BANGLADESH
Eviction sparks protest
Police in Dhaka fired tear gas and rubber bullets yesterday to clear demonstrators trying to prevent authorities from evicting the leader of the opposition from a home she has occupied since 1982. At least 50 people were injured and more than 20 demonstrators were detained. Police and witnesses said up to 4,000 protesters, armed with sticks and stones, set fire to vehicles and attacked officers near the headquarters of former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party. A similar number skirmished with officers outside the house she has long leased from the government, but the High court had ordered her to vacate.
IRAN
Serial killer hanged
A serial killer convicted of murdering 16 women and girls over a four-year period was hanged yesterday, Fars news agency reported. Farid Baghlani was executed in a prison of the southwestern city of Ahvaz, the report said, adding families of the victims celebrated by handing out sweets to people in the detention facility. The report said Baghlani began the killing spree at the port city of Abadan in 2004, and that he said during his trial that he carried out the murders out of hatred for women. The latest hanging brings the number of executions in Iran to at least 144 so far this year.
KUWAIT
Nails removed from maid
A Sri Lankan housemaid has accused her Kuwaiti employer of hammering 14 nails into her body, in the second such incident in the past few months, a local doctor said yesterday. The woman, identified only as Lechchami, 38, underwent surgery to have the nails removed after returning home to Sri Lanka, the director of the hospital in Kurunegala said. “We have removed nine out of the 14 wire nails that showed up in X-rays,” hospital director Soma Rajamanthri said. The woman said her employers drove the nails into her hands and left leg when she asked for her salary after working for six months.
GREECE
Aid ship makes detour
A ship hired to carry aid from Libya to the Middle East instead reached Greece on Friday, with 17 pro--Palestinian aid workers and officials left stranded on board because of a chartering dispute. Coast guard officials said the Strofades IV arrived at the port of Piraeus, outside Athens, with the 17 in good health — and no aid. Accounts differ on how the 10 activists and seven officials left the Libyan port of Derna late on Wednesday. According to the London-based Road to Hope group, the vessel broke its moorings and headed for Greece after an argument over the charter arrangement. The group claimed that the activists — seven Britons, two Irish nationals and an Algerian — were “kidnapped” by the ship’s crew. Meanwhile, the ship’s Greek operator, Ionian Bridge Shipmanagement SA, said it had refused to carry the aid, fearing that the activists intended to confront the Israeli navy off Gaza — instead of going to the stated port of destination in Egypt.
THE NETHERLANDS
Teen sailor resumes journey
Dutch sailor Laura Dekker, 15, who is attempting to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world, has resumed her voyage. Writing on her blog on Friday, Dekker said she has already sailed 240 nautical miles (444km) since leaving Spain’s Canary Islands on Wednesday on her way to the Cape Verde islands. She has spent two months in the Canary Islands waiting for the hurricane season to pass.
PERU
Untouched tribes revealed
Culture Minister Juan Ossio on Friday displayed spears, arrows and other objects he said belonged to Amazon tribes in eastern parts of the country still untouched by civilization and protected by the government. “We couldn’t believe that in the 21st century there were still people living far from global society in our nation. We’re showing you proof those people live in our Amazon region,” Ossio said. He said the hunting tools, bags made from vegetable fiber and nutshells were found last year and this year by an expedition in the Cusco and Madre de Dios regions. He also showed pictures and videos taken of the unknown tribes living in sugar cane and palm-leaf huts in a swath of jungle.
CANADA
No voting on Afghanistan
Parliament will not be asked to vote on whether to extend a military mission in Afghanistan due to end next year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Friday. Speaking on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Seoul, Harper said he welcomed debate on the matter in the House, but noted it was ultimately his decision to make. “If you are going to put troops into combat, into a war situation, I do think for the sake of legitimacy, I do think the government does require the support of parliament,” Harper said. “But when we’re talking simply about technical or training missions, I think that is something the executive can do on its own.”
UNITED STATES
Madoff goods auctioned
Ever wonder what being in Bernard Madoff’s shoes must feel like? Yesterday you could have found out when the imprisoned Wall Street conman’s wardrobe and other personal items were to go to auction. Not only his shoes are headed for sale, but socks, pants, monogrammed slippers and other clothing once belonging to the super-fraud, who has been imprisoned for life for running the biggest ever US pyramid fraud scheme. Proceeds from the huge catalog, which also reflects Madoff and his wife Ruth’s immoderate love of jewelry, will go toward compensating the victims of his swindle.
UNITED STATES
Mullen presses START
The military’s top uniformed officer pressed the Senate on Friday to quickly ratify the new START nuclear treaty with Russia, saying the inspection regime of the earlier pact expired nearly a year ago and was critical to move forward. “I believe, and the rest of the military leadership in this country believes, that this treaty is essential to our future security,” Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a group at Stanford University in California. “I hope the Senate will ratify it quickly.” Mullen’s remarks came as Democratic leaders weigh whether to bring the accord to a full Senate vote in the next few weeks or wait until the new year.
UNITED STATES
Palin hacker jailed
A man who hacked into the e-mail account of then-vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin was sentenced on Friday to a year and a day in jail, court officials said. However, the judge recommended that David Kernell, 22, serve his sentence in a halfway house rather than a more restrictive federal prison. Palin, a darling of the conservative rightwing, had her e-mail hacked in September 2008 as she campaigned alongside Republican presidential candidate John McCain for the White House. A number of her e-mails and two family photos taken from her account were posted online.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in 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
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was