CHINA
Demolition triggers suicide
A woman blew herself up to protest the demolition of her house near Kunming yesterday, killing two people and injuring 14, Xinhua news agency said. The woman, who also died, was at a local government office negotiating compensation for the loss of her home when she detonated explosives attached to her body, Xinhua said. “We have opened an investigation. I can’t tell you anything, but three people were killed and 14 were injured,” said an official reached by telephone at the local government office, who refused to give his name. “Of those [injured], four were badly hurt and are now on their way to hospital in Kunming.” A witness told Xinhua the woman blew herself up after she was asked to sign documents relating to compensation, and was killed immediately.
AUSTRALIA
Penguin deaths probed
Environmental officers yesterday were investigating the death of 27 penguins they believe were killed by a dog or a pack of dogs, ironically at Cat Bay. The protected Little Penguins were found mauled on Wednesday in the Phillip Island Nature Park in Victoria state, a popular tourist attraction. The Little Penguin, also known as the Fairy Penguin, is the world’s smallest penguin species and the only one permanently found in the nation. Phillip Island is home to one of the world’s largest colonies and every night hundreds of the birds swim ashore and make their way to their homes in the nature reserve. The owner of any dog found responsible for attacking a penguin could face fines of up to A$3,000 (US$3,000).
SOUTH KOREA
Citizen arrested in Cambodia
A man has been arrested in Phnom Penh for allegedly smuggling a North Korean yesterday. The ministry said the man, surnamed Kim, was arrested at the airport as he tried to re-enter Cambodia two weeks ago and accused of breaching “a law against human trafficking and sexual exploitation.” Yonhap news agency said the 35-year-old, a former North Korean refugee who became a South Korean national, had been sought by Cambodian police in connection with the disappearance of the North Korean woman in June last year. The woman, surnamed Moon and aged 25, was last seen leaving a Phnom Penh hotel room with Kim. Her current whereabouts are not known. “Mr Kim has told Cambodian authorities that he has an intimate relationship with Miss Moon,” a foreign ministry spokeswoman said.
COOK ISLANDS
Former PM Henry dies
Sir Geoffrey Henry, the colorful and forthright former leader, has died. He was 71 and had cancer. Henry was prime minister briefly in 1983 and then for a decade from 1989 to 1999. He was knighted in 1992. He died late on Wednesday. New Zealand lawmaker Su’a William Sio remembered him in a statement yesterday as a “shining star” of Cook Islands politics, a passionate rugby supporter and a friend to New Zealand.
HONG KONG
Pollution drives activist off
Eric Bohm, chief executive officer of the World Wide Fund for Nature Hong Kong, is leaving the territory after 31 years because of the effects of air pollution on his wife’s health, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported. The 68-year-old Canadian will move to Britain, according to the SCMP. He said he is disappointed with the government’s inability to address the pollution problem, the newspaper reported. Bohm’s wife has asthma and contracted pneumonia twice last year, the SCMP cited him as saying.
PAKISTAN
Short-range missile fired
The military says it has successfully test-fired a short-range missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead. A military statement said the Hatf III Ghaznavi, with a range of 290km, was launched yesterday at the conclusion of the Army Strategic Force Command’s annual field training exercise. It is the second such test in the past two weeks. On April 25, the nation launched what it said was an intermediate-range missile after India conducted its own missile test. Islamabad routinely test-fires what it claims are indigenously developed missiles.
RUSSIA
Putin cancels on G8 summit
President Vladimir Putin will miss the upcoming G8 summit in the US because he is busy forming a government after just starting his third term as head of state, the Kremlin said yesterday. However, Putin will meet US President Barack Obama at the G20 summit in next month in Mexico, the Kremlin added. The two-day G8 summit at the US presidential retreat at Camp David was which was schedule to start on Friday next week was to have been Putin’s first foreign visit since his inauguration on Monday. Instead Putin will be represented by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who until Monday was the nation’s president.
POLAND
Puppet show held in Krakow
Dutch puppet group Hotel Modern performed a show on Wednesday in Krakow in the south of the country about the plight of prisoners at the former Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. The show, which featured 3,000 puppets, traced the history of the camp, which was built near Krakow and became a symbol of the Holocaust. Directed by Pauline Kalker, whose grandfather died in Auschwitz, the puppet show has been performed several times since 2005 in the Netherlands, the US, Canada and Japan. “It was important for me to make this show,” Kalker said. “At the time, the Nazis wanted to keep the genocide a secret. They killed people in secret. To make this show let people be witnesses to history.”
TURKEY
Trains collide in Adana
Authorities say two passenger trains collided at a train station in the south of the country, slightly injuring nine passengers and two crew. Turkish State Railways said yesterday that a train traveling from the Mediterranean port city of Mersin rammed into an empty passenger train maneuvering at a station in the city of Adana late on Wednesday. A similar accident last month left 12 people injured when a freighter train rammed into a passenger train. The nation is trying to improve its rail system, which is beset by signaling malfunctions, ill-equipped trains, deteriorating tracks and a lack of barriers at road crossings.
NIGERIA
At least two killed in attack
At least two people were killed in an attack on a market for which the military blamed radical Islamist sect Boko Haram, which is waging an increasingly bloody sectarian battle. The attack happened on Wednesday in the city of Maiduguri, where the sect once had its main mosque. Witnesses said the gunmen came into the market and shot two traders dead before fleeing. The witnesses requested anonymity out of fear of angering the military or the sect. Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa blamed the attack on Boko Haram. He said soldiers later killed one suspected sect member and arrested two others who carried out an attack on a military post.
HONDURAS
Radio newscaster abducted
The news manager at one of the largest radio stations in the country has been abducted in Tegucigalpa. Alfredo Villatoro was snatched from his car. The news manager and commentator at radio HRN previously reported receiving death threats, Security Ministry spokesman Ivan Mejia said. Public Ministry official Daniela Ferrera said it appeared that on Wednesday six assailants traveling in two sport utility vehicles forced Villatoro’s car to stop, beat him and forced him into a vehicle. The abduction follows the killing of gay rights activist and journalist Erick Martinez Avila, who was found strangled to death on Monday.
CANADA
Card fraud ring uncovered
Canadian police said on Wednesday they have broken up an international fraud ring that drained about US$100 million from the accounts of unsuspecting bank card holders. Authorities arrested 45 people in a series of raids and issued warrants for 61 people. Police said the network was active in Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Tunisia. The fraudsters had various cells, some specializing in filming and modifying ATMs, others in stealing PINs or hacking into store computers, while others forged cards. In some cases, they modified point-of-sale machines to read the credit and debit card information stored on the device and then transferred it onto blank debit and credit cards.
MEXICO
School children in sex tape
Authorities in the state of Campeche said on Wednesday they are investigating how a porn video was made by sixth-graders inside their school. State Education Department spokesman Omar Kantun said the video was apparently made in an empty classroom during recess late last month in Calkini. Three boys are seen on the video engaging in oral and anal sex recorded on a cellphone by a fourth person, apparently another student. The mother of one of the boys saw the video on the Internet and notified authorities, Kantun said. He said an investigation is being conducted by his department and the teachers union to determine whether any adults were involved and that the students are being given psychological counseling.
JAMAICA
Drug boss’ brother freed
The brother of convicted drug kingpin Christopher “Dudus” Coke was acquitted of gun charges. Leighton “Livity” Coke was greeted by dozens of cheering supporters on Wednesday as he walked out of a Kingston court. He was found not guilty of illegal possession of a gun and shooting with intent. Police alleged he shot at them during an offensive last year in May to catch his brother. The court ruled prosecutors lacked evidence.
PANAMA
Noriega’s health deteriorates
Former dictator Manuel Noriega was transferred from prison to a hospital on Wednesday after suffering a respiratory infection, one of his daughters said. “It’s not a routine check-up and he didn’t have an appointment. He’s had a fever since yesterday and they are going to keep him hospitalized today,” Thays Noriega said. The 78-year-old has been imprisoned in the El Renacer Penitentiary since December last year when he was brought back to the country after 21 years in prison in the US and France on drug trafficking and money-laundering charges. Noriega is serving three 20-year prison terms for the disappearance of opponents during his years in power.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia