■HONG KONG
Wife burns straying hubbie
A blind woman who suspected her husband was cheating on her poured boiling hot congee on his groin as he slept naked, the Standard newspaper said yesterday. Taxi driver Leung Yiu-yuen, 56, suffered second-degree burns to his genitals after his wife, Miu Tsui-fun, 58, attacked him. She had previously laced his drinks with female hormones in an attempt to make him impotent when she became convinced he was having an affair, the newspaper reported. After the congee attack last September, Leung was taken to hospital with burns that required three weeks of treatment and still left an unhealed wound, the High Court heard on Tuesday. The couple, who married in 2002, have separated. Miu pleaded guilty to wounding with intent and will be sentenced on Sept. 4.
■SOUTH KOREA
Man convicted of 57 rapes
A court in the southern city of Changwon sentenced a man to life imprisonment yesterday for raping 57 women over a seven-year period. The court ruled that the 32-year-old should be “isolated from society forever.” He was convicted of the rapes between May 2001 and last September. He was arrested in January.
■MALAYSIA
Maids to get a day off
The government will change its labor laws to require a weekly rest day for foreign maids — a key step to curb abuses, officials said yesterday. But some agencies and employers worry the maids will use the day off to meet men and run away. “It looks very good on paper ... [but] if you give too much freedom to the maid, there is room for them to run away,” said Raja Zulkepley Dahalan, president of the Malaysian Association of Foreign Housemaids Agencies, which represents 160 of 360 maid agencies. The New Straits Times quoted the human resource minister as saying new laws could be implemented as early as the end of the year. Foreign maids will also be given a list of telephone contacts for embassy, police and welfare officials to report any abuses.
■INDONESIA
Mine death toll climbs to 28
A coal mine explosion on Sumatra on Tuesday killed 28 miners, while 12 others are still missing, officials said yesterday. Nine miners survived the blast, which as local government official said may have been caused by a build-up of methane gas.
■CHINA
Sex changes need police OK
The nation’s first medical guidelines on sex change surgery could require patients to gain police approval before the procedure, a posting on the Health Ministry’s Web site said. The proposed guidelines say candidates for surgery must show an agreement from police to change their sex on their ID cards once the procedure is complete. The ministry posted the draft on Tuesday. China has no laws against sex change surgery, and the ministry says the guidelines are necessary to regulate the procedure.
■AUSTRALIA
Conman gave to charities
Charities, hospitals and sports clubs may have to return donations from a 27-year-old man who allegedly defrauded his insurance company by claiming to have a terminal illness. Clint Elford was scheduled to appear in a Sydney court yesterday to face charges that he bilked insurance giant Allianz of A$500,000 (US$395,000) and stood to gain A$13 million through deception. Police will allege Elford forged documents from doctors and lawyers confirming he was dying.
■ITALY
Tombs in online auction
For sale: classical-style building, marble interior, wrought iron gates, peaceful location, sleeps 10 comfortably, quiet previous owners. This isn’t the description of a country villa, but one of 34 luxury family tombs that Rome’s city council has declared abandoned and put up for auction online. Anyone looking for the tomb of their dreams can browse details and photos of mausoleums in three city cemeteries and even pay a virtual visit using Google Earth. Prices include a renewable 75-year lease and range from 24,000 euros (US$33,300) for a simple stone tomb to 312,000 euros for a free-standing mausoleum at Verano cemetery, where neighbors include Roberto Rossellini.
■FRANCE
Metro line to ditch drivers
Paris’s oldest and busiest underground railway line is to be given a 629 million euro (US$873 million) overhaul, which local authorities hope will make it more stylish, streamlined and more strike-proof. The central Line 1, which allows passengers to hop out at the Champs Elysees, the Louvre and the Bastille, is to be converted into a fully automatic service in which train drivers will no longer be needed. Although the director of the metro, Serge Lagrange, has insisted the makeover was not inspired by the desire for an anti-strike line, unions said the reliance on machines instead of people will make the service far less vulnerable to strike action. The new system is expected to be in place by 2012.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Romanians take refuge
Several Romanian families took refuge on Tuesday in a church in Belfast, Northern Ireland, after fleeing their homes in the wake of racist attacks, police and media reports said. The BBC reported that about 115 people, including a five-day-old girl, initially sought refuge in a single house but there were too many of them, prompting the church to offer to help. On Monday, a group of youths hurling bottles and making Nazi salutes had attacked an anti-racism demonstration by local residents against a spate of attacks on immigrant families in the area.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Breakdancer’s benefits cut
A pensioner vowed on Tuesday to keep making his moves despite having his disability benefits cut after he appeared breakdancing on a TV talent show. Fred Bowers, 73, told the BBC that the state-funded allowance he received for a wartime leg injury has been suspended while officials investigate his case following his appearance on Britain’s Got Talent. Bowers said he was entitled to the disability benefit, believed to be about £70 (US$115) because he had trouble walking. “I’ve still got an actual disability and I can’t walk very far but I can still dance,” he said.
■ISRAEL
Man reveals 60-year secret
In 1945, Ben Keren and eight other Jewish underground fighters vowed not to reveal where they had hidden weapons from the then British rulers of Palestine. All of his comrades eventually passed away, but Keren kept his word — until March. “Three months ago, we told him, why not open it. So he agreed,” Ishay Hubrman, a member of the collective community, told the Jerusalem Post. “It was very hard for him to agree, because for him it’s [like] breaking [a] law.” Even after Keren, 97, finally broke his vow, it took police three months to find the exact location, underneath what was now the Ein Hashofet kibbutz gym, and remove the weapons. Keren said he was “very relieved” after telling his secret.
■UNITED STATES
Senator admits affair
Senator John Ensign admitted on Tuesday that he had an extramarital affair with a member of his campaign staff. The Nevada senator led the Republicans’ campaign efforts last year and had recently visited Iowa, apparently contemplating a run for president in 2012. An aide said that the consensual affair took place between December 2007 and last August, and that the woman worked for Ensign’s campaign operation, Ensign for Senate, as well as for a conservative political action committee, Battleborn PAC. The woman’s husband was a member of Ensign’s official Senate staff. Neither has worked for the senator since May last year, the aide said. Ensign, 51, is married and has three children. In a statement released by his office in Washington, Ensign said: “I take full responsibility for my actions … I deeply regret and am very sorry for my actions.” Ensign’s wife also issued a statement, affirming her commitment to her husband.
■UNITED STATES
Tractorcade draws 500
More than 500 tractors are joining a three-day joyride around eastern Iowa, an annual 80km trek from Dubuque to Dyersville and back. Organizers say 509 tractors were registered for the 10th anniversary of the Great Eastern Iowa Tractorcade, which began on Monday. That’s up from the previous high of 450. The line of orange, blue, yellow, red and green tractors stretched for kilometers, with most cruising at about 26kph. Bearing names like John Deere, Ford and Farmall, they stick to local roads and pass tree houses, tire swings, barns and banks along the way. Tom McClain, who traveled from Phoenix for the ride, says it’s like a family reunion. Darold Sindt of Keystone, Iowa, says “tractor people” are a different sort of club.
■VENEZUELA
Globovision’s license at risk
The nation’s telecommunications regulator asked prosecutors on Tuesday to determine if an opposition-aligned television network is responsible for a talk show guest’s suggestion that foes might kill Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The probe, which potentially could force the station off the air, adds to a string of government actions against Globovision and its owner — moves the owner says seek to intimidate the channel into curbing its criticism of Chavez. Roselyn Dager, a representative of the Conatel telecommunications agency, said the channel’s broadcast license could be revoked if the attorney general’s office determines the news network incited a crime when newspaper editor Rafael Poleo said Chavez could end up “hanging” like Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Prosecutors are investigating Poleo, but they have not yet determined if his comments on a talk show in November were aimed at inciting violence.
■CANADA
Circus aims for record
Cirque du Soleil aimed on Tuesday to reclaim its Guinness world record for the most people simultaneously walking on stilts, to mark its silver anniversary. The acrobatic troupe, created in 1984 and now performing in all corners of the world, readied 900 people to stride 100m on 33cm stilts in the streets of Montreal. It also invited people in Brazil, Las Vegas, Lisbon, Macau, Nagoya, New York, Orlando and Tokyo to join in the experience. Cirque du Soleil set the first Guinness world record for stilt-walking with 544 employees in 2004. Two years later, a Japanese group beat it with 614 stilt-walkers and last year a Brantford, Ontario team took the title with 625.
‘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
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in