JAPAN
One killed in ship collision
One Chinese crewmember was killed and eight others were missing after two cargo ships collided at the mouth of Tokyo Bay yesterday, authorities said. The Panamanian-flagged Beagle III, a 12,630-tonne vessel carrying steel coil, sank after colliding with the South Korean-registered Pegasus Prime in the Uraga waterway. Twelve of the 20 Chinese crew aboard Beagle III were rescued, but one of them was later confirmed to be dead, an official said. The crew of the 7,406-tonne Pegasus Prime — six South Koreans and eight people from Myanmar — were mostly unhurt, but two Koreans sustained minor injuries when they tried to lower a lifeboat, the official said.
AUSTRALIA
‘Secret baby graves’ probed
Police began digging up a rural property yesterday searching for what reports said were “multiple babies” in secret graves. Officers swooped on a house near Gin Gin, 370km northwest of Brisbane, after a tip-off that children were born in secret and their bodies hidden on the property by the same family in the 1990s and early 2000s. “I can confirm we are conducting investigations into information received regarding allegations a number of child births have been concealed on the property,” cold case homicide Detective Inspector Mick Dowie said. He would not say how many children might have been born and buried there, although the Brisbane Courier-Mail newspaper referred to “multiple babies in secret graves.” “There’s one family involved,” Dowie added, without saying whether they were cooperating with police.
INDONESIA
Body found, possibly diver
A body believed to be that of a Japanese diver who went missing with six others off Bali a month ago has been found far from where she disappeared, police said on Monday. The body, thought to be that of diving instructor Shoko Takahashi, was found at the weekend on Sempu Island, East Java Province, about 400km from where the divers went missing. Five of the other female Japanese divers in the group were rescued days after they went missing on Feb. 14, while the body of a sixth washed up on the Indonesian resort island. The body found at the weekend was barely recognizable — the head was missing — but Takahashi’s husband believes it is her due to the clothes inside the diving suit, police said. “The husband, who came to the hospital last night, said he is 98 percent sure that the body belongs to his missing Japanese wife,” Malang marine police chief Slamet Prayitno said. The captain of the boat that took the divers out has been arrested and faces a charge of “negligence which caused the loss of life” after leaving the divers alone in the open seas during the trip.
TUNISIA
Suspected militants killed
Police shot and killed three suspected Islamist militants in a raid near the Algerian border, a security official said on Monday, days after Algerian troops reportedly killed seven militants on the other side of the frontier. Clashes broke out on Monday morning when security forces raided a house in northwest Jendouba, the official said. Gunmen disguised as police had killed three officers and a civilian in an attack there last month. Authorities have been battling militants from the hardline Islamist movement Ansar al-Sharia, which the US earlier this year listed as a foreign terrorist organization. Algerian state news agency APS reported on Friday that Algerian troops had killed seven armed militants who crossed the border from Tunisia.
CANADA
Trapped dolphin pod dies
About 30 white-beaked dolphins have died after being trapped in ice off the coast of Newfoundland Province, and the three remaining alive are not faring well, officials said on Monday. Fisheries officials twice visited the area around Cape Ray, where the animals were reported to have been trapped on Sunday and again on Monday morning. “All but three animals have died,” ministry spokesman Larry Vaters said. “The remaining dolphins appear to be in extremely poor condition and current weather conditions of high winds and whiteouts in the area are not helping matters.” The dolphins would have struggled for air as the ice floes crushed in around them, becoming exhausted and eventually drowning. It is not uncommon to see dolphins as well as porpoises and beluga whales swimming in the ice off Newfoundland waters during the spring thaw, officials said. The area’s “unique geography and currents” tend to form so-called “whale traps” whenever the ice is heavy, Vaters said.
UNITED KINGDOM
Jagger’s girlfriend dead
Fashion designer L’Wren Scott, the girlfriend of Rolling Stone frontman Mick Jagger, was found dead at her apartment in New York, the rocker’s spokesman said on Monday. The spokesman said Jagger was “completely shocked and devastated” by the death of 49-year-old Scott. US media reported that she was found hanged. Jagger, 70, is currently in Perth, Australia, where he is touring with the Stones, according to his official Twitter account. Scott, a former US model, had been dating the Rolling Stones frontman since 2001 following his split from wife Jerry Hall. “He is completely shocked and devastated by the news,” Jagger’s spokesman said.
MEXICO
‘Organ trafficker’ detained
Police in the western state of Michoacan detained an alleged member of the Knights Templar cartel, saying he is suspected of trafficking organs. Michoacan Public Safety Secretary Carlos Castellanos Becerra alleged that Manuel Plancarte Gaspar was part of a cartel ring that targets people with certain characteristics, especially children, for kidnapping and harvesting organs. He did not give any specifics or present cases. He said at a news conference on Monday that investigators were looking into alleged cases that occurred in previous years. Plancarte Gaspar, 34, was detained last week along with another suspect in a stolen car. The men were carrying cash and crystal meth, Castellanos Becerra said.
GERMANY
Refugee, family reunited
A 107-year-old woman who fled the conflict in Syria has arrived in Germany to be reunited with her family, including her newborn great-great-granddaughter, officials said on Monday. Sabria Khalaf arrived from Greece, where she had applied for asylum after leaving Syria seven months ago with her son, Kenan. She was greeted by about 20 members of her family, including her 33-day-old great-great-granddaughter, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) reported. A spokesman for the Office for Migrants and Refugees, Christoph Sander, said a decision was made to expedite Khalaf’s transfer to Germany on humanitarian grounds. The move followed an article about Khalaf, a member of Syria’s Kurdish minority, in Munich daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung earlier this month. The report caught the attention of a lawmaker who urged German President Joachim Gauck to intervene on her behalf and expedite the bureaucratic process, DPA reported.
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
‘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