■AFGHANISTAN
Girl killed in leaflet drop
A young girl died after a box of public information leaflets dropped by a Royal Air Force (RAF) plane landed on her, a newspaper said yesterday. Britain’s Ministry of Defence said it was investigating the accident, which it described as “highly regrettable,” the Times said. The drop occurred over a rural area of southern Helmand Province on June 23 as part of an information campaign, the newspaper said. “Sadly one of the boxes failed to fully open and on landing caused serious injuries to an Afghan child,” an RAF spokesman said. Officials said it was not known what type of leaflet was being dropped.
■INDONESIA
Abducted tourist found dead
A female Japanese tourist has been found dead on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali after a suspected kidnapping, police said on Tuesday. Rika Sano, 33, was found partially decomposed with her belongings scattered around her near the popular tourist beach of Kuta in southern Bali on Monday, provincial police spokesman I Gede Sugianyar said. “The body was lying face down, half-naked in a bush, with only her black shirt on. We also found her mobile phone, underwear and a bag,” he said. Sugianyar denied local media reports alleging that a policeman was involved in Sano’s death. Local media reported she had been abducted on Friday.
■AUSTRALIA
Athlete crawls up tower
Paralympics gold medal winner Kurt Fearnley yesterday left his wheelchair and took the 1,504 steps two at a time to conquer Sydney’s tallest building in a better time than most people with working legs can do it. The 28-year-old wheelchair marathon champion crawled up the fire escape at the 260m Sydney Tower in 20 minutes, compared with the all-comers record of 6 minutes, 52 seconds. Fearnley was born with lumbar sacral agenesis, which left him without the bottom part of his spine.
■PHILIPPINES
US troops leave village
US troops yesterday pulled out from a village where two US soldiers were killed in a landmine attack by suspected Islamic militants. The Seabees, members of the Construction Battalions of the US Navy, left behind unfinished development projects in Kagay village in Indanan town on Jolo island. Major-General Ben Dolorfino, a regional Philippine military commander, declined to say how many Seabees pulled out but said that Filipino troops have been dispatched to guard the construction sites. “The Seabees totally pulled out, but they are determined to continue with the projects,” he said. “They will probably have to subcontract the remaining work.” The landmine attack on Tuesday killed two US servicemen and a Filipino marine.
■JAPAN
Cashier scolds robber
A would-be robber armed with a wooden stick was arrested after being confronted by an angry shopkeeper, apologizing and calling the police to confess his crime, an official said yesterday. Takashi Owada, a 54-year-old unemployed man, demanded money from the 59-year-old female cashier at a convenience store in the northern city of Fukushima on Tuesday, a police spokesman said. When the cashier told him, “Don’t be silly,” Owada changed his mind and said: “I’m sorry.” He called the police at the store exit with his own cellphone and was arrested within minutes for attempted robbery.
■UNITED KINGDOM
POW camp on sale
A former World War II prisoner-of-war camp has been advertised for sale on eBay as a “unique leisure attraction” at £900,000 (US$1.4 million). The Harperley Prisoner of War Camp, near Crook in County Durham, housed German and Italian prisoners. The complex of rows of gray huts was turned into a tourist attraction in 2004, but its present owners, James and Lisa McLeod, said their plans for further restoration had run out of cash. “A unique opportunity to buy a piece of history,” the classified ad placed on Tuesday on the e-Bay site said. The site boasts a garden center, restaurant, farm shop and a museum.
■FRANCE
Judge to review Chirac case
The Paris prosecutor’s office has asked a court to drop a case against former president Jacques Chirac and others accused in an alleged corruption scandal dating back to his 1977-1995 tenure as Paris mayor, a judicial official said on Tuesday. The request has been delivered to investigating judge Xaviere Simeoni, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is ongoing. Simeoni must now decide whether to follow the advice — or whether Chirac and more than 40 others must stand trial. A judge filed preliminary embezzlement charges against Chirac in 2007, after he left the presidency and no longer had judicial immunity.
■UKRAINE
Babi Yar massacre marked
Ukrainians and Jewish groups marked the 68th anniversary of the Babi Yar massacre on Tuesday by unveiling a new monument commemorating victims of the Nazi killings. President Viktor Yushchenko, Jewish leaders and Kiev residents attended memorial events marking one of the most horrific chapters of the Holocaust. More than 33,700 Jews were shot at the Babi Yar ravine in Kiev over 48 hours beginning on Sept. 29, 1941. In the ensuing months, the ravine was filled with some 100,000 bodies, including non-Jews.
■NETHERLANDS
Aboriginal remains returned
Dutch authorities on Tuesday presented the skeletal remains of five 18th and 19th century Aboriginal Australians to their descendants in a special ceremony in the western city of Leiden. “The spirits can stop wandering now, they are returning home with us,” Gwen Hickling, an elder of the Aboriginal Bundjalung community, said after a spiritual cleansing ceremony. “The spirits were wandering in No Man’s Land, but now we can take them to their resting place.” Australian Ambassador Lydia Morton thanked Dutch authorities for helping the Australian government to repatriate indigenous remains held in overseas collections. “It is important in healing the pain of past injustices,” she said.
■UNITED STATES
Saudi help needed: report
Saudi Arabia’s drive to disrupt al-Qaeda financing networks should be more strictly enforced, while Yemen is emerging as a new base for terror groups plotting against US and Saudi interests, a US government watchdog report said on Tuesday. The Government Accounting Office said Saudi Arabia has made progress in the fight against terrorism, arresting and prosecuting suspects and taking steps to curtail fund-raising by extremist groups inside the country. But it said loopholes remain, including the flow of donations from individuals and charities in Saudi Arabia to support extremist organizations outside the country as well as its limited ability to crack down on cash couriers who physically transfer funds.
■UNITED STATES
Court rejects Rather suit
A New York court on Tuesday rejected a lawsuit by veteran news anchor Dan Rather against CBS television in which he claimed to have been punished for a controversial report about then-president George W. Bush. The New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division panel issued a judgment dismissing the complaint “in its entirety.” This overturned a lower court’s decision to allow Rather’s US$70 million lawsuit. CBS applauded the decision, saying it was “pleased by the appellate court’s unanimous ruling today dismissing all of Dan Rather’s claims. CBS’s position on each claim was upheld, as we have said they would be for the past two years.”
■UNITED STATES
New rules on dorm sex
Sex in a Tufts University dorm is fine. Sex in a Tufts dorm with your roommate present? That’s a no-no. This semester, the school has a new policy banning sexual activity while a roommate is in the same room. Kim Thurler, a Tufts University spokeswoman, said the school issued the new rule after a dozen or so complaints in the past three years. “It’s really about respect and consideration and it’s a question of how roommates utilized their space,” Thurler said. The new policy concerning overnight guests reads: “You may not engage in sexual activity while your roommate is present in the room.”
■UNITED STATES
Disney nods to volunteers
Disney is offering a free day’s admission to 1 million guests who complete a day of volunteer work next year. The “Give a Day, Get a Disney Day” program will provide certified volunteers with a one-day ticket to any park at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, or Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida, next year. Would-be volunteers must register online with Disney and must be residents of the US, Canada or Puerto Rico to be eligible for the free admission. Disney is partnering with HandsOn Network, a clearinghouse for volunteer opportunities, to connect people with projects and to certify that the work was done.
■UNITED STATES
White House feared witches
Former president George W. Bush’s White House refused to grant a prestigious honor to JK Rowling, fearing that it would look like a tacit approval of witchcraft, a former presidential aide said. The decision is revealed in a book by Matt Latimer, a former Bush speechwriter, who relates how the presidential medal of freedom — the nation’s highest award for those who have promoted national security, world peace or culture — was withheld from prominent figures on an array of spurious grounds, political and otherwise. “This ... narrow thinking led people in the White House to actually object to giving JK Rowling a presidential medal because the Harry Potter books encouraged witchcraft,” Latimer wrote in Speech-Less: Tales of a White House Survivor.
■CANADA
Cirque head goes to space
The billionaire founder of the Cirque du Soleil show yesterday blasted off on a Russian rocket to bring his trademark humor and acrobatic energy into the ultra-serious world of space flight. Guy Laliberte, 50, a Canadian citizen, had spent millions from a personal fortune on his two week visit to the International Space Station, but he could be the last such “space tourist” for several years. He blasted off on schedule from Russia’s Baikonur cosmodrome, located in Kazakhstan, at 7:14am alongside a professional Russian cosmonaut and US astronaut.
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