■ CHINA
3,600 babies still in hospital
More than 3,600 babies remain in hospital after drinking tainted milk products that have sickened more than 53,000 children, the government said yesterday. Of the 3,654 infants still in hospital, three remain in serious condition, while over 46,700 children have recovered and been released from medical clinics as of October 22, the health ministry said in a short statement. On Tuesday, 105 young children were admitted to hospitals around China with kidney ailments stemming from drinking the tainted milk products, while 370 infants were released, it added.
■ CHINA
Mothers appeal for help
A group of 101 mothers has written to the Communist Party leadership for help after their toddlers were denied kindergarten places after testing positive for hepatitis B. The nation has passed laws in recent years reversing a ban on its 120 million to 130 million hepatitis B carriers from the civil service, and banning companies from using the virus as an excuse to fire or not hire. But activists and sufferers say discrimination and stigma fueled by ignorance remain widespread and a number of provincial governments still have laws banning carriers from kindergartens, despite minimal chances of infection from casual contact.
■ AUSTRALIA
‘Jihad Jack’ found not guilty
A Muslim convert was yesterday found not guilty of receiving money from the al-Qaeda terror network after traveling to Afghanistan following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Former taxi driver Jack Thomas was acquitted on the terror charge in a retrial in Melbourne more than two years after he became the first Australian to be convicted under anti-terrorism laws introduced after the attacks on New York and Washington. But the retrial jury did find Thomas — dubbed “Jihad Jack” by the media after his trial — guilty of altering his passport. Thomas, who trained in an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan, was found guilty in February 2006 of accepting US$3,500 in cash and an air ticket home given to him in 2003 by a senior al-Qaeda operative in Pakistan.
■ INDIA
Factory explosion kills 23
An explosion at an illegal fireworks factory in northern India killed at least 23 people, 10 of them children, police said yesterday. “There was a house in which fireworks were being made illegally,” police official Rohit Mahajan said. “An explosion went off in one man’s house and it collapsed.” Five other houses also collapsed and 18 people were injured in the explosion late Wednesday, he said. Many families produce fireworks in their homes in hazardous conditions ahead of Diwali — the festival of lights that will be celebrated on Tuesday.
■ SOUTH KOREA
Border train running empty
A freight train service between South and North Korea that was hailed as a symbol of reconciliation is running almost empty 10 months after its launch, officials said yesterday. The unification ministry said in a report to parliament that in the period up to August, 150 of 163 trains carried no cargo. Only 340 tonnes of cargo were handled during this time. The five-day-a-week service links the country to North Korea’s Kaesong industrial estate, a Seoul-run operation just north of the heavily fortified border. Ministry officials said businesses at Kaesong prefer to use trucks for transporting materials.
■ FRANCE
‘Level 2’ radiation declared
Factory workers were exposed to excessive levels of radiation as they handled luminous lift buttons made using unsafe material from India, officials said. The Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) classed the incident at “Level Two” on a scale of seven because of the exposure of more than 10 people to doses exceeding the regulatory limit, the ASN said in a statement on Tuesday. The incident happened early this month in a factory of the Mafelec company in the east-central town of Chimilin. The workers were using materials that came from an Indian supplier. Faint traces of Cobalt 60, a radioactive form of the metal cobalt, were found in the buttons.
■ AUSTRIA
Incest father ‘born to rape’
Incest suspect Josef Fritzl has said he was “born to rape,” said a report by a court-appointed psychiatrist who probed the mind of the man who had kept his daughter locked in a dungeon for 24 years. “I have found out that I possess a malicious streak,” 73-year-old Fritzl told psychiatrist Heidi Kastner, parts of the report published by the Kronen Zeitung newspaper said on Wednesday. Fritzl is set to go on trial in the coming months for allegedly raping his daughter Elisabeth Fritzl many times while keeping her in the dungeon he built below his house in Amstetten, around 130km west of Vienna. Elisabeth gave birth to seven children by him while in captivity. Fritzl claimed he was an unwanted child who was often beaten.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Police arrest naked ‘burglar’
A naked man was arrested on suspicion of burglary on Wednesday after getting stuck in the chimney of the Tesco store he was allegedly trying to steal from, police said. Greater Manchester Police said officers were alerted to the Tesco Express store in the Pemberton area of Wigan at 5:30am after receiving a report of “concern for a man.” When police arrived at the scene, they found a man trapped in the chimney breast. The 22-year-old was freed by firefighters and, after it was discovered he was naked, officers took him to a hospital. He is now in police custody.
■ TURKEY
Court resumes coup trial
A court yesterday resumed the trial of 86 people accused of plotting to overthrow the Islamist-rooted government amid fresh measures to ensure the high-profile case goes smoothly. The trial began on Monday at a prison complex in Silivri, near Istanbul, but quickly descended into disarray as lawyers protested that they could not work in the tiny courtroom, packed with supporters of the accused, spectators and an army of journalists. In response, the court ruled that it would first hear the testimonies of the 46 suspects remanded in custody, while the remaining defendants would be heard in separate hearings. Authorities have also decided to allow reporters from only six Turkish news agencies.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Sex education mandatory
Sex education classes will become compulsory for primary and secondary school children in England to help reduce Britain’s high rate of teenage pregnancy, the government was expected to announce yesterday. The Daily Telegraph said Schools Minister Jim Knight would unveil the move when he published the findings of a review of sex and relationship education. Earlier this month, Knight told MPs that many young people had told the review they did not know enough to make responsible choices about relationships and sexual health.
■ UNITED STATES
Four rescued from raft
Four crew members of a fishing boat were plucked alive from a life raft in frigid, stormy seas in a remote Alaskan island chain. A Coast Guard spokesman said five crew members died and two were missing, hours after the vessel was reported in distress on Wednesday. Coast Guard Petty Officer Levi Read said a search continued for the remaining two crew members of the Katmai, a 28m fish processor based on Alaska’s Kodiak island.
■ COLOMBIA
Obama on lottery tickets
US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s face graces all the lottery tickets in the city of Mesa. “We picked Obama’s portrait for our lottery because we’re always looking for somebody people are raving about. He’s ahead in [US] opinion polls and right now he’s the most popular guy around here,” Mesa Lottery manager Luis Enciso said. He said Obama’s picture helped sell more lottery tickets. “We’d never think of using John McCain,” Enciso said, referring to the Republican candidate. “McCain has the look of somebody who’s standoffish, unpleasant and tiresome.”
■ UNITED STATES
Palin clothes anger donors
Republican donors were outraged over bills worth more than US$150,000 to buy Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin’s a new wardrobe after she was nominated as the party’s vice presidential candidate, a US media report said. “I want my money back,” the online paper Politico quoted an anonymous donor as saying. Running for the White House seemed to pay off, another donor said. “Even if you lose, you have a wardrobe full of new clothes.” The Republican campaign spent more than US$125,000 just for Palin’s outfits, finance reports confirmed. Most purchases were made at high-end stores like Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue, contrary to the governor’s self-described image of an average “hockey mom.” Make-up and trips to the hairdresser added another US$4,700 to the bill, Politico said. The campaign said it would donate the outfits to charity after the election.
■ COLOMBIA
Court annuls conviction
A court on Wednesday annulled the conviction of a former senator and adviser to the late drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, who was jailed for his role in the 1989 killing of presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan. Alberto Santofimio was found guilty a year ago on charges he suggested to Escobar that the latter murder the candidate, in what became one of the most famous political crimes of the violent 1980s. A local court overturned the sentence because it found there was insufficient evidence to hold him responsible for Galan’s assassination. Galan’s family planned to appeal to the Supreme Court. “We believe the evidence is sufficient and profound,” said Senator Juan Manuel Galan, son of the murdered candidate.
■ GUATEMALA
Man killed by arrow
Police said a Guatemala City man died after being struck in the heart with an arrow fired by assailants waiting outside his home. National Police Officer Luis Luna said 29-year-old layout designer Abel Giron was attacked as he left his home to go to work at El Periodico newspaper on Wednesday. The assailants fled. Giron’s colleagues said the arrow was possibly fired from a competition bow or crossbow. Police did not give a motive for the attack. Giron was married to a photographer who also works at the daily newspaper.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number