CHINA
Three bus crashes kill 28
At least 28 people have been killed and dozens injured in three bus crashes in one day in the south, state media reported yesterday. A bus overturned on a mountainous road in Yunnan Province late on Saturday, killing at least nine passengers and injuring 24, Xinhua news agency said. The injured were all taken to local hospitals, and the cause of the crash is under investigation, the report said. The bus, which was carrying 37 passengers, started its journey in the city of Chuxiong and was bound for the tourist town of Dali. In Guizhou Province, 13 people were killed and 22 injured when the tire of the bus they were riding in blew out, causing the vehicle to career off the road, Xinhua said. In the southern Guangxi region, six people were killed when their bus collided with a truck, Xinhua said.
CHINA
Police detain Tibetan writer
An overseas Tibetan news service said police had detained a Tibetan writer in a western county hit by anti-government protests as the country’s crackdown against persistent unrest spreads. The Voice of Tibet, which is based in Norway, said that more than 20 police officers took Gangkye Drubpa Kyab from his home in Serthar county’s main town on Wednesday night and that he has not been released. Police and government officials in Serthar said they had not heard about the case. Authorities have been caught in a cycle of protest and repression over the past year. More than 20 Tibetans have set themselves on fire to protest repressive measures, and security forces have responded with more repression.
UNITED STATES
Runaway emu amuses locals
An elusive emu on the lam in Vermont has been amusing residents in communities on Lake Champlain. The 68kg flightless bird looks like a small ostrich. It has been spotted wandering here and there in Grand Isle and South Hero since it escaped from a local farm five weeks ago. It was spotted again on Friday outside the South Hero elementary school, where it walked by a window of the principal’s office. School worker Steve Berard tried to lasso it with an extension cord, but it broke free. The emu’s owner told WCAX-TV he bought three emus for his grandchildren but they do not make great pets. He has taken out an ad in a local newspaper saying: “Free emu if you can capture it.”
SWEDEN
Man snowed in for months
A man was dug out alive after being snowed in to his car on a forest track for two months with no food, police and local media reported on Saturday. The 45-year-old was found on Friday, emaciated and too weak to utter more than a few words. He was found not far from the city of Umea in the north of Sweden by snowmobilers who thought they had come across a car wreck until they dug their way to a window and saw movement inside. The man, who was laying in the back seat in a sleeping bag, said he had been in the car since Dec. 19. Umea University Hospital, where the man is recovering after being rescued by police and a rescue team, said in a statement he was doing well. Doctors at the hospital said humans would normally be able to survive for about four weeks without food. Besides eating snow, the man probably survived by going into a dormant-like state, physician Stefan Branth told Vasterbottens-Kuriren. “A bit like a bear that hibernates. Humans can do that,” he said. “He probably had a body temperature of around 31oC, which the body adjusted to. Due to the low temperature, not much energy was used up.”
ITALY
Fake US bonds found
Swiss authorities have confiscated US$6 trillion in counterfeit US bonds at the request of prosecutors in Potenza, authorities said on Friday. Eight people were arrested and placed under investigation for fraud and other crimes. The bonds, carrying the false date of issue of 1934, had been transported in 2007 from Hong Kong to Zurich, where they were transferred to a Swiss trust, according to prosecutors. Authorities said that US officials had confirmed that the bonds were counterfeit. Prosecutors said the fraud had not been completed, but it appeared that the suspects intended to try to sell the fake bonds to a developing nation, directly or through an intermediary bank.
UNITED STATES
‘Jew Pond’ may be renamed
Voters in a small New Hampshire town will have the final say on whether to change the controversial name of a local pond. The small pond near the middle of Mont Vernon is known as Jew Pond. Town officials say it got its name back in the 1920s because the operators of a hotel that once stood next to it were Jewish. The name recently got the attention of New Hampshire Bishop Peter Libasci. He wrote a letter to the local newspaper saying the name conveyed contempt and urged townspeople to change it. Residents will decide in the March 13 election. Some residents told WMUR-TV that they don’t find the name offensive and that it’s part of the town’s history.
PARAGUAY
Dog thwarts prison break
A stray dog is getting credit for thwarting a prison break. Officials say three dangerous inmates dug a tunnel about 8m from their cell to the street and were about to break free just before dawn when the dog began to bark and alerted a guard. Authorities at the Tacumbu prison on the southern edge of the capital dragged the unlucky prisoners before the media on Friday to tell the tale. “Because of a stray dog, we couldn’t escape,” Hilario Villalba said. “When I reached the street, sticking my head out, the stupid dog barked and alerted a guard.” Villalba, who is serving a 30-year double-murder sentence, vowed in his native Guarani language that he’ll keep trying to escape because he said his sentence isn’t fair. Meanwhile in Argentina, a yellow Labrador named Tiza alerted border guards to a motorist trying to smuggle US$110,000 in US$100 bills into Uruguay. The driver denied carrying any money, but the dog sniffed out the bills hidden in the glove compartment, another compartment and inside the rear seats, Argentina’s tax collection agency said on Friday.
AUSTRIA
Dutch prince’s life in danger
The second son of the Netherland’s Queen Beatrix spent a stable night in the hospital after he was seriously injured in an avalanche, but his life remains in danger, the Dutch government said yesterday. Prince Johan Friso, 43, was rushed to the intensive care unit of Innsbruck’s main hospital on Friday after he was buried under snow. He had been skiing off marked trails in Lech, a winter sports region in the west of the country. According to the statement, “his life is still in danger, but he had a calm and stable night.” The Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad said the prince suffered serious oxygen deprivation. The paper quoted Claudius Thome, head of neurosurgery at the hospital, as saying Friso did not suffer a skull fracture or any other external injuries. The only serious problem appeared to be lack of oxygen, with Friso being buried for 20 minutes, he was quoted as saying.
Kouri Richins, a Utah mother who published a children’s book about grief after the death of her husband is to serve a life sentence for his murder without the possibility of parole, a judge ruled on Wednesday. Richins was convicted in March of aggravated murder for lacing a cocktail given to her husband, Eric Richins, with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at their home near Park City in 2022. A jury also found her guilty of four other felonies, including insurance fraud, forgery and attempted murder for trying to poison her husband weeks earlier on Feb. 14, 2022, with a
‘PERSONAL MISTAKES’: Eileen Wang has agreed to plead guilty to the felony, which comes with a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison A southern California mayor has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government and has resigned from her city position, officials said on Monday. Eileen Wang (王愛琳), mayor of Arcadia, was charged last month with one count of acting in the US as an illegal agent of a foreign government. She was accused of doing the bidding of Chinese officials, such as sharing articles favorable to Beijing, without prior notification to the US government as required by law. The 58-year-old was elected in November 2022 to a five-person city council, from which the mayor is selected
DELA ROSA CASE: The whereabouts of the senator, who is wanted by the ICC, was unclear, while President Marcos faces a political test over the senate situation Philippine authorities yesterday were seeking confirmation of reports that a top politician wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) had fled, a day after gunfire rang out at the Philippine Senate where he had taken refuge fearing his arrest. Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, the former national police chief and top enforcer of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs,” has been under Senate protection and is wanted for crimes against humanity, the same charges Duterte is accused of. “Several sources confirmed that the senator, Senator Bato, is no longer in the Senate premises, but we are still getting confirmation,” Presidential
HELP DENIED? The US Department of State said that the Cuban leadership refuses to allow the US to provide aid to Cubans, ‘who are in desperate need of assistance’ US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said that Cuba’s leadership must change, as Washington renewed an offer of US$100 million in aid if the communist nation agrees to cooperate. Cuba has been suffering severe economic tumult led by an energy shortage that plunged 65 percent of the country into darkness on Tuesday. Cuba’s leaders have blamed US sanctions, but Rubio, a Cuban American and critic of the government established by Fidel Castro, said the system was to blame, including corruption by the military. “It’s a broken, nonfunctional economy, and it’s impossible to change it. I wish it were different,” he told
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