CHINA
Bus crash not a surprise
Relatives of poor children who were injured when their overcrowded school minibus crashed said they had worried about the children’s safety every time they got in the makeshift bus. The nine-seater vehicle was stuffed with 62 kindergarten students, a teacher and the driver when it crashed head on with a heavy truck on Wednesday morning in a remote, rural area. Officials said at least 18 students and the two adults were killed. The two people in the truck were unhurt. At one of the two hospitals where the dozens of injured children were being treated, relatives yesterday said they knew the bus was overcrowded. “It was very dangerous,” said the uncle of five-year-old Wu Cheng, who was in the back of the bus when it slammed into the truck.
MALAYSIA
Militant suspects detained
The government has detained more than 10 men suspected to be involved in an Indonesia-based militant group smuggling weapons from the Philippines, reports said yesterday. The men, including Indonesians and Filipinos, were arrested under the Internal Security Act, which allows detention without trial, this week, the New Straits Times and the Star reported. They were arrested in Sabah on the island of Borneo, where they were allegedly gathering weapons from the Philippines, the Times said. They are suspected to be linked to Abu Umar’s group, based in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island, it said. Umar was arrested in July in Indonesia and is accused of planning an attack on the Singaporean embassy in Jakarta. The daily said the group was recruiting locals and sending them for militant training in neighboring countries.
THAILAND
Clinton meets flood victims
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday met more than 1,400 flood victims at an evacuation center in Bangkok after announcing a US$10 million aid package. The victims greeted her with the traditional Thai gesture known as wai — bowing deeply while pressing their palms together near the face. “It’s someone big from another country and she’s interested in helping our country, so it feels good,” evacuee Wirat Chumsuwan said.
AUSTRALIA
Fake bomber denied bail
An investment banker who allegedly attached a fake bomb around a teenager’s neck in a case that made global headlines was remanded in custody yesterday for another month. Paul Douglas Peters, 50, was charged with extortion and kidnapping after his dramatic arrest and extradition from the US in September. He is accused of breaking into the family home of Sydney teen Madeleine Pulver on Aug. 3 and strapping the device around her neck, with the schoolgirl enduring a horrifying 10-hour ordeal. Sydney’s Central Local Court yesterday denied him bail. Peters will remain in jail until his next court appearance on Dec. 15.
BELGIUM
‘Honor killing’ trial starts
A Pakistani family of four yesterday went on trial in connection with the “honor killing” of a 20-year-old woman who defied them by living with a Belgian and refusing an arranged marriage. Sadia Sheikh, a law student, was allegedly shot dead by three bullets fired by her older brother Mudusar on Oct. 22, 2007, when visiting her family who had pledged to patch up their quarrel. Her parents and sister are accused of aiding and abetting the killing.
CANADA
Teens told to lose capes
Police in Chilliwick, British Columbia, insisted on Wednesday that three teens who dressed up as superheroes to confront apparent child predators hang up their capes. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Corporal Tammy Hollingsworth said they’ve interviewed the teens who posted Internet ads posing as teen girls. The teens then invited men to meet them in public spaces, and confronted them wearing Batman and Flash superhero costumes. The videos posted on YouTube were a spoof on the Dateline NBC TV series called To Catch a Predator, in which a host confronts alleged predators who believe they are about to meet teens for sexual encounters. Hollingsworth said the trio put themselves in danger. She said the teens are “good kids” who now regret their escapades. She said police have officers whose expertise is online crime and investigating possible child predators is best left to them.
UNITED STATES
Couple record child abuse
A couple raising a 14-year-old special needs student say they hid a recording device on the girl to prove a teacher and school aide were bullying her. Media outlets report the Ohio girl’s mother and the woman’s boyfriend complained to school officials last year about the alleged bullying in the Miami Trace district, southwest of Columbus. Then the parents secretly recorded audio of the instructors. In the recording, the aide tells the girl she’s dumb and says: “It’s no wonder you don’t have friends. No wonder nobody likes you because you lie, cheat.” The district superintendent told the Washington Court House Record Herald that the aide resigned. The Ohio Department of Education decided to suspend the teacher’s license for a year unless she completed special training.
UNITED STATES
Border drug tunnel found
Authorities announced on Wednesday they had uncovered a “major” drug-smuggling tunnel under the border with Mexico, the latest such find on the troubled frontier. US and Mexican officers seized at least 14 tonnes of marijuana and arrested two people linked to the “sophisticated” tunnel, which linked warehouses in Tijuana in Mexico and Otay Mesa on the US side in southern California. The 365m-long tunnel, complete with electricity and ventilation, was unearthed on Tuesday by the multi-agency San Diego Tunnel Task Force after authorities spotted a suspicious truck leaving the Otay Mesa warehouse. The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement service trumpeted the find as a major victory over Mexican drug cartels responsible for vast trafficking across the border into California.
BRAZIL
Non-whites reach majority
Non-whites make up a majority of the nation’s population for the first time, according to census results released on Wednesday. Last year’s census by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) found that out of a population of about 191 million, 91 million people identified themselves as whites, 82 million as mixed-race and 15 million as blacks. Another 2 million people said they considered themselves to be Asian and 817,000 as indigenous people, according to the census conducted every 10 years. “For the first time, the number of people identifying themselves as whites dropped,” IBGE said, adding that the percentage of whites fell from 53.7 percent in 2000 to 47.7 percent last year.
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