China
Trial of Bo’s wife opens
The murder trial of the wife of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) will start next Thursday in Hefei in east China. The date is a sign the case is advancing before China’s once-a-decade political transition.
Gu Kailai (谷開來)and a family aide, Zhang Xiaojun (張曉軍), are accused of poisoning British businessman Neil Heywood, an associate of the Bo family. The official Xinhua news agency said Gu had a falling out with Heywood over money and worried that her son’s safety was threatened. The murder case is at the center of a political scandal that has highlighted factions in the Chinese leadership ahead of the power handover to a younger generation of leaders later this year.
Australia
Birds’ heads torn off in zoo
Nine birds, including an endangered swift parrot, had their heads smashed in or ripped off and more than 60 animals were missing yesterday after vandals went on the rampage at an Australian zoo. Police said “a number of animals escaped their enclosures, with most being recaptured,” adding that two chainsaws were also stolen from the zoo complex.
Two rare swift parrots and a yellow-tailed black cockatoo, were among the animals still on the loose in what was described as a devastating blow for the zoo’s breeding program.
Philippines
Mine waste spill contained
A waste spillage at the Philippines’ largest gold mine has been contained after the slime threatened to contaminate one of the country’s largest rivers, the government said yesterday. The Padcal mine, located near the major northern mountain resort of Baguio, would remain closed until the safety and integrity of its tailings pond was assured, civil defense office administrator Benito Ramos said. The accident came amid intense public debate about the mining industry in the Philippines, which is believed to have some of the biggest mineral reserves in the world.
Myanmar
Myanmar frees bomber
Myanmar’s president on Friday pardoned a cancer-stricken man sentenced to death for killing 10 people in a festival bombing two years ago, the latest of hundreds of prisoners to be freed under the country’s reformist government. Phyo Wai Aung, 33, who has liver cancer and is paralyzed from below the waist, was released four days after a visit to Yangon’s Insein Prison by UN Special Human Rights Rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana. President Thein Sein, a former junta general credited with pushing through speedy reforms in Myanmar, has declared several amnesties since May last year, including the release of at least 650 political prisoners, whose freedom had been demanded by Western governments in order for sanctions to be eased.
United states
Delay in flight operations
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says the US will delay flight operations by Marine Corps MV-22 Ospreys in Okinawa until the Japanese government agrees that the hybrid aircraft is safe. Panetta told Pentagon reporters Friday that US officials are completing a safety report and will provide Japanese leaders with details on two recent Osprey crashes. His comments came after he met here with Japanese Defense Minister Satoshi Morimoto, who then left the Pentagon for a flight on an Osprey. The tilt-rotor Osprey can take off and land like a helicopter but also has wings and can fly like a plane.
PERU
Bull terrorizes village
A bull that bolted from a barn caused panic in a village near Lima, damaging a police car and slightly injuring a woman before its capture, police said on Friday. Weighing in at 500kg, “David” escaped on Thursday night after a fight with another bull in Villa El Salvador, a village near Lima, barn owner Jonas Pareja said. The animal headed to a nearby hill, but later roamed the streets of the village, causing an uproar among residents, who quickly fled their homes. Before being cornered by police on Friday morning, the bull slammed into a woman, who was slightly injured, and also badly damaged a police patrol car. “The bull is usually easygoing, but the escape stressed him out and caused some problems,” the owner said.
SYRIA
Reuters blog hijacked
Hackers took over the blogging platform of the Reuters news agency and posted “fabricated” stories said to include an interview with a Syrian rebel leader, the company said on Friday. “Reuters.com was a target of a hack on Friday,” a statement from parent firm Thomson Reuters said. Among the fake postings was a purported interview with the head of the Free Syrian Army, who was quoted as saying that rebel forces were pulling back after clashes in the city of Aleppo. Reuters said it did not carry out that interview, that the posting has been deleted and that the blogging platform was taken offline as it addresses the problem. Opposition fighters told a news conference on Friday in Iraq they would not withdraw from Aleppo, the northern city which has been under attack by regime forces.
UNItED STATES
Plane delayed by bee swarm
A beekeeper says he had to be called in to gather up a swarm of thousands of bees that delayed a Delta Air Lines flight from Pittsburgh International Airport to New York. Master beekeeper Stephen Repasky tells KDKA-TV he was called out on Wednesday when the bees gathered on the wing of the plan as crews were getting ready to fuel the plane because they are a protected species that cannot legally be killed. Repasky says such swarms form when colonies become too large and the queen bee leaves half of her bees behind to find a new home. Some swarms can contain 25,000 to 30,000 bees. Repasky says it is likely there is a wild honeybee colony at the airport somewhere.
UNItED STATES
Accused killer fined for hair
The army psychiatrist accused of a massacre on a Texas military base was fined US$1,000 on Friday for refusing to shave before a military hearing. Major Nidal Hasan, who could face the death penalty if convicted, is accused of opening fire at the Fort Hood army base on Nov. 5, 2009, in an attack that killed 12 soldiers and a civilian, and wounded 32 others. The shooting jolted the military and prompted calls for stronger safeguards against possible internal security threats and “homegrown” terror attacks. Military Judge Colonel Gregory Gross has warned Hasan that he could be forcibly shaved if he continues to ignore grooming standards.The FBI alleges Hasan had contacts with US-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi, a key leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula who was killed in a drone strike last year. Hasan, who was born in Virginia to Palestinian parents was set to deploy to Afghanistan weeks after the massacre. He was shot by police officers as they tried to halt the carnage. He was left paralyzed from the neck down.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
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
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in