■NEPAL
Widows slam dowry offer
About 200 women marched through Kathmandu on Monday to denounce a government scheme to pay cash incentives to men for marrying widows, witnesses said. The government announced a plan last month to pay men the equivalent of US$650 for marrying widows. The protesters shouted slogans such as “You can’t sell your mother” and “We don’t want government dowries.” They were stopped by riot police, but there were no arrests or violence. A protest organizer said widows should be given jobs, better health care and education because men would marry them just for the money and then abandon them.
■SINGAPORE
Toddler survives fall
A toddler survived a fall from an open window of a ninth floor apartment, escaping with cuts to his face and body and a fractured ankle. The Straits Times reported yesterday that Park Sihu, 3, landed in bushes. He was found conscious and crying but clearly traumatized, the paper reported. He had been climbing on a bed beside an open window when he fell. His two elder sisters were in the same room with him, but were busy studying.
■CAMBODIA
Thai arrested over artwork
A Thai construction worker was arrested for living illegally in the country for more than 10 years and for drawing an image of Angkor Wat on his bathroom floor, national media reported. Salavout Khamsan, 35, was arrested in Poipet after neighbors saw the drawing and told the authorities. Poipet police chief Nuth Ly said the man had “desecrated the precious temple which is a World Heritage site.” The provincial police chief said the man’s explanation — that he drew the image out of affection for Angkor Wat, not to demean it — was not good enough.
■MALAYSIA
Swine flu death toll rises
The Health Ministry said yesterday that six more people infected with swine flu have died over the past few days, raising the death toll from the virus to 38. There has also been a big increase of 269 new swine flu cases since Monday, it said. The nation has reported 2,252 swine flu cases since May.
■NEW ZEALAND
Drunk gets lost in hotel
A drunk, naked man lost his way at a Queensland hotel and ended up sleeping in the wrong room, forcing its female occupant to hide in the bathroom, the Southland Times reported. The 29 year-old Australian man had gone back to the hotel with a woman, but got up in the night and wandered into a room where a couple were sleeping. “He was a bit surprised that there were two people in his room and he was butt naked,” Sergeant Steve Watt told the newspaper. As the intruder slept, the startled woman took refuge in the bathroom as her husband called hotel staff. The man could not remember whom he had been with or what room he had been in, and had no clothes or wallet.
■PHILIPPINES
Abductee rescued
Police rescued a kidnapped factory owner and fatally shot all seven suspects in Manila, a police official said yesterday. Michelle Tan, 30, was snatched from her garment factory in Navotas on Sunday. The kidnappers demanded an initial ransom of 2 million pesos (US$42,000), the official said. Police traced Tan using information from her relatives and stormed a house where she was held late on Monday, killing two suspects. The other five suspects were tracked down later.
■RUSSIA
No envoy to Ukraine
Moscow is postponing sending a new ambassador to Ukraine because of a crisis in relations, President Dmitry Medvedev said yesterday, expressing hope ties would improve under a “new leadership” in Kiev. “I want to inform you that under the current anti-Russian course of the Ukrainian leadership, I have taken a decision to postpone sending a new ambassador to Kiev,” Medvedev said in a letter to Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko. “Russia hopes a new political leadership in Ukraine will be ready to create relations between our people that respond to the real hopes of our people,” he said in the letter, the text of which was published by the Kremlin. Ukraine is to hold crucial presidential elections on Jan. 17.
■GERMANY
Ex-Nazi officer convicted
A 90-year-old former army officer was convicted of murder yesterday over the killings of Italian civilians during World War II and sentenced to life in prison. The Munich state court convicted Josef Scheungraber on 10 counts of murder and also found him guilty of attempted murder. Scheungraber was a 25-year-old Wehrmacht lieutenant at the time of the June 1944 killings in Falzano di Cortona, near the Tuscan town of Arezzo. Prosecutors said that after partisans killed two German soldiers, Scheungraber commanded his soldiers to shoot three Italian men and one woman. They said he then ordered that another 11 civilians be herded into a barn that was blown up.
■SLOVAKIA
Six dead after mine blast
Six Slovaks have died and another 14 are believed to have been killed by a fire and explosion in a coal mine. Economy Minister Lubomir Jahnatek says rescue workers have found six bodies of a total of 20 workers who were trapped underground after a fire and explosion hit the coal mine in central Slovakia on Monday. He says it is unlikely anybody else survived. The trapped workers include nine miners who were initially sent to battle the blaze, and 11 sent as reinforcements as the fire grew.
■FRANCE
‘Mona Lisa’ attacked
The Mona Lisa still smiles, a day after the famous painting was attacked in the Louvre in Paris — with a teacup. A Russia tourist aimed an empty tea cup at Leonardo da Vinci’s celebrated work a week ago, Le Parisien newspaper reported yesterday. The artwork, which is kept behind bulletproof glass and is heavily guarded, was unscathed. The woman was promptly arrested and sent for psychological observation. The museum filed a complaint. The woman is suspected of having Sendhal Syndrome, where the sufferer is compelled to act irrationally when moved by a work of art.
■ISRAEL
Don’t brush with baldness
A study by an Israeli dermatologist has found that too much combing of the coiffure leads to hair loss, the daily Haaretz reported on Monday. During a test 14 women recorded their daily hair loss and combing habits, with those combing more losing more hair, the research found. “The women who combed twice a day lost three times more hair than those who combed once a day,” the head of the study, Alexander Kirdman of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, was quoted as saying. “I was surprised by the results, as in medical circles the comb is believed to improve blood circulation and reduce hair loss,” said Kirdman, whose study was recently published in the Journal of Dermatological Treatment.
■UNITED STATES
Eunice Kennedy Shriver dies
Eunice Kennedy Shriver, sister of slain US president John F. Kennedy and founder of the Special Olympics, died yesterday in Massachusetts, her family said in a statement. She was 88. “The amazing Eunice Kennedy Shriver went home to God this morning at 2am,” the statement said. Members of Shriver’s politically powerful family, including California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, bade farewell earlier on Monday in visits to Cape Cod Hospital in the northeastern state.
■UNITED STATES
Charities fight for fortune
Leona Helmsley’s dog, Trouble, may be living quietly enough in Florida, but back in New York there’s a lot of barking about the way the late hotel queen’s millions are being given away. Three animal welfare groups filed court papers on Monday accusing Helmsley’s trustees of a “scheme to deprive dog welfare charities” of their share of her fortune. The groups say Helmsley, who died in 2007, primarily intended to give her fortune to dog causes. They say a judge’s February decision giving the trustees sole authority to decide what to do with her fortune should be thrown out. The trustees say Helmsley did not intend for the charitable trust to focus on dogs. Helmsley’s will named her dog as a beneficiary. The Maltese is living in Florida on a US$2 million trust fund.
■UNITED STATES
Bear killed animal feeder
An autopsy has confirmed that a bear killed a 74-year-old southwestern Colorado woman known for leaving food outside her home, despite wildlife officers’ repeated warnings not to. The body of Donna Munson of Ouray County had been partially eaten by a bear or bears when it was found outside her home on Friday. State Division of Wildlife officials didn’t immediately know if Munson was killed by the bears or if she was already dead when the animals fed on her. Ouray County Sheriff Dominic Mattivi said on Monday an autopsy showed Munson was killed in the bear attack.
■UNITED STATES
Man accused of biting guard
A former UN employee who was upset about being passed over for a job has been accused of biting a security guard outside his boss’ office. Nicola Baroncini appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday to face an assault charge. The Italian turned down a plea bargain and is due back in court on Oct. 28. Baroncini was working for the UN Development Program on June 22, when he claimed he lost out on a job because a UN envoy to Congo lobbied for his daughter to get it. Baroncini went to a superior’s office to complain. He says he was pepper-sprayed and assaulted by UN security.
■UNITED STATES
NASA promotes space taxis
NASA plans to use US$50 million of federal economic stimulus funds to seed development of commercial passenger transportation service to space, agency officials said on Monday. Aspiring spaceship operators will have 45 days to submit proposals, which will be competitively evaluated. Awards for the Commercial Crew Development program are expected to be announced before the end of September. The US is retiring its fleet of space shuttles next year after seven more missions to complete construction of the US$100 billion International Space Station. After that, the US plans to buy rides for astronauts to and from the station from Russia, one of the 16 nations involved in the station program.
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
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
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