AUSTRALIA
Nurse in coma after drink
A nurse suffered brain damage and kidney failure after drinking a cocktail called jungle juice in Lombok, Indonesia, the Sydney Morning Herald reported yesterday. Jamie Johnston, 25, was flown to the Royal Darwin Hospital from Bali in a coma after ordering a jug of arak — a rice wine popular throughout Southeast Asia — mixed with fruit juice to share with her mother. The daily said the batch was contaminated with methanol, a toxic chemical often used as an anti-freeze or in paint, which was linked to the deaths of four foreign tourists in 2009 in Bali. Johnston’s mother, Lyn, who was not affected, told the newspaper that test results had shown her daughter suffered methanol poisoning after drinking the cocktail on Sept. 20 at the Happy Cafe restaurant.
AUSTRALIA
House passes carbon tax
The House of Representatives has narrowly passed legislation that would introduce an unpopular carbon tax on major polluters. The legislation scraped through the parliament’s lower chamber yesterday with a 74-72 vote. Its passage through the Senate next month is guaranteed by an alliance between the ruling Labor Party and the environmentally focused Greens party, ensuring that the tax starts on July 1. Prime Minister Julia Gillard has defended introducing the new tax in a volatile global economic environment, saying that any delay would increase the cost of reducing the nation’s carbon gas emissions.
PHILIPPINES
HRW accuses army of lying
A US-based human rights group is accusing the Philippine army of fabricating stories that some children it has taken into custody are communist “child warriors.” The military says 215 New People’s Army child soldiers have surrendered, 121 have been captured and 12 have been killed between January 1999 and January this year. Human Rights Watch (HRW) says that at least 12 children have been falsely labeled child soldiers by the military. It says the army made the claims to score propaganda points against the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army, its armed wing. The group yesterday urged the government to immediately end the military’s harassment of the children and their families. The army has denied the group’s report.
PHILIPPINES
Arroyo may face charges
President Benigno Aquino III says his administration will be filing major corruption charges against his predecessor next month. Aquino yesterday refused to provide details of the complaints the government is preparing against Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Arroyo won a seat in the powerful House of Representatives after her stormy nine-year term ended last year. She has been implicated in corruption scandals, but steadfastly denies any wrongdoing. Aquino suggested the government wanted to protect witnesses by not divulging details of the complaints.
VIETNAM
Flood death toll rises to 34
The death toll from the worst seasonal flooding in more than a decade has climbed to 34 people, mostly children, the government said yesterday. The worst floods since 2000 have also submerged more than 60,000 homes and caused US$45 million in damage to crops and infrastructure along the southern Mekong Delta since late August. In the worst hit-province of Dong Thap, six people — including five children — have drowned over the past two weeks, bringing the death toll there to 13.
UNITED STATES
California gun law tightened
California Governor Jerry Brown said he has signed a measure that bans the open carrying of handguns in his state. The law, AB144, makes it a misdemeanor to carry an exposed and unloaded gun in a public place. The governor’s office made the announcement in a statement early on Monday morning. Brown has been rushing to sign dozens of measures sent to him by lawmakers. Top California law enforcement officials supported the legislation. The Los Angeles Times reported that Brown said he had “listened to the police chiefs.” Supporters say the only person who knows whether the gun is loaded is the person carrying the gun. Opponents say the bill is one of many assaults on the public’s Second Amendment rights.
UNITED STATES
South Korea’s Lee arrives
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has arrived for a state visit expected to coincide with congressional approval of a US-South Korea trade pact. US President Barack Obama will host Lee for talks at the White House and a state dinner today. The South Korean leader will also address a joint session of Congress. South Korea is a staunch US ally. Talks between the two leaders will likely focus on the trade pact, which both chambers of Congress planned to vote for later yesterday. The presidents will also discuss the next steps in dealing with nuclear-armed North Korea. Tomorrow, the two presidents will travel to a General Motors auto plant in Detroit. Supporters of the trade pact say it will generate billions in US exports and tens of thousands of jobs.
CANADA
Murder probe investigated
A public inquiry is asking why it took so long for authorities to catch the man convicted in what police call the country’s worst serial murder case. Robert William Pickton was convicted in 2007 of six counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of drug-addicted prostitutes from Vancouver. He slaughtered the women at his pig farm in the suburbs. A further 20 counts were suspended after the convictions. Pickton was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years. Commissioner Wally Oppal said on Tuesday the inquiry also will examine whether women like the ones Pickton chose as his victims are treated equally by the justice system.
CANADA
Flight strike feared
The Conservative government moved on Tuesday to prevent a strike today by Air Canada flight attendants by sending the matter to the Canada Industrial Relations Board for review. Labor Minister Lisa Raitt said that referring the matter to the labor board would prevent nearly 7,000 flight attendants at the nation’s largest airline from going on strike today. Her comments come after members of the union rejected a second tentative agreement supported by union leaders. The referral buys the government time as it looks to pass back-to-work legislation. Parliament resumes sitting next week. Earlier on Tuesday afternoon, the union announced that its negotiators were prepared to resume talks and called on Air Canada to address more of the issues that have upset the airline’s flight attendants over the past decade. About 3,800 Air Canada customer sales and service representatives held a three-day strike in June, but Raitt introduced back-to-work legislation two days into it. Union leaders had predicted a revamped offer would be approved. Air Canada has said it would allow customers booked for travel over the next several days to change dates free of charge.
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
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
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not