■PHILIPPINES
Ship ‘disappears’ at sea
The coast guard was searching yesterday for a domestic cargo ship with 17 crewmen that disappeared after reporting bad weather and engine trouble. Crewmen aboard the 498-tonne SF Freighter radioed the ship’s owner, Seaford Shipping, on Saturday to report the problems but shortly after all contact was lost, coast guard chief Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo said. The owner launched an initial search near the ship’s last known location off the coast of Marinduque Province and contacted the coast guard, Tamayo said. A coast guard plane spotted a lone ship yesterday in waters off Marinduque, about 160km southeast of Manila, but bad weather forced the plane to turn back before it could make a formal identification, he said. Passing ships and coastal communities have been told to be on the look out for the steel-hulled ship, which was en route to Manila from Cebu Province carrying a cargo of steel bars when it went missing. A tropical depression in the area has enhanced monsoon rains and winds in recent days. Ships have been warned to expect rough seas.
■HONG KONG
Transsexual wants to wed
A transsexual has launched a landmark court challenge to win the right to marry her boyfriend after officials blocked the move, a report said yesterday. The Chinese woman in her 20s — who was born a man — was denied the right to marry her male partner by the Registrar of Marriages last year, because her birth certificate still identified her as a man, the Sunday Morning Post said. Changing gender on a birth certificate is not legally permitted, which technically means the woman can only marry another woman, the Post said, adding that same-sex marriages are also banned in the territory. The woman’s lawyers will argue that the current legislation breaches her civil rights under the Basic Law and Bill of Rights, the paper said, adding that the unidentified woman’s city identity card and other documents have already been changed to reflect her new gender. Arguments in the case are set to begin today the paper said.
■CHINA
Police arrest blast suspect
Police have arrested a man wanted over a blast at a tax office last month that killed four people and injured 19, state media said yesterday. Liu Zhuiheng, 51, was caught early yesterday Guangxi Province, about 500km from where the July 30 explosion happened in Changsha in Hunan Province, Xinhua news agency reported. Police had offered a 100,000-yuan (US$14,775) reward to find Liu who is said to have fled after setting off the blast on the third floor of the district tax office, Xinhua said. Liu confessed to the crime after police found him living in a rented room in Quanzhou County, the report said.
■HONG KONG
First 3D porno to be shot
A group of filmmakers have started shooting what they claim will be the world’s first 3D pornographic film, a report said yesterday. The US3.2 million 3-D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy set for release in May, has already generated interest in a host of Asian film markets, as well as Europe and the US, the Sunday Morning Post reported. Loosely based on the classic work of erotic literature, The Carnal Prayer Mat, the movie will star Japanese adult actresses Yukiko Suo and Saori Hara, the Post said. Producer Stephen Shiu acknowledged that censors would likely block the movie’s screening in China, a key market for Hong Kong filmmakers.
■UNITED NATIONS
Israel, Turkey on Gaza panel
Representatives of Israel and Turkey have been named to a high-profile panel that will look into Israel’s deadly commando raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced on Saturday the panel would include Israeli diplomat Joseph Ciechanover and Turkish diplomat Ozdem Sanberk. The panel will be chaired by former New Zealand prime minister Geoffrey Palmer and its vice chairman will be former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe. They plan to meet for the first time tomorrow and are expected to submit an initial report in the middle of next month. Officials say the panel will review the circumstances surrounding the May 31 attack in which Israeli commandos tried to prevent pro-Palestinian activists from breaking Israel’s blockade of Gaza. Eight Turkish and one Turkish-American were killed during the raid.
■ISRAEL
Shots fired at Lebanese boat
The navy yesterday fired warning shots towards a Lebanese fishing vessel in the Mediterranean, a military spokeswoman said. “Warning shots were fired after a Lebanese fishing boat entered a closed zone,” she said without confirming whether the boat had entered territorial waters. After the shots were fired, causing no damage or injuries, “the Lebanese boat changed course,” she added. Relations between the two countries have been particularly tense since last Tuesday when Israeli and Lebanese troops clashed along the border, in a deadly exchange of fire which killed two Lebanese soldiers and a journalist, as well as an Israeli officer. The standoff was sparked when Israeli troops tried to cut down a tree on the border, prompting the Lebanese to open fire toward them.
■SAUDI ARABIA
Conjoined twin dies
An Iraqi twin who was joined at the hip with her sister died on Saturday, three weeks after separation surgery in Saudi Arabia, a surgeon said. The conjoined twins, Zainab and Ruqqaya Naseer, were born on June 5 in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, south of Baghdad. They had problems with their digestive and reproductive systems. King Abdullah had the twins flown to Riyadh and paid for their surgery. Chief surgeon Abdullah al-Rabia said Ruqqaya had serious pre-existing health problems, including a deformed skull. He said the surviving twin was in stable condition. Al-Rabia, from the King Abdul-Aziz Medical Center in Riyadh, has performed nearly 30 successful surgeries on conjoined twins from 16 countries.
■FINLAND
Sauna contestant dies
Organizers say a Russian finalist at the annual Sauna World Championships has died, while his Finnish rival was rushed to a hospital before competition closed. Spokesman Ossi Arvela says on a Web site that the annual contest was suspended and police were investigating Saturday’s incident in the southern town of Heinola. The circumstances of the death were not immediately known but Arvela says “all rules were followed.” Contestants must submit a medical certificate before competing. The news agency STT said both middle-aged men were seen to have severe burns on their bodies and were given first aid after they collapsed. Competition rules require the sauna to be heated to 110°C with half a liter of water added to the stove every 30 seconds. The last person to remain at the sauna is the winner. Saturday’s contest had more than 130 participants from 15 countries. It has been held since 1999.
■MEXICO
Journalists protest violence
More than 1,000 journalists marched through the center of Mexico City on Saturday to protest the killing and disappearance of their colleagues as escalating drug violence increasingly targets reporters. Carrying signs reading “Not one more,” they demanded protection to do their work in an unprecedented effort to solidify the ranks of a traditionally divided and competitive profession. “We’re a little late — 64 killings late — but we’ve finally decided to practice our right to protest, to seek justice for our colleagues who have died or disappeared and to end the impunity for crimes against journalists,” said Elia Baltazar, protest organizer and co-editor of the newspaper Excelsior. International media groups call Mexico one of the most dangerous countries for practicing journalism. Similar demonstrations were planned in states hardest hit by drug violence, including Sinaloa, home to a powerful cartel of the same name, and Chihuahua, home to Ciudad Juarez, the country’s most violent city.
■UNITED STATES
Escapees linked to murders
Two men who escaped from a private Arizona prison and a woman who helped them have been linked to the investigation of a couple’s killing in New Mexico, authorities said on Saturday. Arizona police spokesman Peter Olson said Tracy Province, John McCluskey and Casslyn Welch were linked through forensics but he declined to provide specifics. He declined to say whether police believe the three were responsible for the killings, adding that “we don’t know how involved they are.” Province, McCluskey and Daniel Renwick escaped from the medium-security Arizona State Prison near Kingman on July 30 after authorities say 44-year-old Welch of Mesa threw wire cutters over the perimeter fence. Renwick was arrested in Colorado on Aug. 1.
■CARIBBEAN
Colin approaches Bermuda
Tropical Storm Colin is moving slowly and barely retaining its tropical storm status as it approaches Bermuda, but could regain some strength. Colin’s maximum sustained winds were about 65kph early yesterday. The storm’s center was expected to pass near or over Bermuda yesterday. A tropical storm warning has been issued for the British territory, which could see heavy rain and battering waves. Forecasters at the US National Hurricane Center in Miami said the center of the storm was about 300km south-southwest of Bermuda and was moving north-northeast at about around 6kph. In the Pacific, Tropical Storm Estelle had top sustained winds of 95kph as it headed away from Mexico.
■UNITED STATES
Obama enjoys golf, BBQ
President Barack Obama capped his birthday week with an afternoon of golfing on Saturday and a barbecue yesterday. The White House said the president went golfing on Saturday with eight friends, some with ties to his college days, his hometown of Chicago and his childhood home state of Hawaii. They were spending the afternoon at the Andrews Air Force Base course. Yesterday, Obama was to host a barbecue for friends at the White House, ending a week in which he turned 49 without his family around. First lady Michelle Obama and daughter Sasha are vacationing in Spain; the Obamas’ older daughter, Malia, has been at camp. Obama’s birthday was Wednesday. He celebrated in Chicago with friends, including Oprah Winfrey.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At 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
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese