■PHILIPPINES
First flu fatality reported
Manila reproted its first swine flu-related death — a 49-year-old woman who died from congestive heart failure but who also tested positive for the swine flu virus. Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the woman’s chronic heart disease was aggravated by severe pneumonia. She started to have flu-like symptoms such as dry cough, fever, chills and difficulty breathing two days before her death on Friday. A throat swab from the woman revealed she was infected with the A(H1N1) virus.
■AUSTRALIA
‘Utegate’ e-mail fake
Police yesterday said the e-mail at the center of the “Utegate” scandal was a fake, blowing a hole in opposition claims against Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. The apparent forgery was revealed after police investigations at the home of Godwin Grech, a senior treasury official whose testimony to a senate inquiry sparked the row. Rudd, Treasurer Wayne Swan and opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull have all heard calls for their resignation over the row since Grech gave evidence last week. Turnbull accuses Rudd of helping a car-dealer friend seek government funds and then lying to parliament about it, basing his case on the e-mail supposedly sent by the prime minister’s adviser.
■AUSTRALIA
Seven injured in turbulence
A Qantas plane hit turbulence and suddenly lost altitude over Malaysia, throwing terrified passengers around the cabin and leaving seven people injured, the airline said yesterday. The Airbus A330 with 219 passengers and crew aboard was flying from Hong Kong to Perth overnight when it struck “severe turbulence” over Borneo, Qantas said in a statement. Passengers later described the panic and confusion in the darkened cabin as passengers not wearing seat belts were hurled from their seats. Government safety officials were investigating the incident.
■SOUTH KOREA
College for retirees planned
Faced with the country’s aging population, Seoul National University is planning to launch courses to help senior citizens get the most out of retirement, officials said yesterday, adding that a pilot program was due as early as this autumn. It will initially be a short-term course but eventually develop into an academic degree program, they said. The university currently runs non-degree courses for the general public but not a program exclusively for retirees.
■PHILIPPINES
Boy accidentally kills dad
A six-year-old boy accidentally shot dead his father and injured his mother in a Father’s Day tragedy, police said yesterday. Police officer Hermogenes Capili said the victim, Apolonio Pacioles, 45, was a soldier who had just come home after fighting Muslim rebels in the south. Capili said Pacioles had asked his son to get his 45-calibre pistol from the upstairs bedroom of their house in Quezon City on Sunday. The son, the youngest of the victim’s three children, got the gun and even removed the magazine as he was taught by his father. The boy then asked if the gun was loaded, but his father ignored him. Thinking he had removed all the bullets, the boy cocked the hammer and pulled the trigger. “But apparently one bullet was left in the chamber,” Capili said, adding that the bullet struck Pacioles in the abdomen, exited his body, hit a door and then grazed the boy’s mother. The mother was released from hospital after treatment. Capili said no criminal charges would be filed against the boy.
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