MOROCCO
Water cannons used on blind
Police spraying water cannons stopped 13 unemployed blind university graduates from setting themselves on fire in Rabat on Wednesday in protest against a public sector hiring freeze. The 13 had tied themselves together with ropes around their necks to block a main street, poured fuel over their clothes and threatened to set themselves on fire. Police moved in quickly to spray the protesters with water cannons to dampen the fuel before chasing them away using batons. Hundreds of chanting protesters demanding jobs in the public sector joined them in support.
CHINA
Tigers killed for shows
More than 10 tigers have been killed as “visual feasts” to entertain officials and rich businesspeople in Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province, the state-run Nanfang Daily reported on Wednesday. Zhanjiang police seized a freshly slaughtered tiger and multiple tiger products in a raid this month, the paper said. Officials and successful businesspeople gathered to watch the tigers being killed to show off their social stature, it said. Video footage of a killing two years ago showed a tiger in an iron cage having an electrified iron mass prodded into its mouth with a wooden stick and passing out after being electrocuted for more than 10 seconds, the paper said. Police said a butcher hired to cut up the tiger carcasses — who jumped to his death while trying to escape arrest in a raid — had killed more than 10 animals.
AFRICA
Gorilla plan outlined
The Cross River gorilla, the world’s rarest gorilla sub-species, which is believed to be down to less than 300 remaining individuals, can be saved with a US$10.5 million action plan, conservationists say. The gorillas live in a hilly rainforest area along the Nigeria-Cameroon border. World Conservation Society experts believe the sub-species population could remain stable and even increase if a new five-year plan is put into place to protect it from poachers who hunt it for bushmeat, and habitat loss. The plan calls for more research into the gorillas’ distribution, more local-led conservation efforts, monitoring of disease, ecotourism developments and safeguarding of “corridors” between the species’ main sites.
GUINEA
Ebola outbreak contained
Government officials said on Wednesday that an outbreak of Ebola fever has been stopped from spreading beyond the country’s remote southeast, although the number of deaths from suspected infections rose to at least 63. UN agencies and medical charities such as Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) have scrambled to help the country. An MSF spokesperson said the number of suspected infections had risen by just two from Tuesday to 88, according to government figures.
NEW ZEALAND
Kim Dotcom forms party
Internet tycoon Kim Dotcom, who is battling extradition to the US, launched his own political party yesterday to campaign for a “free and fair” society. The flamboyant 40-year-old German-born founder of the Megaupload file-sharing site claimed his Internet Party would “play an important role” in the general election scheduled for September. “This is a movement for the freedom of the Internet and technology, for privacy and political reform,” he said. The party was for “people who haven’t voted before, who have been disappointed by voting, or who don’t like the political choices on offer,” he said.
UNITED STATES
Abuse gun ban upheld
The Supreme Court upheld a federal law on Wednesday barring anyone convicted of even a minor domestic violence charge from ever owning a gun. In a unanimous ruling, the nine justices ruled against James Castleman, who argued that his past conviction in Tennessee of misdemeanor domestic assault against the mother of his child should not keep him from owning a firearm under federal law. Castleman had been charged with illegal possession of a firearm when he and his wife were later accused of trafficking weapons on the black market. One of these weapons was found at the scene of a crime in Chicago.
JORDAN
Kerry meets with Abbas
US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a bid to salvage foundering Mideast peace talks. Kerry and Abbas spoke for more than four hours over a working dinner in Amman that US officials said were “constructive.” Kerry flew from Rome to Amman to see Abbas as negotiations approached a critical April 30 deadline for a settlement. The Palestinians have threatened to walk away before then unless Israel releases a group of prisoners, as it agreed to, by tomorrow. Wednesday’s announcement by the Arab League, blaming Israel for a lack of progress in the Mideast peace process, put up another roadblock. The communique also rejected “the continuation of settlements, Judaization of Jerusalem and attacks in its Muslim and Christian shrines.”
UNITED STATES
Autism starts before birth
A small study that examined brains from children who died found abnormal patterns of cell growth in autistic children. The research bolsters evidence that something before birth might cause autism, at least in some cases. Clusters of disorganized brain cells were discovered in tissue samples from brain regions important for regulating social functioning, emotions and communication — which can all be troublesome for children with autism. The abnormalities were found in 10 of 11 children with autism, but in only one of 11 children without the disease. The authors said the clusters, detected with sophisticated lab tests, are likely defects that occurred during the second or third trimesters of pregnancy. “Because this points to the biological onset in prenatal life, it calls sharply into question other popular notions about autism,” including the scientifically debunked theory that childhood vaccines might be involved, lead author Eric Courchesne said.
UNITED KINGDOM
Man wins suit with lender
A Scottish man on Wednesday won a 16-year court battle sparked by a wrangle over a loan he had taken out to buy a computer. Richard Durkin bought a laptop from a store in Aberdeen in 1998, using a credit agreement with lender HFC Bank for about £1,500 (US$2,485). He returned the computer the next day because it lacked an internal modem, and tried to cancel the credit deal. The bank said he could not, and after he refused to pay, declared he had defaulted. Durkin said the bad credit rating meant he was unable to buy a house. Durkin took legal action, and in 2008 a court awarded him more than £100,000. That decision was overturned by appeals judges, and case eventually wound its way to the Supreme Court. The saga ended on Wednesday when five Supreme Court justices awarded him £8,000 in damages, a fraction of his initial award. Durkin estimated he had spent £250,000 on the case.
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
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
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not