JAPAN
Akihito to have surgery
A television report said Emperor Akihito will have heart bypass surgery. Public broadcaster NHK said the 78-year-old Akihito will have the surgery on Saturday. The Imperial Household Agency says the emperor returned yesterday from the hospital, where he received tests, but did not elaborate. The agency official in charge of commenting to the media was not immediately available. Akihito was admitted to University of Tokyo Hospital for tests on Saturday. He has had various health problems in recent years, including pneumonia and prostate cancer. He has cut back on public duties, but appears relatively healthy.
BANGLADESH
Journalists stabbed to death
Two prominent television journalists were brutally stabbed to death on Saturday at their home in Dhaka, police said. The motive for the slaying of the husband and wife who worked for private television was unknown, police said. They were killed early on Saturday at their apartment, while their six-year-old son was in another room, police said. The boy was unharmed. Police identified the slain couple as Meherun Runi and Sagar Sarwar. Runi, 33, worked as a reporter for the country’s largest private television station ATN Bangla. Sarwar, 35, was a news editor for Maasranga TV. “The couple was stabbed to death sometime after Friday midnight,” deputy police chief Imam Hossain said, adding the husband’s hands and legs had been tied. “We are still clueless about who committed the crime. We have launched a probe. Their bodies bore multiple stab wounds. It was a brutal killing.” The murders came to light when the couple’s son called his grandmother and said that his parents were lying on the floor. It was not known whether the killings were related to their work. No valuables were missing from the house.
SOUTH KOREA
Children die of neglect
Three children were found dead on Saturday after their faith-healing father, a Christian pastor, attempted to treat their illnesses only with prayers, police said. The bodies of the children, aged 10, eight and five, were found by their relatives at their home next to the pastor’s church in the southern county of Boseong, a detective at Boseong Police Station said. “They were apparently suffering from infections that went untreated for a long time as the father was only praying for them, instead of seeking medical treatment,” he said. The 43-year-old pastor’s fourth child, a year-old baby, was taken into protective custody by police, the detective said, adding that the father was being questioned.
INDIA
Amitabh has operation
Veteran Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan was “hale and hearty” after undergoing a three-hour operation on Saturday for an abdominal ailment, a hospital official said. Bachchan, 69, has a history of abdominal problems — the legacy of an accident suffered while filming three decades ago. “The operation lasted three hours. Bachchan is hale and hearty now,” a spokesman for the Seven Hills Hospital in Mumbai said. Bachchan was admitted to hospital on Saturday morning after complaining of abdominal pain earlier last week, sparking worries about his health among thousands of his adoring fans. “The Big B,” as he is known, has suffered abdominal problems since he ruptured his spleen during a fight scene on the set of the 1982 film Coolie, after which he was critically ill for months.
UNITED STATES
Man tried in diving death
A man who served prison time in Australia for the death of his bride during their honeymoon is going on trial today in Birmingham, Alabama, accused of murdering her during a scuba dive. Gabe Watson, 34, is accused of killing Tina Thomas Watson. She drowned during the dive in Australia just days after their wedding in October 2003. Watson already has served 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter for not doing enough to save his wife’s life. Alabama prosecutors say Watson planned the honeymoon diving trip so he could kill Tina for insurance money. The defense says her death was a horrible accident.
MEXICO
Mob kills alleged kidnappers
An angry mob of villagers in Mateo Huitzilzingo on Friday attacked and killed three men they accused of trying to kidnap a local resident. So far, 23 people have been arrested for the mob attack, prosecutors said. A spokesman for the Mexico State Security Secretariat said the mob numbered “more than 500 people.” An initial investigation showed “a group of six women incited local residents to attack three men, who they set on fire,” a statement from the Attorney General’s Office said. Police tried to rescue the three men, but succeeded in pulling only one of them away from the mob. He died on Saturday morning at a hospital.
PAKISTAN
Afghans accused of killing
A tribal policeman has accused Afghan forces of crossing into the southwest of the country and snatching three men allegedly providing safe haven to militants fighting in Afghanistan. Police officer Mohammed Azim said 13 Afghan security personnel drove nearly3km into Baluchistan Province on Saturday and took the men from Thurkha village. He said yesterday that officials have received unconfirmed reports that two of the men have been killed.
IRAN
Millions lose e-mail service
A news agency reported on Saturday that more than 30 million people in the country have lost access to foreign e-mail services, such as Gmail, Yahoo mail and Hotmail. The report by the semi-official Mehr agency said that the authorities in the national telecommunications company declined to comment on the outage that began on Thursday, saying that it had no connection to them. The country has occasionally restricted the Internet since the turmoil that followed the 2009 elections.
EGYPT
South Koreans released
Three South Korean women being held in the Sinai Peninsula by Bedouin tribesmen were released on Saturday together with their translator following negotiations with the authorities, the governor of South Sinai Province said. The Bedouin had snatched the three from a tour bus traveling near the St Catherine monastery in central Sinai toward Sharm el-Sheikh and had sought to use them to bargain for the release of jailed members of their tribe. “The three Koreans and the Egyptian were released,” South Sinai Governor Khaled Fouda said. Their abduction was reported on Friday. Fouda did not say if the tribesmen’s demands had been met. Bedouin tribesmen in the Sinai have attacked police stations and blocked access to towns to show their discontent with what they see as poor treatment from Cairo, and to press for the release of jailed kinsmen. Earlier this month, two US women were held until authorities negotiated their release a few hours later.
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