■PHILIPPINES
Missing trio found dead
Three men have been found shot dead in the south nine days after they were abducted by Islamist militants demanding a ransom payment, local authorities said yesterday. Soldiers tracking the Abu Sayyaf kidnappers recovered the bodies at a remote village on Basilan island, officials said, adding the three local men appeared to have been killed on Friday. “The bodies were discovered at around 9:45 in the morning today and there is an ongoing operation against the kidnappers,” Basilan military commander Brigadier-General Eugenio Clement told reporters. He said the three were taken at gunpoint by Abu Sayyaf gunmen on May 27.
■BOLIVIA
Lynched police returned
Members of a remote Quechua village have turned over the bodies of four police offers who were lynched by townspeople. A doctor who examined the corpses says they apparently died from blows to the head. Antonio Torres says they also had cuts and burns. Police said the officers went to the area about two weeks ago to investigate the theft of two vehicles and were attacked by hundreds of angry villagers. The Indians maintain that the dead men were thieves who were extorting them. They had demanded immunity before handing over the dead, but it is not immediately clear if such a deal was struck. Police Major Limberg Oporto told Erbol radio the bodies were taken on Friday to Oruro, where the officers were based.
■UNITED STATES
Pot no factor in bear attack
A Montana judge said it was not a worker’s fault if he was mauled by a grizzly bear at a tourist attraction, even if he smoked marijuana before trying to feed the animal. Brock Hopkins admitted smoking pot before arriving to work at Great Bear Adventures on Nov. 2, 2007. When he entered the bear’s pen, he was attacked and had to be hospitalized. The owner of the attraction near Glacier National Park says Hopkins was a volunteer and that his use of marijuana caused the accident. However, the judge on the state Workers’ Compensation Court ruled last month that Hopkins was eligible for benefits. Shea found that Hopkins was paid and therefore was an employee.
■MEXICO
Vigil held for fire victims
Relatives of 49 children killed in a daycare fire a year ago held an overnight vigil on Friday in their memories and to demand punishment for officials who they say failed to ensure the center’s safety. Parents lit candles and placed photos of their children on the steps of the landmark Independence Monument in Mexico City. A group of children held a sign that read: “The people of Mexico demand justice. Jail for those responsible for the fire at the ABC day care center.”
■UNITED KINGDOM
Brits worst-dressed travelers
British people are the worst-dressed holidaymakers in Europe followed by Germans, while the Italians and French are the smartest, a survey said on Friday. The findings came despite 36 percent of Britons who are famed for fashion blunders like wearing socks with sandals — admitting that they dress more adventurously than usual while on a break. The survey also looked at how good people from different countries are at switching off from the pressures of work while taking a break. A massive 87 percent of travelers from France said they checked their work e-mails while on holiday compared with more than a quarter of Britons.
Far from the violence ravaging Haiti, a market on the border with the Dominican Republic has maintained a welcome degree of normal everyday life. At the Dajabon border gate, a wave of Haitians press forward, eager to shop at the twice-weekly market about 200km from Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. They are drawn by the market’s offerings — food, clothing, toys and even used appliances — items not always readily available in Haiti. However, with gang violence bad and growing ever worse in Haiti, the Dominican government has reinforced the usual military presence at the border and placed soldiers on alert. While the market continues to
An image of a dancer balancing on the words “China Before Communism” looms over Parisian commuters catching the morning metro, signaling the annual return of Shen Yun, a controversial spectacle of traditional Chinese dance mixed with vehement criticism of Beijing and conservative rhetoric. The Shen Yun Performing Arts company has slipped the beliefs of a spiritual movement called Falun Gong in between its technicolored visuals and leaping dancers since 2006, with advertising for the show so ubiquitous that it has become an Internet meme. Founded in 1992, Falun Gong claims nearly 100 million followers and has been subject to “persistent persecution” in
ONLINE VITRIOL: While Mo Yan faces a lawsuit, bottled water company Nongfu Spring and Tsinghua University are being attacked amid a rise in nationalist fervor At first glance, a Nobel prize winning author, a bottle of green tea and Beijing’s Tsinghua University have little in common, but in recent weeks they have been dubbed by China’s nationalist netizens as the “three new evils” in the fight to defend the country’s valor in cyberspace. Last month, a patriotic blogger called Wu Wanzheng filed a lawsuit against China’s only Nobel prize-winning author, Mo Yan (莫言), accusing him of discrediting the Communist army and glorifying Japanese soldiers in his fictional works set during the Japanese invasion of China. Wu, who posts online under the pseudonym “Truth-Telling Mao Xinghuo,” is seeking
‘SURPRISES’: The militants claim to have successfully tested a missile capable of reaching Mach 8 and vowed to strike ships heading toward the Cape of Good Hope Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim to have a new, hypersonic missile in their arsenal, Russia’s state media reported on Thursday, potentially raising the stakes in their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and surrounding waterways against the backdrop of Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The report by the state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited an unidentified official, but provided no evidence for the claim. It comes as Moscow maintains an aggressively counter-Western foreign policy amid its grinding war on Ukraine. However, the Houthis have for weeks hinted about “surprises” they plan for the battles at sea to counter the