■UNITED STATES
Mom finds kids on Facebook
A Southern California mother whose two children were reported missing 15 years ago has tracked them down in Florida using Facebook. The children’s father, Faustino Utrera, took off with them in 1995 when they were two and three, San Bernadino Deputy District Attorney Kurt Rowley said. The mother had found her daughter’s Facebook profile after searching for her name on the social networking site in March, Rowley said. An official said Saturday that the daughter and son have been placed in the custody of the state of Florida. Sheriff’s deputies in Florida detained Utrera on an arrest warrant last month obtained by prosecutors who were contacted by the missing children’s mother, Rowley told the San Bernardino Sun newspaper. He was charged with kidnapping and violating child custody orders.
■PERU
Dutchman promised fair trial
Interior Minister Octavio Salaza said Joran Van Der Sloot, suspected in the murder of a Peruvian woman and the disappearance of a US teenager in Aruba five years ago, will have receive a fair trial. Van Der Sloot, 22, was detained in Chile on Thursday and police handed him over to the Peruvians at the border town of Tacna on Friday. The Dutchman is the prime suspect in the May 30 murder of Stephany Flores Ramirez, 21. A forensic report showed she had suffered severe blows to the head and a broken neck.
■AUSTRALIA
Swimmers bare all for reef
Goggles and snorkels were the only compulsory items when brave swimmers stripped off yesterday for a nude snorkel designed to raise awareness about the Great Barrier Reef. The event at Nelly Bay Beach on Magnetic Island, off the northeast coast, drew 23 snorkellers and 10 swimmers aged between 19 and 60 for the 20-minute splash, organizer Ben Schultz said. The event, to mark the UN World Oceans Day tomorrow, drew an estimated 250 spectators. “No, they weren’t there for a perv [a lascivious look] but to show their support for the environment,” Schultz told Australian news agency AAP. Fears of an environmental disaster on the Great Barrier Reef, which is home to scores of marine species, were heightened earlier this year when a Chinese coal carrier ran aground on the massive coral reef, leaving a huge gouge in the reef.
■RUSSIA
Putin told off by youngster
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin found himself targeted by unusual criticism on environmental protection on Saturday — by a young schoolboy. The encounter took place as Putin toured the Losiny Ostrov national park outside Moscow on a trip that also saw the animal-loving PM feed wild elk with baby bottles. The country is repeatedly criticized by environmentalists for lax ecological protection measures that endanger the fantastic natural riches nationwide. “I think that the government should look more strictly at all violations of the law on ecology,” piped the boy, who was not named, staring straight into the dark sunglasses of Putin. “It should implement a higher fine if someone litters the street.” Taking off his shades and looking the boy in the eye, Putin said: “I agree completely. Russia’s nature is a gift from God, without any exaggeration a wonder which we enjoy every day and deserves our protection.” He told the boy to send his proposals to the government. It was not clear if the encounter had been choreographed in advance or was genuinely accidental.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not