SRI LANKA
India calls for war review
New Delhi on Friday urged Sri Lanka to examine claims made in a British documentary that said it targeted civilians while crushing Tamil Tiger rebels two years ago. The Channel 4 documentary, Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields, aired last month on British television contained footage of what it said were prisoner executions. It also showed the bodies of female Tamil fighters who appeared to have been sexually assaulted by government forces. Sri Lankan troops defeated the Tamil Tiger guerrillas in May 2009 in a major offensive that attracted widespread allegations that tens of thousands of civilians were killed in the fighting. Sri Lanka has persistently denied that its troops committed war crimes.
INDONESIA
Patrol boat fire kills seven
Rescuers in the western of the country have pulled seven bodies from the sea after a customs boat burst into flames during its routine patrol. Belawan port authority official Hendra Pranoto says the fire broke out late on Friday in waters off North Sumatra island. Rescuers recovered a body of a crewmember late on Friday and six bodies of customs officers early yesterday, and rushed two survivors to a nearby hospital. Pranoto says an investigation is under way to determine what triggered the blaze, but survivors told investigators that it appears the fire started in the engine before the boat carrying nine men sank in bad weather.
THAILAND
Minister protests seizure
The Thai foreign minister flew into Berlin on Friday for talks on the impounding of an aircraft owned by the Thai crown, but the German government insisted that it was a matter for the courts. Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya met with German foreign undersecretary Cornelia Pieper to discuss the matter, foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer told reporters. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle is currently visiting Mexico. On Tuesday, German officials sealed a Boeing 737 often flown by the heir to the Thai throne, Maha Vajiralongkorn, and banned it from taking off, Munich airport said. The move came because of a long-running business dispute. Werner Schneider, insolvency administrator for the Walter Bau firm, said the seizure followed repeated refusals by the Thai government to pay money it says it is owed. “We have been trying for years ... to have our justified demands for more than 30 million euros [US$42 million] met, and this drastic measure is basically the last resort,” Schneider’s firm said in a statement. A court ruled in the firm’s favor in 2009, Schneider said. Kasit said that the plane belonged to the crown prince, not the government. “If this takes too long it might affect the feelings of Thai people towards German people and the country because this is related to the monarchy,” he said.
CHINA
Heavy rain kills 13
State media say heavy rains in the northwest have killed at least 13 people and injured six. Xinhua news agency reported on Friday that a mudslide along a highway in Tianshui city in the province of Gansu damaged two cars, leaving five people dead at the scene and eight more who died later en route to or at the hospital. The report did not give details on how the people died. Flooding this summer has triggered landslides, forced the evacuation of thousands and caused nearly US$1 billion in direct economic losses. The Ministry of Civil Affairs reported yesterday at least 355 people have died since June 1 across China because of floods, heavy rains, strong winds and hailstorms.
CANADA
Couple win French case
In a ruling that has riled English-speakers, a court awarded US$12,000 to a couple who sued after they were not served in French aboard Air Canada flights on two trips to the US. Michel Thibodeau and his partner Lynda sued the airline for US$500,000 in punitive damages for not complying with a national law that requires airlines to provide services in French and English on flights where routinely at least 5 percent of the passengers are French-speakers. According to the Toronto Sun newspaper, Thibodeau is a fluently bilingual federal government employee. “Linguistic zealots like Thibodeau do not help unify the cultural divide, but instead exacerbate the chasm,” wrote Peter Worthington, a columnist for the newspaper.
CHILE
Miners sue government
Thirty-one of the 33 miners who endured 69 days trapped underground when a northern mine collapsed are suing the government for negligence, one of them said on Friday. We want what we went through at the bottom of that mine to be recognized. “We are here to say that the 31 of us wish that all our suffering and the suffering of our families, is recognized,” miner Luis Urzua told reporters. After 69 days and a spectacular rescue operation with the world watching, they were hauled out safely from 700m below ground. A lawyer filed the suit on Friday requesting US$540,000 in compensation for each of the miners. The miners allege that the National Geology and Mines Bureau failed to carry out proper inspections of the mine’s security and working conditions.
CHILE
Magnitude 6.0 quake hits
A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck off the coast on Friday, about 88km south-southwest of the port city of Valparaiso, US seismologists said. The earthquake’s epicenter was at a depth of 23km and hit at around 8:26pm, according to the US Geological Survey. No immediate damage or casualties were reported and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center had not yet released its estimate of the event. The South American country has been on edge since a devastating magnitude 8.8 quake last year unleashed a tsunami and killed more than 500 people.
MEXICO
Twelve police officers killed
Authorities say at least 12 state police officers and a bystander were killed during an ambush on a highway in the western state of Sinaloa. State security officials say the attack happened at about 6pm on Friday at a fake checkpoint set up by gunmen on the highway near the town of Guasave. The police convoy was traveling from Los Mochis, a Pacific coastal city where the officers helped launch a “Safe Commerce” program aimed at averting attacks on merchants. Officials say the slain bystander was driving from a nearby tortilla stand where he works and got caught in the crossfire.
MEXICO
Seven die in prison riot
At least seven prisoners were killed and 59 escaped after guards lost control of a prison in the town of Nuevo Laredo on the border with the US, state officials said. Soldiers surrounded the Sanctions Enforcement Center prison following a breakout that came after an early morning riot, the Tamaulipas state government said in a statement. Of the 59 who fled, 35 were being held on federal charges, which include drug trafficking and belonging to armed gangs, state officials said.
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
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
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