INDIA
Ganges dip ‘good for health’
Kumbh Mela, the world’s biggest religious festival, which sees up to 100 million people flock to take a bath in the river Ganges, is good for pilgrims’ health, a new study said. Despite facing cold weather, endless noise, poor food and the risk of disease, Hindu devotees who attend such events report higher levels of mental and physical well-being, the study said. The 55-day festival, which takes place every 12 years, began on Monday, with 8 million people jostling for space to take a dip in the sacred waters, which are said to cleanse sins. Social scientists from four British and five Indian universities concluded that the shared group experience of enduring hardships and sharing the same activities outweighed any physical discomfort.
CHINA
Cats escape dinner table
About 600 cats stuffed into wooden crates and destined for dinner plates were rescued by animal protection volunteers after a truck crash, a volunteer said on Thursday. Volunteers hauled the felines from the truck on Monday after the accident in the central city of Changsha, Xu Chenxin of the Changsha Small Animal Protection Association said. About another 100 were already dead. Pictures of the rescue, showing volunteers unloading the crates late at night, were widely shared on Chinese social media sites. Many of the cats, which were white and plump, had escaped or died after being left out in the cold for more than 24 hours. The cats were “clearly” due to be served as food in southern China, Xu told reporters. The volunteer group negotiated with one of the truck’s drivers to buy the animals for 10,000 yuan (US$1,600) and they were now awaiting adoption, Xu said, adding: “We’ve already had inquiries from families across Changsha.”
JAPAN
Three dead in boat fire
Three people died and five were missing yesterday in a fishing boat fire in waters near islands at the center of a dispute between Tokyo and Beijing, Japanese coast guards said. “We have been informed by South Korean officials that three people died and five are missing from a South Korean fisheries ship that caught fire in waters near Uotsuri Island,” a spokesman said, referring to an island in the East China Sea. The incident was first discovered by a South Korean vessel in waters 100 nautical miles (185km) north of Diaoyu Island (釣魚島), the largest island in the Tokyo-administered Senkakus chain, which are called Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) by Taiwan, which also claims them. The coast guards said the ship had nine crew members aboard — seven South Korean nationals and two Chinese nationals. The other South Korean vessel had recovered four of the nine crew, of whom three were already dead, they said.
UNITED KINGDOM
Queen receives varied gifts
A piece of Antarctica named after her, a baby llama, tea from Sri Lanka and her own set of Olympic medals were just some of the gifts given to Queen Elizabeth II during her diamond jubilee year last year. Foreign leaders, emissaries, luxury goods businesses and members of the public gave her a treasure trove, from jewels given by the Emir of Kuwait to a wind chime from a nursery school near her Sandringham estate, according to a list released by Buckingham Palace. The list documents more than 140 gifts given to the queen from world leaders such as US President Barack Obama (1950s Tiffany & Co silver compact). Other gifts included 436 books, 235 CDs and DVDs, 81 pieces of embroidery or knitting, 78 portraits of the queen, 40 digital photograph books, 28 wall hangings or bunting, 19 tea towels, nine jigsaws, honorary ownership of a baby llama and adoption of a baby Asian elephant.
RUSSIA
Bolshoi official attacked
Moscow police say the artistic director at the legendary Bolshoi Theater has been attacked with acid. They said yesterday that Sergei Filin was attacked on Thursday night by a man who splashed acid onto his face as the 43-year-old former dancer came out of his car outside his home in central Moscow. The theater’s press office told Russian television that Filin’s eyesight is threatened. Bolshoi spokeswoman Katerina Novikova told Channel One that Filin had received threats before and that they suspect that that he fell victim to the notorious infighting and rows between different groups of dancers and managers at the theater.
UNITED STATES
Wagner staying mum
Actor Robert Wagner has declined to be interviewed by detectives in a renewed inquiry into the drowning death of his wife Natalie Wood three decades ago, an investigator said on Thursday. Wagner was interviewed by authorities soon after Wood’s drowning in 1981, but he is the only person who was on the yacht the night Wood died who has not spoken to detectives as part of the latest inquiry, despite repeated requests, sheriff’s Lieutenant John Corina said. Blair Berk, an attorney for Wagner, said the actor had cooperated with authorities since his wife died. Detectives reopened the case in November 2011. After 30 years, Berk said, neither Wagner nor his daughters have any new information to add.
UNITED STATES
Fighter jets escort plane
Two F-15 fighter jets escorted an Alaska Airlines flight into Seattle’s main airport on Thursday after an anonymous caller told the FBI that a male passenger could be a hijacker. An FBI spokesman in Honolulu, Tom Simon, said an anonymous caller had informed his office that there could be a hijacker aboard Alaska Airlines Flight 819, which originated in Kona, Hawaii, and identified the man by name. Flight crew was alerted, and the plane landed “without any drama at all,” Simon said. Law enforcement and FBI officials removed the unidentified man from the plane for questioning.
ISRAEL
Netanyahu stands firm
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday pledged that there would be no dismantlement of any Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank if he wins next week’s general election. He told the Maariv newspaper: “The days when bulldozers uprooted Jews are behind us, not in front of us. Our record proves it.”
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