CHINA
Tibetan self-immolates
A Tibetan monk set himself on fire in Guolou, Qinghai Province, on Monday, according to the US-based International Campaign for Tibet and Radio Free Asia. Police extinguished the flames and took Tsering Gyal, 20, to a hospital, they said, adding that his condition was unknown.
JAPAN
Shut nuclear plants: ex-PMs
Former prime ministers Junichiro Koizumi and Morihiro Hosokawa yesterday spoke out in favor of phasing out atomic power. Koizumi told the Japan Press Club that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should take advantage of his high public support and sway in parliament to “do the right thing … do what the majority of the people want.” Hosokawa, in an interview published in the Tokyo Shimbun, said he favors ending to the reliance on nuclear power. “I can’t understand why they want restarts of the nuclear plants when there is no place to discard the nuclear waste,” he said.
PAKISTAN
Militants’ financier killed
The chief financier of the Haqqani militant network has been shot dead in Islamabad. Gunmen attacked Nasiruddin Haqqani, a son of the group’s founder, on the edge of Islamabad on Sunday evening, the Pakistani Taliban said on Monday. There has been no immediate claim of responsibility, but a Pakistani Taliban spokesman accused the Inter-Services Intelligence agency of killing Haqqani and vowed revenge.
NEPAL
Transport strike enforced
Police say opposition activists have attacked cars in Kathmandu that defied a transport blockade that began yesterday and is aimed at disrupting next week’s elections. An alliance of 33 opposition parties ordered the nine-day nationwide strike. Police spokesman Ganesh Chetri says strike supporters vandalized at least three cars. The passengers were not hurt.
AUSTRALIA
Stamp carries message
Australia Post has created a “video stamp” to deliver a 15-second personal message that recipients can view on their mobile phone. The stamp will be distributed for free in the pre-Christmas period. Senders scan the stamp, attach it to their parcel and record a personalized greeting using their smartphone and the free Australia Post Video Stamp app within 12 hours of posting. The recipient then scans the stamp with their phone and it will play the message.
SINGAPORE
Hacker suspects detained
Five men aged 17 to 45 are being held for allegedly hacking the Web sites of the president and prime minister, police said yesterday. They said the alleged hackers had “exploited a vulnerability” in both Web sites to display pages from other sources last week. In an unrelated case, 35-year-old James Raj, was charged in court yesterday with hacking a local council’s Web site and posting an image of a Guy Fawkes mask, the international symbol of Anonymous. Police said Raj was also linked to a series of hacking incidents.
JAPAN
Abuse of disabled growing
The abuse of disabled people has emerged as a major problem, with the violence most often inflicted by family members or domestic carers, a government survey said. The survey, published on Monday, found 1,699 confirmed cases of physically or mentally disabled people being abused over a six-month period physically, verbally or through neglect.
UNITED KINGDOM
Man swims entire coast
An adventurer has become the first person to swim the length of the country after emerging from the chilly seas at the northeast tip of Scotland on Monday. Sean Conway took 135 days to swim 1,450km up the west coast from Land’s End, the southwest tip of England, to John O’Groats in Scotland. The Zimbabwe-born 32-year-old spent 90 days in the sea since June 30, with the rest out of the water due to bad weather. “I found out that no one had done it before and that just inspired a bit of imagination in me,” he told the BBC. “The toughest part was getting stung in the face by jellyfish. I’ve had to grow a ridiculous beard to help me.”
RUSSIA
Tomato-throwers detained
A Moscow district court on Monday sentenced opposition activists to time in police cells for petty hooliganism after they flung tomatoes at Dutch King Willem-Alexander. The court sentenced 23-year-old Denis Kudryavtsev to 15 days, while 18-year-old Viktoria Kuznetsova was sentenced to 10, the ITAR-TASS news agency reported. The activists were arrested after they hurled tomatoes at the Dutch king — missing their target — on Saturday as he and Dutch Queen Maxima arrived at a gala concert in Moscow. Both are members of The Other Russia opposition party. The party said the activists were expressing outrage at the January death of activist Alexander Dolmatov, who committed suicide after the Netherlands turned down his asylum request and sent him to a detention center.
UNITED STATES
Ousted musician kills three
A gunman who killed three Iranian indie rock musicians and injured a fourth person inside a Brooklyn apartment on Monday before killing himself was upset because he had been kicked out of another band last year, police said. Ali Akbar Mahammadi Rafie killed himself on the roof after struggling with a member of his former band, the Free Keys, police said. Rafie, 29, “was upset that he wasn’t in the band anymore,” New York Police Department spokesman John McCarthy said. Two of Rafie’s victims were brothers and members of the Yellow Dogs, a band that came to the country from Iran three years ago.
GERMANY
Shutterbug doctor jailed
A gynecologist who secretly took intimate photographs of more than 1,000 patients was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison on Monday. The judge said the gynecologist violated 1,467 women’s “most personal part of life” and also found the doctor guilty of sexual abuse in three cases, national news agency DPA reported. The doctor lost his medical license and will likely never get it back, DPA reported the judge as saying. After being tipped off by two long-time medical assistants, investigators found tens of thousands of photographs of more than 1,000 patients in the man’s possession, DPA said.
MEXICO
Former US soldier detained
Authorities have detained a former US soldier accused of leading a gang of kidnappers, officials said on Monday. The 32-year-old suspect spearheaded a band of 16 people who operated in the states of Nuevo Leon, Coahuila and Tamaulipas over the past four years, Nuevo Leon security spokesman Jorge Domene said. He moved to Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, from the US in 2009, Domene said. The ex-soldier is accused of ordering the Sept. 25 kidnapping of Jorge Luis Martinez Martinez, the 70-year-old father of the mayor of Zuazua in Monterrey. The victim was found dead five days later, although a ransom was paid.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number