AUSTRALIA
Boat people sent to Malaysia
A boatload of asylum-seekers intercepted in the country’s waters yesterday will be the first sent to Malaysia under a controversial new swap deal, officials said. The boat was spotted by aircraft near Scott Reef, off the northwest coast, Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor said in a statement. A spokeswoman said it was the first boat intercepted since the deal with Malaysia was signed on July 25. The boat is thought to be carrying 54 asylum-seekers and two crew members. The deal with Malaysia followed several months of talks between the countries.
VIETNAM
Old artillery shell kills two
Two men died and a third was seriously injured in a blast as they attempted to cut open a Vietnam War-era artillery shell and extract its explosives, state media said yesterday. The men, aged 54 and 52, were killed immediately on Saturday as they tried to disassemble a US-made 105mm shell that they found in a field, the Thanh Nien newspaper reported. The injured 46-year-old man needed part of his leg amputated following the explosion in central Quang Ngai Province, and he remains in a critical condition, the paper said. A study in 2009 showed that leftover ordnance had killed 10,529 people and wounded more than 12,000 in six heavily--contaminated provinces since the conflict with US forces ended in 1975. The government last year approved a plan to clear about 1.3 million hectares, or 20 percent of the nation’s land, contaminated by unexploded munitions. Officials estimated they need more than 34 trillion dong (US$1.62 billion) for the cleanup.
PHILIPPINES
Stop oil explorations: rebels
The country’s largest Muslim guerrilla group has asked the government to stop any planned oil and gas explorations by foreign companies in vast southern regions they claim. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front said yesterday that allowing foreign companies to start energy explorations in ancestral territories they claim would complicate Malaysian-brokered peace talks. The rebel front is calling on prospective foreign companies not to take part in business ventures that would deprive the country’s minority Muslims of their remaining natural resources, adding that they have lost land and opportunities through years of massive land-grabbing. Rebel negotiator Mohagher Iqbal refused to say what the rebels would do if the energy explorations proceed.
AUSTRALIA
Navy sex assault investigated
Police were yesterday investigating a sexual assault claim involving the military, reportedly focusing on a navy ship previously found to have a culture of predatory sexual behavior. Reports said a 25-year-old sailor had told police she was assaulted on board the HMAS Success last week while it was docked in Sydney. Defence Minister Stephen Smith said police were probing a complaint, but gave no other information on the case, the latest in a series of sexual assault claims involving the military. “I have to be careful, there is an investigation under way,” Smith told Network Ten. “The most important thing here is that the young sailor concerned reported the incident, the alleged incident, to the navy.” Smith said that he and the country’s top military chiefs had made it clear there was “zero tolerance for inappropriate behavior throughout the service.” The Australian Defence Force has been stung by a string of allegations, some decades old, of abusive and sexist behavior in its ranks, with more than 1,000 people bringing their complaints to an inquiry.
EGYPT
Mubarak trial venue changed
Former president Hosni Mubarak’s trial on charges he ordered the killing of protesters during the country’s uprising will be held at a police academy on Cairo’s outskirts instead of a convention center in the heart of the capital, the head of Cairo’s appeals court said on Saturday. The change appears to be linked to concerns over security during the trial, which is scheduled to begin on Wednesday. The 83-year-old Mubarak is to stand trial alongside his security chief and six other senior security officials facing the same charges stemming from the crackdown that killed hundreds, but failed to stop the 18-day uprising that forced Mubarak from power on Feb. 11. Mubarak’s two sons are also expected to appear in court on corruption charges. A business associate will be tried in absentia.
UNITED KINGDOM
Queen’s granddaughter weds
Queen Elizabeth II’s granddaughter Zara Phillips married fellow athlete Mike Tindall on Saturday in a private ceremony in Edinburgh. Prince William and his wife, Kate, who tied the knot in April, and the monarch herself were among the guests in the Canongate Kirk, where the queen worships when staying in Edinburgh. After the ceremony, traditional Scottish bagpipe music was played as the newlyweds emerged from the church to loud cheers from the crowd outside. Several thousand fans gathered outside the church and the palace hoping to catch a glimpse of royalty, police estimated. However, the low-key festivities took many in Edinburgh by surprise. “Who’s getting married?” asked Alberto Alvarez, 38, who has come from Spain for a holiday. “I am very happy for them anyway,” he added.
GUATEMALA
Torres’s appeal rejected
The Supreme Court said on Saturday it had rejected an appeal from former first lady Sandra Torres seeking to overturn the court’s decision to bar her from running for the presidency this year. Only one of 13 judges voted in favor of the appeal, court president Luis Archila said during a news conference. Center-left Union of Hope Party hopeful Torres’s bid faces the hurdle of a constitutional rule that prevents family members of the president from taking power. To skirt this, she announced in March her divorce from President Alvaro Colom, who by law cannot run for a consecutive term. Torres is well behind in the polls. If she is barred from running that would nearly guarantee victory for retired general Otto Perez, of the right-wing Patriot Party, in a first round vote on Sept. 11. Torres is now expected to resort to the Constitutional Court, a panel of 12 judges that reviews complex cases.
RUSSIA
Five dead after boat sinks
Five people drowned and five were missing yesterday after a pleasure boat sunk in the Moscow River, a spokesman for the emergency ministry said. “The bodies of five passengers have been pulled out,” a spokesman for the city’s emergency ministry said, adding that the boat had a total of 17 passengers and crew on board, seven of whom were saved. The rescue operation was continuing yesterday morning, the spokesman said, adding that he could not comment on the chances of finding more passengers alive. The privately owned pleasure boat collided with a barge at 00:58am close to the city’s Luzhniki sports stadium, officials said. Two Turkish nationals were among the passengers rescued, the ITAR-TASS news agency reported, citing a rescue official.
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
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
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number