■PHILIPPINES
Residents brace for typhoon
Schools were closed and domestic ferry services in Manila were suspended yesterday as Philippine authorities braced for a third strong typhoon in five weeks. Mirinae, a Category 2 typhoon with maximum center winds of 150kph and gusts of up to 185kph, was expected to make landfall today, dumping rains on major rice-producing provinces north of the capital.
■SOUTH KOREA
North blamed for Web attack
Seoul’s spy chief has blamed North Korea for cyber attacks that briefly crippled US and South Korean government and commercial Web sites in July, reports said yesterday. It was the first time the National Intelligence Service had named a specific body as the user of the Internet protocol (IP) address linked to the attacks, Yonhap news agency and local newspapers reported. The line used in the attacks “was found to be on the IP that the North Korean Ministry of Post and Telecommunications is using on rent [from China],” intelligence service chief Won Sei-hoon told a parliamentary session on Thursday.
■NEW ZEALAND
People suffer ‘green fatigue’
New Zealanders are suffering “green fatigue” caused by continuous warnings of impending disaster because of global warming, according to a magazine survey reported yesterday. Only 3 percent of 1,000 respondents claimed to be “totally committed” to saving the planet, while the vast majority said they still used plastic bags, took long showers and drove gas-guzzling cars when they could have walked or used public transport, the Reader’s Digest survey found. The magazine quoted an advertising executive who said “green” was a “damaged brand,” and media saturation had led to “green fatigue.”
■KENYA
Criminal group disbands
The Mungiki, a Kenyan criminal organization famous for decapitating some of its victims, announced on Thursday that it was officially disbanded. Once a pseudo-religious group of dreadlocked youths who worshipped spirits in Mount Kenya and embraced rituals such as female circumcision, the Mungiki has evolved into an extortionist gang notorious for beheading victims. Twenty-one men who had been charged over clashes that left 29 people dead were freed earlier this month alongside Mungiki leader Maina Njenga, who is also the chairman of the Kenya National Youth Alliance.
■RUSSIA
Medvedev condemns Stalin
The killing of millions during Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s rule cannot be justified, President Dmitry Medvedev said on his blogsite early yesterday, warning against any attempt at revisionism. He dismissed apologists’ claims that the “extermination” was necessary for the “higher objectives of the state,” saying: “Nothing can be more important than a human life.” There have been fierce arguments between liberals and conservatives about the legacy of a dictator responsible for the death and imprisonment of millions in the Soviet Union’s notorious gulag prison system. While his brutality has been well documented, however, many people still associate his rule with the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II and remain sympathetic.
■IRAN
Worried pilot says: ‘Pray’
An airline pilot asked passengers to start praying after his plane was hit by a technical glitch early on Thursday, highlighting once again the notorious record of Tehran’s aircraft. The Aseman Airlines Boeing plane had taken off from Tehran airport after a six-hour delay, but had to return following a technical fault, the ISNA news agency quoted a passenger as recounting. “The pilot told the passengers ‘the plane is facing a technical problem and has to return. So please pray,’” a passenger said.
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