INDIA
Giant spiders attack villages
Officials say colonies of giant biting spiders have attacked villagers and sparked panic in the remote northeast. Two bite victims have died in Tinsukia district. Authorities say it is unclear whether they died from venom or from treatment by traditional doctors who cut them with razor blades to drain the wounds. Another seven bite victims have been treated with antibiotics against infection after they also tried to drain their wounds, said Anil Phapowali, a doctor at the Sadiya town hospital. The hairy spiders were first noticed about a month ago across Tinsukia district’s grassy plains and dense jungle forests north of the Brahmaputra River. Officials say the spiders are now also showing up south of the Brahmaputra.
AUSTRALIA
Drunken granny has to pay
A drunken grandmother who punched a passenger in the face on a Qantas flight to New Zealand was yesterday ordered to pay the cost of the aircraft having to return to Melbourne. Frances Macaskill, 58, pleaded guilty in a Melbourne court to one charge of offensive and disorderly behavior, and another of assault. She was fined A$3,500 (US$3,409) for the assault and given a four-month suspended jail term for the other charge. The New Zealand national, who lives in Perth and was traveling to Wellington to see her children, was also ordered to pay Qantas A$18,245 — the cost to the airline of having to turn the flight back to where it took off.
PHILIPPINES
Chinese men kidnapped
Two Chinese men have been kidnapped, the military said yesterday, becoming the latest victims to be abducted in the country’s troubled south. Six armed men marched the pair, known locally as James Lou and Jampong Linyuan Kai, out of their house on Mindanao Island and into a van waiting outside late on Monday, local military spokesman Captain Albert Caber said. The two Guangdong natives had lived in the town of Kabasalan for almost two years, buying manganese ore from local miners, said Caber, quoting local authorities. Caber said the crime was likely the work of former Muslim guerrilla-turned-bandit leader Waning Abdulsalam.
PAKISTAN
Missile test successful
A fifth nuclear-capable missile was tested yesterday since India launched a new long-range weapon capable of hitting China just over six weeks ago. The Hatf VII cruise missile has a range of 700km, can carry conventional warheads and has stealth capabilities, the military said. It described the “low flying, terrain-hugging missile with high maneuverability” as having “pinpoint accuracy” and “radar avoidance features.” India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947. Each has carried out routine missile tests since both demonstrated nuclear weapons capability in 1998.
CAMBODIA
Pedophile to be deported
A Russian pedophile controversially pardoned in Cambodia’s most widely known child-sex scandal will be deported after he was arrested at the home of a teenage girl, police said yesterday. Alexander Trofimov, who built a US$300 million tourist resort in the country, was arrested at the house of an under-aged girl outside the capital Phnom Penh, police spokesman Kirt Chantharith said. Keo Vanthan, head of Cambodia’s Interpol office, said the Russian is also on the organization’s most-wanted list for sex offenses in his home country and will be deported.
CANADA
Bear eats convicted killer
Conservation officers have euthanized a black bear that ate the remains of a convicted murderer. British Columbia Minister of Environment Terry Lake said on Monday the bear’s description matched that of one seen guarding a cache that contained the remains of Rory Wagner, 54. Examinations of fur at the scene as well as teeth and claw marks confirmed the bear that was euthanized is the one that ate the remains. Lake said the animal was put down because bears remember food sources. Officials suspect the bear pulled Wagner’s body from his car after he died on a remote logging road. Wagner pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 1994. He and two others were charged with killing a man who they believed had sexually assaulted a family member. He served his prison time and was released. He had been reported missing on May 23. Police said his death was not suspicious. An official said an autopsy showed Wagner was dead before the bear got him out of the car. “The degree of decomposition would suggest the body had been removed [from the car] after death,” Royal Canadian Mounted Poilce (RCMP) Sergeant Grant Learned said.
CANADA
Bear with hot pot fix killed
A wild black bear attacked a man relaxing in a hot tub at the Whistler ski resort with a swift whack to the head, police said on Monday. The 55-year-old man from Coquitlam, British Columbia, “felt a heavy blow to the back of his head which propelled him forward in the hot tub” on Saturday, RCMP Staff Sergeant Steve LeClair said in a statement. The man then “turned around and found himself face to face with a black bear. He yelled at the bear and retreated inside,” the statement said. The man suffered lacerations to the back of his head and was taken to Whistler Health Care Centre for treatment. Police responding to the incident located the bear about 100m away as it headed for a wooded area. “The bear was destroyed,” the police statement said.
GUATEMALA
Cardinal Quezada dies
Cardinal Rodolfo Quezada Toruno, who urged the public to accept the peace accords that ended 36 years of civil war in the nation, died on Monday, church officials said. He was 80 and had been suffering from intestinal cancer. “He was the raw material from which peace was made. He was always fighting for peace and reconciliation in Guatemala,” said President Otto Perez, who ordered three days of national mourning. The cardinal led the National Reconciliation Commission from 1987 to 1993.
PERU
Suspect may be extradited
The Supreme Court has ruled that Dutch citizen Joran van der Sloot can be extradited to the US in connection with the 2005 disappearance in Aruba of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway, but only after serving a prison sentence for a murder in Lima. The court decided last week that Van der Sloot’s extradition must wait until he serves out his 28-year sentence for the 2010 killing of a young business student. The sentence handed down in January is under appeal. Van der Sloot, 24, is wanted in the US for extortion in connection with the unsolved Holloway case in which he was a prime suspect. Prosecutors say Van der Sloot tried to get thousands of dollars in cash from her family in exchange for information on the whereabouts of her body.
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