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.
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
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
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
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the