HONG KONG
New headquarters infected
The bacteria that cause Legionnaire’s disease have been found throughout the territory’s brand new, US$670 million government headquarters. The checks were prompted after Education Secretary Michael Suen (孫明揚), 67, came down with the potentially fatal illness last month. Health authorities on Monday said that water samples taken from Suen’s new office’s bathroom found traces of legionella bacteria as high as 14 times above acceptable levels. Authorities say nine out of more than 31 water samples were contaminated, and that they are now disinfecting the building.
AUSTRALIA
Sharks spotted interbreeding
Scientists yesterday hailed what they described as a world-first discovery of two shark species interbreeding, a never-before-seen phenomenon that could help them cope with warmer oceans. Lead researcher Jess Morgan of the University of Queensland said the mating of the local Australian black-tip shark with its global counterpart, the common black-tip, was an unprecedented discovery with implications for the entire shark world. “It’s very surprising because no one’s ever seen shark hybrids before, this is not a common occurrence by any stretch of the imagination,” Morgan said. “This is evolution in action.”
NORTH KOREA
Would-be defectors killed
Troops shot dead three men who were trying to cross the border into China on Saturday, a Seoul activist said yesterday, as Pyongyang tightens border controls after the death of leader Kim Jong-il. The men, who were in their 40s, were crossing the Yalu River from the northern border city of Hyesan, said Do Hee-youn, who helps refugees from the North. “People waiting at the Chinese side across the river to help the three defect saw the scene. The guards took with them the bodies, which were lying on the ice,” Do said, citing sources in China’s border county of Changbai. Do said it was “very rare” for border guards immediately to open fire on refugees. “I’m afraid it will become much harder for North Koreans to defect for a while,” he said, adding the North’s authorities had spread word among people in the border city about the latest deaths. “They are trying to let people know that those trying to flee will be shot dead right away.”
MALAYSIA
Opposition vows trial rally
The opposition alliance yesterday vowed to rally 100,000 people outside the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Monday for the verdict in opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy trial, despite police threats to prevent any demonstration. The police warning underscores concerns about possible uproar among Anwar’s supporters if he is convicted of sodomizing a male former aide. He faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty. Opposition leaders yesterday said they are working to get 100,000 people to rally in anticipation that Anwar will be convicted.
PHILIPPINES
Three die from leptospirosis
At least three people in flood-hit areas in Mindanao have died from leptospirosis, a bacterial disease often spread by rodents, the government said. The health department reported 171 cases of the disease in northern Mindanao, where it is monitoring a “possible influx” of patients in hospitals, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said in its 8am report yesterday. Tropical Storm Washi killed 1,257 people when it overflowed rivers and flooded coastal cities in the early hours of Dec. 17.
TAJIKISTAN
Father Frost knifed to death
A young man dressed as “Father Frost” — the Russian equivalent of Santa Claus — was stabbed to death in Dushanbe on Monday in an attack police believe was motivated by religious hatred, two police sources said. A crowd attacked 24-year-old Parviz Davlatbekov and stabbed him with a knife as he visited relatives in the early hours of Monday dressed as Father Frost, who by tradition brings Russian children presents at New Year. Russian cultural influence remains strong in the former Soviet republic.
CYPRUS
Rally protests UK bases
At least five people were injured and two arrested during a protest against the presence of British military bases late on Monday, witnesses said. Fighting broke out between demonstrators and police guarding RAF Akrotiri, a sprawling compound on the southern tip of the eastern Mediterranean island. According to a spokesperson for the bases, four civilian police officers employed to guard the bases were injured along with a television cameraman who was hit by a rock. Britain has held sovereignty over two bases since the country gained independence from London in 1960. London has given no sign it intends to hand them over.
EGYPT
Parliamentary polls resume
Polling stations opened in the third round of the nation’s parliamentary election yesterday, state television reported. The election is the first since the overthrow of former president Hosni Mubarak in a popular uprising. The concluding round of voting to the lower house of parliament takes in parts of the rural south, which has the largest proportions of Christian voters, populous industrial Nile Delta areas north of Cairo and the restive Sinai desert region to the east. The Islamist Muslim Brotherhood’s party list won the biggest share of seats in the first two rounds, its message of stability apparently finding resonance among ordinary citizens tired of almost a year of political turmoil.
FRANCE
Louvre most popular
The Louvre cemented its position as the world’s most-visited museum, with a record 8.8 million visitors last year to the Paris home of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and other masterpieces. The Louvre saw a 5 percent increase in visitors last year, after three years in a row in which about 8.5 million people had visited the museum, it said in a statement. The museum said it enjoyed “a strong return of American visits and a more and more marked presence of visitors from emerging countries.” Visitors from abroad accounted for 66 percent of the museum’s attendees, led by tourists from the US, followed by Brazil, Italy, Australia and China.
INDIA
Terry launches complaint
Representatives of England soccer captain John Terry have lodged a complaint over the apparent use of his image for a tobacco warning printed on cigarette packets, a report said yesterday. The blurry image featuring the head and shoulders of a man resembling Terry above a warning that “Smoking Kills” was created by the government’s Directorate of Visual Publicity, the Indian Express reported. The newspaper quoted Keith Cousins of Elite Management, Terry’s representatives, as saying: “We have reviewed this matter with our client and have today instructed solicitors to take appropriate action.”
UNITED STATES
Three die in avalanches
Montana authorities said two snowmobilers and a skier died in three separate avalanches. The Livingston Enterprise reported that a 44-year-old man was skiing with his wife on Saturday afternoon southeast of Cooke City when an avalanche occurred. The Park County coroner said his wife couldn’t find her husband and emergency responders recovered the body. About two hours earlier, an avalanche occurred north of Cooke City. Officials said the avalanche buried a 46-year-old man for 12 minutes before two snowmobiling companions pulled him out. Another man died on Sunday when his snowmobile triggered an avalanche east of Red Lion. The name of the 20-year-old Butte man wasn’t immediately released.
CHILE
New forest fire kills one
A new forest fire claimed one life in the south just hours after firefighters tamed a massive blaze that consumed 13,000 hectares in Patagonia, officials said on Monday. The new inferno already has consumed about 10,000 hectares in the commune of Quillon in the Biobio region, about 500 km south of Santiago, according to federal disaster officials. There were at least five active forest fires blazing in Biobio that have destroyed at least 100 homes, officials said.
BRAZIL
Flood claims two more
Two more people died and one was missing on Monday following flooding in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais that brought the total death toll to four, civil defense officials said. A 38-year-old man died in the state capital, Belo Horizonte, when his two-story house collapsed in the flooding, while his wife was rescued from the rubble, they said. Also found dead in the courtyard of her house in the town of Visconde do Rio Branco was a 78-year-old woman.
PERU
Gold mine protests resume
Demonstrators resumed their protests on Monday against plans to develop a US$4.8 billion gold mine, saying they fear the mine would harm their water supplies. About 2,000 people joined the protest march in the northern city of Cajamarca, carrying signs reading: “Let’s defend our sources of water, now or never.” The protest ended peacefully. Protesters fear the Conga mine, which would produce gold and copper as well as silver, would taint their water and affect a major aquifer. The mine is majority owned by US-based Newmont Mining Corp.
MEXICO
Drug war deaths released
About 12,000 people died in drug-related violence last year in the country, media reported on Monday. The Reforma daily counted 12,539 drug-related killings last year, which it said was a 6.3 percent increase on the previous year. The Daily Milenio recorded 12,284 drug-related deaths last year.
CUBA
No revolt yet: activist
Conditions are not necessarily ripe for an Arab Spring-style revolt in the island nation, dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez said in an interview yesterday. “Unlike in North African countries, the ability to use social media ... to organize [protests] or get together over social networks is minimal,” the award-winning blogger told Peru’s El Comercio newspaper. “Cellular phones are subject to a state monopoly with very high rates. So the idea of using a BlackBerry or iPhone to send messages like ‘Let’s occupy Revolution Square tomorrow,’ right now just is not there.”
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
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
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