BANGLADESH
Workers untangle trains
Railway workers yesterday untangled two trains that collided at a station 30km northeast of Dhaka, as the death toll from the crash reached 10, with at least 60 people injured. One train was stopped at the station when the second plowed into it from behind, leaving mangled carriages stacked on top of each other. Rescue workers and local people pulled survivors from the wreckage. More than 40 people remain in hospital, many with severe injuries. The accident occurred in Narshingdi on Wednesday afternoon. Amrito Baroi, Narshingdi chief administrator, said the brakes on the approaching train may have failed.
PHOTO: EPA
PHILIPPINES
Corruption body rejected
President Benigno Aquino III lashed out on Wednesday at a Supreme Court decision rejecting an investigative body he created to look into alleged corruption during his predecessor’s administration, vowing his anti-graft battle would not be deterred by the setback. The Supreme Court declared on Tuesday that Aquino’s first executive order that created a “Truth Commission” was unconstitutional because it unfairly singled out his predecessor Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s government for a wide-ranging corruption investigation. A majority of the justices on the 15-member tribunal were appointed by Arroyo, who left office in June.
TONGA
Noble arrested for drugs
A noble who was elected to the revamped parliament last month has been charged with drugs and firearms offenses, officials in Nuku’alofa said yesterday. Lord Tu’ilakepa faces four charges relating to illegal possession of firearms and ammunition and one of possessing an illegal drug, Solicitor General Aminiasi Kefu said. The nobleman appeared at a closed session of the Fasi Magistrates’ Court yesterday, meaning further details of the allegations against him were unavailable, the Mataingi Tonga online news Web site reported. He was arrested last week after a series of joint police raids in Tonga and Australia. Tu’ilakepa was one of nine nobles elected to the new-look 26-seat parliament late last month.
INDONESIA
Rare elephants killed
Three endangered Sumatran elephants have been found dead after their herd rampaged through a village in Banda Aceh, a conservationist and officials said yesterday. The cause of the animals’ deaths is being investigated, but a local conservationist said they might have died after eating poison intended for wild boars as they scavenged for food at village stores. Bakhtiar, an activist with local environmental group Leuser International Foundation, said a herd of elephants had sent villagers fleeing. Bakhtiar said his group and the local authorities are planning to bring tame elephants to the area to help chase any straying herd back into the forest.
SRI LANKA
Video shows executions
An international human rights group says there is new video evidence linking the military to the summary execution of prisoners during the final stages of the civil war last year. Human Rights Watch said yesterday that contents of a five-minute video clip aired by Britain’s Channel 4 television last month warrants a UN investigation. The video was an extension of a short clip aired by the station last year showing blindfolded, naked men being shot at close range. The latest video shows the naked body of a young woman identified by Tamil media as “Isaippriya,” a news reader with the Tamil Tiger rebel television station.
FRANCE
Snow shuts Eiffel Tower
The biggest snowfall in close to a quarter of a century forced Paris’ Eiffel Tower and airports to shut briefly on Wednesday. An exceptionally heavy afternoon snowstorm paralyzed the bus network, snarled up roads and motorways and even disrupted the underground train network. Meteo France weather forecasting agency said was the biggest fall of snow since 1987. “This is marvelous. I didn’t think it could snow so much in Paris and that these gardens could be so beautiful,” said Didier Mathus, one of many members of parliament enchanted by a snowfall of rare intensity for the heart of Paris.
RUSSIA
Road plan approved
Moscow will go through with plans to build a highway to Saint Petersburg through a disputed forest, whose protection was backed by two reporters were brutally attacked over their coverage, the Vedomosti business daily reported yesterday. The road’s construction was initially put on hold by President Dmitry Medvedev, who called for a review of the contested plan. However, a final decision on the construction has been reached, with the announcement expected during Medvedev’s talks with visiting French Prime Minister Francois Fillon, Vedomosti said. The daily said France was taking part in the project through the Vinci firm.
UNITED KINGDOM
Young widower kept in jail
A British man who allegedly arranged the killing of his wife during their South African honeymoon is in jail following his first appearance in extradition proceedings. A judge initially said on Wednesday that Shrien Dewani, 30, could be freed on bail, but that was revoked when South African authorities appealed the ruling. It was unclear how soon the High Court would hear arguments on the appeal. Dewani surrendered to police on Tuesday in Bristol. His family has dismissed the allegations against him as “totally ludicrous.”
UNITED STATES
Book back after 64 years
A California woman is proving it’s never too late to make things right. Hazel Severson, 95, of Sacramento says a book borrowed by her late husband from an Amador County library in 1936 was found by a friend while they were sorting through things for a garage sale. She returned the book and offer to pay the overdue fee — US$2,701. Severson told the Sacramento Bee that she and her husband Howard were newlyweds when he checked out Seaplane Solo, about Sir Francis Chichester’s 1930 solo flight across the Tasman Sea. The library didn’t charge her a late fee, though it did accept a donation when she returned the book.
UNITED STATES
Man arrested in bomb plot
A 21-year-old recent convert to Islam tried to blow up a military recruiting station in Maryland on Wednesday, ensnaring himself in a sting operation orchestrated by the FBI, officials said. Antonio Martinez, who now calls himself Muhammad Hussain, thought he was detonating a real car bomb at the Catonsville recruiting office, but he had actually been interacting with the FBI, and the bomb was a fake. Martinez faces charges of attempted murder of federal officials and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of