NEW ZEALAND
Author Margaret Mahy dies
Beloved children’s author Margaret Mahy, who wrote more than 120 books and earned acclaim at home and abroad, has died at the age of 76. She died on Monday after being diagnosed with cancer, her cousin Ron Mahy said. Mahy’s best-known books include A Lion in the Meadow, The Man Whose Mother Was a Pirate and Bubble Trouble. She won the Carnegie Medal for outstanding children’s writing twice and in 2006 won the Hans Christian Andersen Award for her lifetime contribution to children’s literature. She was one of 20 living people to hold the nation’s highest honor, the Order of New Zealand, and her books were translated into 15 languages.
AUSTRALIA
Case against Hicks dropped
The government has dropped a case against David Hicks over a memoir about his time in Guantanamo Bay, which it had launched under laws that ban people profiting from crime. Federal prosecutors launched proceedings against Hicks, 36, in the Supreme Court last year seeking to have the earnings from his autobiography, Guantanamo: My Journey declared criminal proceeds seizable by the state. However, government counsel Lionel Robberds said the director of public prosecutions had decided to withdraw the case, which reportedly centered on A$10,000 (US$10,200) from the sale of 30,000 books. Hicks was returned home in April 2007 following a plea deal which saw him serve a nine-month sentence on home soil for providing material support for terrorism, after five-and-a-half years in Guantanamo.
SOUTH KOREA
Pop singer booked
A popular member of boy band 2PM has been booked for allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol after colliding with a motorcyclist early yesterday, police said. Nichkhun Horvejkul, 24, was found to have a blood-alcohol content marginally over the legal limit and could have his license suspended, a detective at Seoul’s Gangnam police station said. The motorcyclist suffered bruises, but no broken bones. Nichkhun, a Thai-American, is a rapper, dancer and occasional support vocalist for the six-member group. His agency JYP Entertainment issued a public apology over the incident and said the artist would cooperate with police.
VIETNAM
Bull closes Hue’s airport
Hue’s Phu Bai Airport has been closed because of a roaming bull. The animal was first spotted on Monday morning in a wooded area that borders the airport’s runway. Almost 100 police officers, soldiers and rangers were mobilized to stop the bull from crossing onto the runway. Yesterday, they were aiming to tranquilize the bull and closed the airport until 6pm. Airport director Do Chi Thanh says it’s unclear where the bull came from.
SRI LANKA
Power cuts implemented
Electricity across the country will be turned off for three hours daily until Saturday, the Ceylon Electricity Board said yesterday, after technical problems knocked out almost a quarter of its generating capacity. The power cut was implemented after the 300 megawatt (MW) Chinese-built coal power plant at Norocholai failed last week for a fifth time since it was commissioned in March last year. Another 100MW was lost from a combined diesel power plant, and an extended drought has decimated hydropower’s contribution to the national grid. In all, the nation has lost 22 percent of its capacity to meet peak demand.
Agencies
PERU
President shuffles Cabinet
President Ollanta Humala swore in a new prime minister and named five other Cabinet ministers on Monday in a shuffle that comes amid anti-mining protests and a drop in his popularity. Former prime minister Oscar Valdes, who was criticized for his handling of a mine protest, stepped down and was replaced by Juan Jimenez, who had been justice minister. Defense Minister Jose Urquizo was replaced by Pedro Cateriano and Interior Minister Wilver Calle was replaced by Wilfredo Pedraza. The defense and interior ministries had been under pressure amid complaints about the handling of the fight against Shining Path rebels. The ministers of justice, agriculture and health were also changed.
FRANCE
Shark mauls, kills surfer
A shark mauled a surfer to death on Monday in an attack off the coast off the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion, emergency services said. The 21-year-old surfer, a resident of Reunion, died after the shark bit through his leg about 100m from shore at one of the island’s most popular surfing spots. Fellow surfers hauled the victim to the beach and emergency services unsuccessfully tried to revive him for more than hour, according to witnesses speaking on local radio station Freedom.
VIRGIN ISLANDS
Male strippers plead guilty
Four male strippers from Florida have pleaded guilty to illegal entry into the British Virgin Islands. The Fort Lauderdale men acknowledged being in the British Caribbean territory illegally, but on Monday they told a judge that local promoter Denise Stanley had deceived them. They said Stanley assured them she had made the proper arrangements with immigration officials even after they were denied work permits. Andre Baker, Reginald Billings, Asa Ambrister and Alesian Rolle were hired to dance at a territory hotel on Friday. They were arrested the next day on the main island of Tortola.
ISRAEL
West Bank land deal probed
Police are investigating whether residents of a rogue West Bank settlement used forged land deal documents in an effort to thwart their upcoming court-ordered eviction, an anti-settlement group said on Monday. Under a Supreme Court order, the government must dismantle the Migron outpost by Aug. 1 because it was built on private Palestinian land. On Sunday, the government asked the Supreme Court to delay the evacuation by a month, its latest attempt to put off a potential clash with extremist settlers. The court has yet to rule. Earlier this month, Migron settlers said they had bought some of the land from Palestinians, settlement watchdog Peace Now spokeswoman Hagit Ofran said, adding that the group had proof that the sales were forgeries and had filed a complaint with the police.
DENMARK
World Santa Congress held
If Santa looks thinner than usual at Christmas, it might have something to do with Zumba, the Latin-inspired dance fitness craze. A Zumba exercise class with hula hoops was a novelty at this year’s World Santa Congress, which brought St Nicks from around the globe to an amusement park in Copenhagen this week. Now in its 55th consecutive year, the four-day World Santa Congress has more workouts on the schedule, including an obstacle course in which Santas must go down a chimney and climb an ice mountain.
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
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
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not