare Ministry said in an annual report ahead of this Monday’s national holiday honoring the elderly. Each new centenarian will receive a letter from the prime minister and a silver cup. The Pacific Rim nation has one of the world’s longest life expectancies — nearly 86 years for women and 79 years for men.
■CHINA
Mine linked to mudslide
The death toll rose to 151 in a mudslide that buried a market and several buildings in Shanxi Province, the Xinhua news agency said yesterday. Four days after the event, more than 3,000 rescuers, armed with spades and aided by 160 mechanical diggers, continued to search for victims buried under the heaps of dirt and mud. Heavy rain caused a dam at a waste reservoir downstream of an illegally operating iron mine to burst, officials said earlier. About 268,000m³ of mud covered an area of 30.2 hectares, destroying a market, an office building and several houses. China’s government set up an accident investigation team and promised harsh punishment for those responsible for the burst dam at the Tashan mine near the town Linfen.
■AUSTRALIA
Lawmaker demoted
A wild party inside the oldest parliament that witnesses said featured near nakedness and simulated sex claimed a second victim yesterday when New South Wales lawmaker Noreen Hay lost her post as a parliamentary secretary for health. The first victim was Matt Brown, 37, who was sacked just three days after being sworn in as the state’s police minister. Brown admitted he stripped to his underpants and danced on a green leather couch in his parliamentary office. Premier Nathan Rees, himself just a week into the job, said he did not believe Hay, 51, when she said she had not seen Brown in his underpants.
■AUSTRALIA
Police hunt roo puncher
Animal welfare authorities launched a nationwide hunt on Thursday for a man filmed punching and kicking a kangaroo unconscious. The video, which shows the man using kickboxing-style attacks on the kangaroo as his friend laughs while filming, was sent to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Western Australia state. In one scene the man pulls the kangaroo towards him and uses his knee to hit the animal’s chest and the man punches the kangaroo’s face as the animal struggles to remain standing. A final punch knocks the kangaroo to the ground where it appears to lay unconscious.
■JAPAN
Prayers for pets are taxable
Saying a final goodbye to pets at a funeral is a special moment for owners, but the monks involved must still cough up money in taxes, the nation’s top court ruled yesterday. The Supreme Court ruled against Buddhist monks who argued that a growing trend of pet funerals was a religious activity that should be exempt from taxes, like funerals for humans. The Jimyoin temple in central Aichi Prefecture offers last rites for animals that resemble traditional Buddhist funerals, with bereaved pet owners paying pre-set fees.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Top cop in bin Laden row
A senior British policeman is in trouble after he dressed as Osama bin Laden at a carnival days before the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Chief Superintendent Colin Terry, who has trained police in Afghanistan, was photographed wearing a bin Laden mask, robes and traditional Arab scarf. He wore the costume at a carnival in the village of Grampound, Cornwall, last Saturday. Devon and Cornwall police said in a statement it took the incident very seriously and had referred Terry to the Independent Police Complaints Commission. “Whilst we believe his actions were misguided rather than malicious, they were clearly inappropriate,” it said.
■NIGERIA
UK to train security forces
Britain’s role in tackling militants in the restive oil-rich Niger Delta will be limited to training Nigerian forces, Britain’s minister for Africa Mark Malloch-Brown said during a visit to Nigeria. “We want to make sure that the security forces operating in the Niger Delta are properly trained,” he said in Abuja after meeting Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua. “We are already providing training for Nigerian peace keepers and it is a long tradition of British training defense forces,” he added. Malloch-Brown’s visit came just days after two Britons were amongst at least five foreign oil workers kidnapped from their boat as they traveled to an oil rig.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Church urged to pray for pets
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), which reported in July that cruelty to animals is rising fast in “throwaway” Britain, has urged church leaders to pray for pets during special services next month. The Archbishop of Canterbury and other Christian leaders agreed to put the environment at the heart of their worship this autumn following an ecumenical assembly last year. The RSPCA wants the churches to use this time to renew their focus on animals and re-examine duties toward living creatures. “It is vital that Christians remember their specific responsibilities toward animals during this welcome renewal of environmental concern,” Reverend Andrew Linzey said. Linzey has written a booklet Service for Animal Welfare, published by the RSPCA.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Beer delivered to queen
A lorry-load of beer destined for soccer fans at the Windsor Castle pub in Britain was mistakenly delivered to the castle owned by Queen Elizabeth II after which the pub is named, it was reported on Thursday. A lorry carrying 12 barrels of lager turned up at the gates of Windsor Castle, near London, but royal staff had no record of the order. They called the pub with the same name in nearby Maidenhead where the delivery was keenly awaited by fans watching the England versus Croatia World Cup qualifier on Wednesday. “It was a silly mistake — these things can happen. The barrels did eventually arrive, about three hours late, so there was no problem,” said Misko Coric, the pub landlord.
■SWEDEN
ABBA museum delayed
The opening of a museum dedicated to Swedish pop group ABBA has been delayed. The initial target for the opening was next June, but project co-founder Ulf Westman said on Thursday that the renovation of the building will take longer than expected because it was “more complicated than what was predicted earlier.” Westman did not say when the museum might open.
‘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