■AUSTRALIA
Politician does U-turn
Former opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull has reversed his decision to quit politics, saying the government’s shelving of a carbon-trading scheme had changed his mind. Turnbull, who last year lost the leadership of the Liberal Party over his support for the government’s scheme to combat climate change, said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s administration was “the worst in our lifetime.” Rudd’s government last week said it was delaying the carbon emissions trading scheme until at least 2013, after twice failing to get the bill through the upper house of parliament. Turnbull announced on April 6 he would retire from politics at the next election, but the Sun-Herald newspaper said the 55-year-old regretted the decision almost immediately and would now contest this year’s national poll.
■MACAU
41 injured in clashes
Clashes that broke out during a May Day rally injured 41 people, including two journalists and 32 policemen, the government said yesterday. Three people — a member of the public, a protester and a policeman — were hospitalized, it said. Riot police used water cannons and pepper spray in Saturday’s clashes with hundreds of protesters who fought with stones and bottles. The fighting erupted after protesters tried to force their way through barricades to march along a main road where the main casinos and tourist attractions are located.
■BANGLADESH
Border guards convicted
A special court convicted and jailed nine border guards for up to seven years yesterday in connection with last year’s bloody mutiny that left 74 people dead, a state prosecutor said. Scores of senior army officers were killed in the 33-hour uprising. The mutiny swiftly spread to border posts outside Dhaka, with thousands of guards taking up arms against their commanding officers in the worst military rebellion in the country’s history. The nine guards were convicted for joining in the mutiny and threatening their officers. “Out of the nine, one was jailed the maximum seven years and the rest between two and six years,” State prosecutor Mosharraf Hossain said. Nearly 1,000 guards facing more serious charges, including murder and arson, will be tried separately in civilian courts, where they could face the death penalty.
■JAPAN
PM apologizes for pollution
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama apologized to people suffering from a rare neurological disorder linked to eating fish contaminated with mercury dumped from a chemical plant as he attended a memorial service on Saturday for victims of the disease. “I fully recognize the government’s failure to prevent industrial pollution and contain the damage of Minamata Disease and once again offer my sincere apology,” said Hatoyama, the first national leader to attend the annual memorial. He vowed to quickly provide support to patients, many of them elderly.
■INDIA
IAEA investigating incident
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Saturday it was seeking more specifics about a fatal Indian radiation incident and offered help to authorities. Local police said on Thursday that a scrap dealer who dismantled a machine once used by a Delhi University chemistry class died after being among workers who sawed it open. Seven others were treated for radiation exposure. The case has raised fears about the unregulated disposal of hazardous material in India.
■DENMARK
Tourists left underwhelmed
Tourists trekking to Copenhagen hoping to see the iconic statue of The Little Mermaid were left considerably underwhelmed on Saturday after being confronted by a still image on a giant video screen. The installation allows tourists to view live footage of the sculpture from her temporary new home, the Danish pavilion at Shanghai’s World Expo, but the first visitors were not at all happy at what they saw. “The screen is funny. The place looks like a memorial for The Little Mermaid, like she had died,” Floor Vos of the Netherlands said. “Its a lousy picture. It’s a technical fiasco,” Anna Maja of the US added. Others were taken aback as they were not even aware of the new arrangement. “I’m really surprised that she is not here and to only find a screen,” Jurgen Meyer from Germany said.
■RUSSIA
Cargo ship docks at ISS
A cargo spaceship docked at the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday, authorities said, three days after launching from Kazakhstan with supplies that included sweets and chocolate. The Progress M-05M docked manually after the automatic systems did not work, a Russian Mission Control Center spokesman said in a report by the Interfax news agency. The space craft had carried about 2.6 tonnes of freight, including water, food, medicines, fuel and “psychological support” that included sweets, caramels and chocolates for the station’s international crew. It launched on Wednesday from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan. Three Russian cosmonauts, two US astronauts and a Japanese crewmember currently occupy the orbiting science laboratory.
■SOMALIA
Blast kills at least 25
Two explosions rocked a mosque in Mogadishu on Saturday, killing at least 25 people and leaving scores injured, officials said, in the deadliest blast in five months. “The collected bodies I counted numbered 25,” said Ali Muse, the head of Mogadishu’s ambulance service. He had earlier put the death toll at about six, but explained that many bodies were removed by family members before he arrived on the scene. The blasts, whose cause is still unknown, went off in the crowded Bakara market area, an Islamist stronghold, just as midday prayers finished at a mosque.
■RUSSIA
Racist crime deaths fall
The number of deaths from racist crime fell by half in the first four months of this year compared with last year, a watchdog said on Saturday. SOVA, a non-governmental group tracking racist violence in the country, said in a report that 15 people were killed and 103 injured nationwide in January to last month. Thirty people were killed and 149 injured in the first four months of last year, it said. Russian nationalists are often behind the attacks and their victims are usually darker-skinned migrants from former Soviet countries.
■VATICAN CITY
Legionaries accept decision
The scandal-plagued Legionaries of Christ said it has accepted the pope’s decision to appoint a personal delegate to lead and reform the order following revelations that its founder sexually abused seminarians and fathered at least one child. In a statement posted on its Web site late on Saturday, the Legionaries said its members “embrace his provisions with faith and obedience.” The statement was issued after the Vatican announced a crackdown on the order, saying a papal envoy would take over and reform it.
■IRAQ
Bomb attack targets buses
A double bomb attack targeting buses carrying Christian students and university workers near Mosul in northern Iraq killed a shopkeeper and wounded 80 other people yesterday, police said. The attack, comprising a car bomb and an improvised explosive device, took place on a highway around 3km east of Mosul at around 8am. The victims were travelling from Hamdaniyah, a Christian area, to the University of Mosul.
■CUBA
Thousands march in Havana
Hundreds of thousands of people marched in Havana on Saturday in annual May Day celebrations that the government said prove the island supports its communist system even amid mounting international criticism over human rights. The turnout has long been massive for International Workers’ Day, but this year officials assigned the event special meaning, saying it was Cuba’s response to Washington, the EU and international journalists who have conspired to tarnish its reputation after the February death of a jailed dissident hunger striker and a protest by another opposition activist who has refused food for weeks. Some marchers sang, others waved cardboard signs declaring “We are the people of Fidel and Raul” or decrying the US. Pro-government crowds dispatched in well-organized shifts also blocked a small, weekly march by a women’s group supporting political prisoners for three weeks running in Havana.
■BRAZIL
Landowner gets 30 years
A landowner convicted in the 2005 murder of US nun Dorothy Stang, an advocate for landless peasants and the environment, was sentenced on Saturday to 30 years in prison by a court in Belem. Regivaldo Galvao, 44, was the fifth person to be sentenced for the killing of Stang, 73, who was shot to death after meeting with landless peasants on an ecological project. Galvao received the maximum sentenced allowed for aggravated homicide after a 15 hour trial, prosecutor Edson Cardoso de Souza said.
■UNITED STATES
Heavy rains leave 5 dead
At least five people died and hundreds were being evacuated on Saturday as heavy rains pounded Tennessee, causing widespread flooding. The forecast called for more rain through the weekend. Hundreds of homes had been evacuated and shelters were being opened across the state for people stranded due to flooded roads. The southwestern part of the state was extremely hard hit, with several Memphis-area streets declared impassable. Memphis received 25cm or more of rain during the day and officials were warning that up to 20cm more could fall through yesterday.
■UNITED STATES
Pole defends Sudoku title
The defending champ in the World Sudoku Championships has retained his title and Germany has taken the team title. Jan Mrozowski of Poland was among the 120 players from 32 countries in this year’s competition. The 23-year-old defended his title by solving 10 puzzles in a playoff round in a time of 54 minutes 4 seconds. Germany had the highest score in the team division with 7,904 points. The two-day competition that ended Saturday in Philadelphia marked the first time the event has been held in the US.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
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