■LAOS
‘Bald’ songbird discovered
A “bald” bird discovered in Laos is Asia’s first new species of bulbul, or songbird, in more than 100 years, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) said yesterday. Scientists from the Society, as well as the University of Melbourne, identified the bird, which has “a bald head,” WCS said in a press release. They reported their findings in this month’s issue of Forktail, the scientific journal of the Oriental Bird Club, a UK charity. “This paper describes for the first time in over 100 years a new Asian species of bulbul,” the scientists wrote of their discovery late last year in an area of limestone karsts in Savannakhet Province. The bird, named the Bare-faced Bulbul, is not completely bald, but has a narrow line of hair-like feathers down the center of its crown.
■AUSTRALIA
Remains found in Vietnam
Investigators have uncovered the remains of the last two servicemen missing since the Vietnam War after a search of thick jungle near the Laos border, the Australian government said yesterday. Defence Personnel Minister Greg Combet said a search team had discovered the remains near where a wrecked Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) plane was found in April. The aircraft, flown by Flying Officer Michael Herbert and Pilot Officer Robert Carver, went missing on Nov. 3, 1970, over the central Vietnamese province of Quang Nam.
■MALAYSIA
Drug raid nets 1 million pills
Police detained seven men and seized 1 million psychotropic pills worth more than 10 million ringgit (US$2.7 million) in one of the country’s biggest drug raids, official news reports said yesterday. The suspects, aged between 24 and 52, were detained following a raid on a warehouse in the northern state of Penang early on Wednesday, state narcotics chief S. Batumalai said. A total of 1 million pills, comprising a mixture of ecstasy and Erimin pills, were discovered hidden in a large box, Bernama news agency said.
■AUSTRALIA
Men At Work lose court case
A publisher claiming Australian 1980s chart-toppers Men At Work stole the riff for their biggest hit won the first round in a legal battle over royalty payments yesterday. Larrikin Music claims Down Under, used by national airline Qantas and among the most popular Australian songs of all time, borrows a riff from Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree, a song they own and which was written for a Girl Guides jamboree by Marion Sinclair in 1934. The Federal Court found in favor of Larrikin, saying it did indeed own the copyright and was entitled to defend any infringement — a decision that places in jeopardy millions of dollars in royalties earned from Down Under by Men At Work.
■SOUTH KOREA
Kim having dialysis: activist
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is undergoing kidney dialysis twice a week as a result of his diabetes, a South Korean activist said yesterday, quoting unidentified sources in Pyongyang. The health of Kim, 67, is the subject of intense interest as he has not formally named someone to succeed him at the helm of the secretive communist state. “His illness suddenly became worse last May, forcing him to receive dialysis,” Open Radio for North Korea president Ha Tae-keung said on a radio talk show. “The nuclear test was carried out in order to prevent Kim’s health problems from sparking rifts among power elites,” said Ha, whose Seoul-based organization broadcasts programs to the North.
■UNITED STATES
Senate passes energy bill
The Senate on Wednesday passed a US$34.3 billion energy spending bill that backs up President Barack Obama’s promise to close a nuclear waste facility in the southwestern state of Nevada. The bill, passed by a 85-9 vote, also covers hundreds of water projects being undertaken by the Army Corps of Engineers. The Yucca Mountain project 145km from Las Vegas was designed to hold 77,000 tonnes of waste, but has been strongly opposed by the Nevada delegation, which had been outgunned in its efforts to kill it. The move fulfills a campaign promise by Obama to close Yucca Mountain, which was 25 years and US$13.5 billion in the making. It would, however, leave the country without a long-term solution for storing highly radioactive waste from nuclear power plants. The waste disposal problem has become worse since the federal government scrapped plans to open Yucca Mountain.
■UNITED STATES
Wombnapped baby found
A baby girl who was cut from her mother’s womb has been found alive and two people were arrested over the woman’s killing, police said. The girl, whose mother’s body was found on Monday in a closet at her Worcester apartment, appeared to be in “fairly good health” at a New Hampshire hospital, Worcester Police Seargeant Kerry Hazelhurst said late on Wednesday. Julie Corey, 35, and a male companion were arrested in Plymouth, New Hampshire, where police found them with the child. Friends had told police they were suspicious of Corey’s claims she had given birth. Corey was charged as a fugitive from justice. She was in custody and could not be reached for comment late on Wednesday. Police did not know whether she had a lawyer. The baby’s mother, Darlene Haynes, was eight months pregnant. Haynes’ body was found by her landlord, William Thompson, who said a “horrifying smell” led him to her apartment, where he found her body wrapped in bedding in a closet.
■UNITED STATES
Whipping lover incarcerated
A man convicted of whipping and burning his girlfriend because he thought she was having an affair has been sentenced to 25 years in prison. Prosecutors say Jason Page held his girlfriend captive in their apartment for more than two weeks while repeatedly lashing her with an extension cord and burning her with a cigarette lighter. They say he duct-taped her hands to a crib and threw water on her. The 35-year-old Page was convicted last month of kidnapping and assault. At trial, he told jurors he never punched the woman, only slapped her. He also claimed the real culprit was a “mystery man” who did the whipping. The girlfriend testified she loved Page and couldn’t leave him even after he held her captive. She escaped after he fell asleep.
■UNITED STATES
Trial opens in Hawaii case
A burglary trial has gotten under way for the leader of a Native Hawaiian sovereignty group that occupied historic Iolani Palace last year. The defendant, James Akahi, claims to be the heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Deputy Attorney General Mark Miyahira said in opening statements on Wednesday that Akahi and his supporters entered the palace last Aug. 15, the Honolulu Advertiser reported. Miyahira said Akahi told a state investigator he was the lawful heir to the throne and intended to chain himself to it but “got lost” in the palace.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in 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
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was