■INDONESIA
Hundreds die in accidents
Police said traffic accidents have killed nearly 600 people during the two-week holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. In one accident on Saturday, a bus collision killed nine vacationers. West Java police spokesman Dade Ahmad said 12 others were hurt in the crash in Subang district, south of Jakarta. Segeant Wahyono of the country’s central traffic information service said Sunday that 1,545 accidents were reported during the holiday, when millions of Indonesians return to their home villages. He said 596 people died. Road accidents are common on the crowded and poorly maintained highways of Indonesia, a vast nation of 235 million people.
■MALAYSIA
Dead cult leader wrapped up
Followers of a religious cult in Sabah state wrapped the body of their dead leader in plastic and lay it in his home for 13 months while waiting for him to be resurrected, a news report said yesterday. The leader of the Benevolent Missionary Association, Ching Chi Vui “Ivan,” was believed to have told his followers not to bury him if he were to die, because he would come back to life, the Sunday Star reported. Ching, 37, claimed to be a prophet, but the sect was extremely secretive and followers kept to themselves. It was unclear if the sect had any links to the Philippines Benevolent Missionaries Association cult group, which has more than 1 million followers.
■SRI LANKA
Refugees’ escape thwarted
Troops opened fire to prevent dozens of war-displaced civilians from escaping a refugee camp where they have been detained in the island’s north, the military said yesterday. Inmates at the Manik farm camp pelted stones at soldiers and tried to break free on Saturday night, military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said. “The army fired in self-defense,” he said. “These people were throwing stones and were trying to escape.” Local police said at least three people suffered gunshot injuries. About 250,000 people displaced by fighting between troops and Tamil Tiger separatists have been held in the state-run camps since the rebels were finally defeated in May.
■CHINA
Gas leak caused blast
Authorities have confirmed an explosion at a restaurant in Beijing last week was caused by a gas leak. Xinhua news agency said yesterday that 16 people were injured in Friday’s blast, which leveled a downtown restaurant that serves food from the restive western Xinjiang region. Riots and ethnic violence in the region’s capital, Urumqi, in July left nearly 200 people dead and the Turkic Muslim region remains on edge over a recent string of mysterious needle attacks in public places.
■SOUTH KOREA
Light aircraft crashes
A light plane crashed at the site of an international fair packed with thousands of visitors yesterday, killing one of its two pilots and injuring eight people on the ground, an official said. The plane hit an empty bus parked at the site in Incheon, just west of Seoul, said Kim Ju-hee, a spokesman for the Global Fair Festival 2009 Incheon. The two pilots were taken to a nearby hospital, but one died, Kim said. Eight people on the ground were injured by pieces of the plane, but their conditions were not immediately known, he said. Kim said about 20,000 people were at the fair site at the time of the crash. He said the plane was flying as part of a separate city festival.
■CZECH REPUBLIC
Spider bugs pope in Prague
A large arachnid appeared on the Pope Benedict VI’s white robes as he addressed politicians and diplomats in Prague on Saturday afternoon. The pope didn’t seem to notice at first — but journalists following the speech on a large screen flinched as the spider inched toward Benedict’s neck. It disappeared from view for a moment, but then could be seen crawling up the right side of the pontiff’s face. When it reached his ear, Benedict gave it a swat. But it reappeared on the pope’s left shoulder and scampered down his robe. As the pope left Prague Castle’s Spanish Hall, the spider could be seen hanging from a piece of Web.
■JORDAN
Amman seeks info on teen
The Jordanian government on Saturday announced that it was asking the US authorities for information about a Jordanian teenager, Hosam Smadi, who was charged on Friday with attempting to blow up a 60-story tower in Dallas. “The government has started contacts, through its embassy in Washington, with the US departments of foreign affairs and justice in a follow-up of the Jordanian citizen’s case,” Minister of State for Information Affairs and Communication Nabil Sharif was quoted as saying by the official Petra news agency. “We have asked the US authorities for full information about the case and the charges directed against Smadi with a view to ensure that he is accorded a fair trial,” he said. Smadi, 19, was charged on Friday with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction to blow up a 60-story office tower in downtown Dallas. The Jordanian citizen had been under surveillance and did not know that the purported car bomb supplied by an undercover FBI agent did not contain explosives, Jacks said in a statement.
■SUDAN
Parties meet to prepare vote
Political parties opened talks on Saturday on crucial issues in the buildup to the first full elections in Africa’s biggest nation for 24 years. The Juba Conference is scheduled to continue until tomorrow. Pagan Amum, secretary general of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) hosting the meeting said: “The leaders will try to contribute to manage the national dialogue so that all in the end reach a national consensus around all the national issues, to take our country out of the national crisis.” President Omar al-Beshir’s National Congress Party is boycotting the conference organized by the SPLM, part of a national unity government with the NCP.
■IRAQ
Drone crashes into offices
A US aerial surveillance drone crashed into the offices of a political party in the city of Mosul, the US military said yesterday. “We can confirm that an unmanned aerial reconnaissance vehicle crashed” on Saturday, a military statement said, adding that there had been no reported injuries. It said there was currently no indication that the aircraft, which hit the offices of the Iraqi Islamic Party, had crashed as a result of “enemy action.”
■WEST BANK
Police, protesters clash
Police say Palestinian protesters have clashed with policemen at one of the most sensitive of holy sites. The incident took place early yesterday at the Jerusalem compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. Police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby says some 150 Palestinians threw stones at a group of Jews visiting the site. Police dispersed the rioters using stun grenades. Two policemen and two protesters were slightly injured.
■CANADA
Thibault charged
Former Quebec lieutenant-governor Lise Thibault has been charged with multiple charges of corruption that could land her 12 years in prison, local media reported on Saturday. Prosecutors charged her with “breach of trust” and producing false or counterfeit documents on transportation expenses, as well as using “lies” and “deception” to justify expenditures exceeding C$5,000 (US$4,580), the French-language La Presse newspaper. Her lawyer, Michel Massicotte, said his client was “very saddened” by the charges filed on Friday and deplored the “unjust” situation. Thibault, a paraplegic who required special assistance when performing some of her duties as the top government official in the province, had already been criticized for her management of public funds during two audits by provincial and federal auditors.
■CANADA
Qaddafi cancels stopover
Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi has canceled a planned stopover in Newfoundland this week, a government official said on Saturday. The official said that Qaddafi would not be landing as originally planned in St. John’s tomorrow to refuel his plane and stay for a night. Prime Minister Stephen Harper had planned on sending Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon to meet with Qaddafi to express Ottowa’s displeasure over the hero’s welcome Libya gave to the only man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing.
■UNITED STATES
Official’s husband dies
The husband of US Representative Carolyn Maloney has died on a mountain climbing expedition to Cho Oyu, a 8,200m peak that straddles the border of Nepal and Tibet, aides said on Saturday. Clifton Maloney, 71, an investment banker and avid climber, was resting in a high-altitude camp after a successful ascent to the summit of the world’s sixth-highest mountain when he died. He was 71. “I am told that his last words were, ‘I am the happiest man in the world. I just climbed a beautiful mountain,”’ said Barry Nolan, a congressional aide. Clifton Maloney reached the summit with a professional climbing partner and guide.They rested overnight at a camp at about 7,000m and Maloney died unexpectedly the next day after going to sleep in his tent.
■ECUADOR
Indigenous leaders slammed
President Rafael Correa slammed indigenous leaders on Saturday, accusing them of trying to destabilize his government as they planned protests against his oil and mining policies. “There is a destabilizing campaign that is trying to create conflict based on lies,” Correa said in his weekly address. Opposition forces have reacted angrily to what they claim are moves by the government to privatize the country’s natural resources.
■COLOMBIA
Pilots guilty of murder
A judge has found two air force pilots guilty of murder and sentenced them to 31 years in prison each for the 1998 cluster-bombing of Santo Domingo village that killed 17 people. Judge Martin Suarez found that the pilots, both lieutenants, had acted impetuously, failing to distinguish between civilians and leftist rebels. Six children were among the dead. In the verdict issued on Thursday, Suarez noted that a US serviceman in a supporting aircraft had remarked in English, “They’re shooting at civilians” and “Don’t shoot!” Suarez ordered Cesar Romero and Johan Jimenez to be jailed immediately.
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
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