THAILAND
Rihanna tweets alert police
Pop star Rihanna spent a weekend at the beach in Thailand, leaving behind a trail of racy tweets and incriminating Instagram photographs that led police to arrest two people for allegedly peddling protected primates. Rihanna visited the island of Phuket, where she befriended some local wildlife. She posted a link on Twitter to an Instagram photo that showed her in sunglasses snuggling up to a furry primate called the slow loris, and tweeted on Friday: “Look who was talkin dirty to me!” The slow loris, a squirrel-like animal with big eyes, is native to Southeast Asia and is listed as a protected species. “Phuket authorities were alerted to the picture, and last night police arrested the two individuals who brought out the loris as a photo opportunity for tourists,” Phuket District Chief Weera Kerdsirimongkon said by telephone on Sunday. Police confiscated two lorises from the pair — a 20-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy — who could face charges of possession of protected animals.
JAPAN
Porn mailed to police chief
Six pornography dealers have been arrested after mailing their catalogs to the head of Osaka Police Department by mistake, according to local media. Police last week arrested Toshiharu Hidaka, 27, and five other men on suspicion of possessing obscene material with the intent to sell it in Osaka, Jiji Press and other news reports said. The suspects had been sending catalogues of illegal porn DVDs to random male customers by mail, and three sets were accidentally addressed to the police chief’s house, the reports said. Police then raided Hidaka’s office in Osaka and seized about 280,000 uncensored discs as well as 7,000 erectile dysfunction pills, they said, adding that police also suspected they illegally possessed the pills.
BANGLADESH
Worker protests continue
Angry garment workers blocked roads, set factories alight and clashed with police for a third day yesterday as protests demanding a minimum monthly wage of US$100 spread outside the capital, Dhaka. Abdul Baten, police chief of the Gazipur industrial district near Dhaka which is home to hundreds of factories, said that “up to 200,000 workers” had joined the latest demonstrations. His deputy Mustafizur Rahman said about 300 factories, which make clothing for top Western retailers such as Walmart, were shut yesterday to contain the violence as protesting workers attacked plants that stayed open. Manufacturers said yesterday’s protests were some of the worst in the sector since 2010 when months of demonstrations forced the government and factory owners to agree to a minimum monthly wage of 3,000 taka (US$38).
AUSTRALIA
Tiny snake delays plane
A tiny snake as slender as a pen forced the grounding of a Japan-bound Qantas flight in Sydney overnight, stranding hundreds of passengers. The non-venomous reptile, about 20cm long, was found near the doorway of a Boeing 747-400 bound for Tokyo on Sunday night, a Qantas spokeswoman said. “The snake was taken to quarantine to determine where it came from,” she said. The plane had been on the tarmac in Sydney for most of Sunday after completing a flight from Singapore, and the snake was found by air crew before any passengers boarded. It was uncertain where the reptile had come from but the Department of Agriculture has identified it as a Mandarin ratsnake which
CHINA
Venezuela signs agreements
The country signed several agreements with Venezuela on Sunday during a visit by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro that is meant to strengthen economic ties between the South American nation and its leading creditor. Maduro told President Xi Jinping (習近平) that the main goal of his trip was to further consolidate and expand the strategic partnership between the two countries that late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez began with Chinese leaders. Chavez died in March after 14 years in power. The two leaders signed 12 agreements on Sunday, including ones related to a finance fund deal, education and a joint development between state-owned oil producer Sinopec and Venezuela’s national oil company. They also signed a cooperation and exchange agreement between the country’s space flight administration and Venezuela’s science and innovation ministry relating to remote satellites. No details were given on any of the agreements. Maduro told Xi that Venezuela was in an important phase of economic transformation and wanted to diversify its economic structure. Xi called Maduro “China’s good friend” and said his visit would propel bilateral relations “to new heights.”
MEXICO
Author Alvaro Mutis dies
The cultural arts commission says that famed Colombian poet and author Alvaro Mutis has died in the country. He was 90 years old. Mutis was considered one of the most important Latin American writers of his time, with his work earning major international honors such as the Xavier Villaurrutia, Prince of Asturias and Cervantes prizes. The National Commission for Culture and the Arts is lamenting the death of the acclaimed literary giant via its Twitter account. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos also sent his condolences after Mutis’ death was announced on Sunday night.
RUSSIA
Suicide bomber kills officials
Two officials were killed and six more people were wounded when a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb yesterday in the volatile Caucasus region of Dagestan, police said. A Lada car was driven near a police station in the Dagestani village of Khuchni before dawn yesterday morning and was detonated as it came to a sudden halt, regional police said in a statement. “A suicide bomber was in the car,” the statement said. An employee of the federal migration service and a policeman died, while six people received injuries. One of the wounded was in a “grave state.” Police did not provide further details, saying only it was searching for those behind the attack. The majority-Muslim region of Dagestan experiences almost daily shootings and bombings that officials blame on local criminals and Islamists with links to Chechnya, where the Kremlin has fought two wars over the past 20 years.
BAHRAIN
US helicopter crashes
The US Navy says search teams are looking for two missing airmen after a helicopter crash in the Red Sea. Three crew members were rescued late on Sunday after the MH-60S Knighthawk went down in the central Red Sea while operating with the destroyer USS William P. Lawrence. A statement yesterday from the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet says aircraft and vessels are taking part in the search for the two others. The US Navy says an investigation is underway, but there was no hostile activity involved.
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
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
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