INDIA
Nine killed in rampage
At least nine people were killed and 27 injured yesterday when a bus driver in the western city of Pune went on a rampage, leaving a trail of smashed cars and crushed pedestrians, police said. The rogue driver hijacked the bus in a depot and then sped down the crowded streets of Pune during morning rush hour as children headed to school and office employees were on the way to work. “He just went berserk. He went on ramming whatever vehicles were plying the road,” Pune’s commissioner of police, Meeran Borwankar, told local television. “Citizens came forward and literally threw children away from the road. He was in such a dangerous mood. Ultimately he was held [by police], but the damage has been tremendous,” she said.
NEW ZEALAND
Search on for explorer
The foreign ministry yesterday said it was searching for a Norwegian explorer believed to be planning a second unauthorized trip to Antarctica, less than a year after his first resulted in three deaths. The ministry said it was trying to locate Jarle Andhoy’s yacht Nilaya after the Norwegian government raised concerns that the adventurer planned to travel back to Antarctica. Officials said Andhoy arrived in the country earlier this month. Andhoy led a five-man expedition to Antarctica in February last year, in which he and another member attempted to reach the South Pole on quadbikes as the remaining three waited for them aboard their sailboat Beserk. The vessel sank when a fierce storm battered the Ross Sea and the three on board were never found.
UZBEKISTAN
No Valentine’s Day shows
The government is, apparently, unwilling to give love a chance, canceling concerts and other events for Valentine’s Day, Russian news agency RIA-Novosti said, citing local media reports on Tuesday. Instead, residents in the capital, Tashkent, can enjoy readings of poems by Mughal emperor Babur, who died in the 16th century. The unofficial ban on romance-related festivities echoes long-standing antagonism in the country toward the holiday. Last year, the Turkiston newspaper described Valentine’s Day as the work of “forces with evil goals bent on putting an end to national values.”
UNITED STATES
Gift your love with a roach
Shakespeare asked if he should compare his lover “to a summer’s day.” A New York zoo suggests cockroaches instead. Ahead of Valentine’s Day next month the Bronx Zoo wants New Yorkers to pay US$10 for the right to give their sweetheart’s name — or perhaps that of an ex — to one of its Madagascar hissing cockroaches. For US$25, lovebirds can name a cockroach couple. To sweeten the deal, the zoo is also offering boxes of chocolate replica cockroaches.
UNITED STATES
Wife fights off moose
An 85-year-old Alaska woman used a grain shovel to fend off an agitated moose that was stomping her husband. George Murphy said his wife saved his life. The Anchorage Daily News said the 82-year-old pilot was hiking with his golden retrievers near the Willow airport on Friday. He saw the moose and dove in the snow, but the moose started stomping him. His wife, Dorothea, 1.52m tall and weighing 44kg, grabbed a big shovel and hit the moose in the body and head. She ran for help, and Murphy was rushed by medical helicopter to an Anchorage hospital, where he was in good condition on Monday with a gash to his head.
UNITED KINGDOM
Pandas get their own tartan
Two pandas gifted to Edinburgh zoo by China received the ultimate Scottish honor on Tuesday when a special tartan designed for them was unveiled. Yang Guang (陽光) and Tian Tian (甜甜) have already attracted thousands of visitors to the zoo since they arrived on Dec. 4 under a deal agreed after five years of high-level political and diplomatic negotiations. The tartan features black, white and grey to reflect the color of the pandas’ fur and three red lines to represent China. It was unveiled to tie in with the start of the Lunar New Year on Monday and Burns Night yesterday, an important date for Scots.
UNITED KINGDOM
Stalin death bronze sold
A bronze cast from Joseph Stalin’s death mask, one of only 12 made after the Soviet dictator’s death in 1953, was sold in Britain on Tuesday for £4,400 (US$6,860), Mullock’s auctioneers said. The mask and accompanying bronze casts of Stalin’s hands — the left one withered — had been estimated to sell at between £3,000 and £5,000. “It’s an interesting and unusual item. There were lots of telephone bids and Internet interest” said Richard Westwood-Brookes, historical documents expert at Mullock’s, adding that it went to a private telephone bidder in Britain. Originally brought to the West by art dealer James Birch, who purchased it in Moscow in 1990, the bronze death mask shows Stalin’s hair swept back from his forehead and clearly outlines his famous moustache.
UNITED STATES
Shooter pleads not guilty
A man accused of firing shots at the White House pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to charges that he tried to assassinate President Barack Obama. A lawyer for Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez entered the plea on his client’s behalf during a brief appearance in US District Court in Washington. Ortega did not say anything during the proceedings and will remain held without bond. He has another court date next month. Prosecutors say Ortega used an assault rifle with an attached scope to fire a series of shots at the White House from long range on the night of Nov. 11. The Obamas were out of town at the time. Ortega, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, was indicted last week on 17 counts including trying to assassinate the president, transporting a firearm across state lines and assaulting officers or employees of the US with a deadly weapon.
AFGHANISTAN
Attack linked to video clip
The 21-year-old Afghan soldier who turned on French troops and killed four of them was angry about a video purporting to show US Marines desecrating the bodies of Taliban insurgents, an army spokesman said yesterday. However, it is still unclear whether the video was the sole motivation for the attack at a base, Defense Ministry General Mohammad Zahir Azimi said. Investigators are also looking into whether the attacker — who had been in the army for less than three months — had any personal disputes or may have been recruited by Taliban insurgents. French investigators are traveling to Kabul to assist the investigation into the attack.
RUSSIA
Assange gets TV show
WikiLeaks editor-at-large Julian Assange will air his new television talk show on an English-language cable network controlled by the Russian government, broadcaster RT said yesterday. The World Tomorrow will comprise interviews Assange conducts with 10 “key political players, thinkers and revolutionaires,” Moscow-based RT said.
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