MALAYSIA
Muslims protest Obama trip
Muslim activists protested on Friday outside the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur against the coming visit by US President Barack Obama, denouncing him as an enemy of Islam. The demonstration underscored the delicate nature of Obama’s trip, which will make him the first sitting US president to visit in nearly half a century, a period marked by mutual distrust. The protesters marched to the embassy from a nearby mosque after Friday afternoon prayers, shouting: “God is great” and “Obama is the enemy of the Prophet Mohammed.” They also bore placards and banners reading: “US is axis of evil” and handed out leaflets saying: “Reject Obama, World’s No. 1 Terrorist.” They dispersed after about 15 minutes. The country has opposed US wars in the Middle East. The last US president to visit was Lyndon Johnson in 1966. Obama embarks on a week-long Asia tour next week, including Malaysia from Saturday next week to April 28.
CHINA
Mine toll rises to 20
The death toll from a flooded coal mine has risen to 20 with the recovery of another 14 bodies nearly two weeks after the accident, state media reported. The Xiahaizi mine in Yunnan Province suddenly filled with water early on April 7 following an explosion, leaving 22 miners trapped. Two miners remain missing following the recovery of a total of 20 bodies, Xinhua news agency said late on Friday. The complicated layout of the mine and its narrow tunnels have made the search difficult, it added. Police have detained seven people linked to the mine in Qujing, including officials and shareholders of operator Li Ming Industrial Co, the report said.
UNITED STATES
Gunman threatens office
Police arrested a man late on Friday after he entered the Los Angeles Times building and threatened to start shooting, the newspaper said. It was unclear if the man was carrying a weapon or fired any shots, but building employees locked themselves in safe areas while police officers entered and detained the suspect. Witnesses told the LA Times the man said he had been depressed and did not mind killing someone. He reportedly handed one person a bag of bullets and said that he did not want to go to jail. Police have not identified the suspect, but photographs posted on the newspaper’s Web site showed a white male dressed entirely in black, including black sneakers, with uncombed long, curly hair and no facial hair. The LA Times said the suspect worked for Vxi Global Solutions, a company that specializes in call centers and rents office space in the building.
PUERTO RICO
Salsero dies in crash
Singer Jose Luis “Cheo” Feliciano, one of salsa’s top stars, was killed in a car crash in San Juan early on Thursday morning, police said. He was 78. Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla declared three days of mourning for the widely admired salsero. Feliciano died shortly after 4am, according to Axel Valencia, a San Juan police spokesman. The El Nuevo Dia newspaper said his Jaguar hit an electricity pole. “It appears as if he lost control while taking a curve,” Police Inspector Jorge Hernandez Pena said, adding that he was not wearing a seat belt. Not to be confused with the blind Jose Feliciano, the famed Puerto Rican guitarist, Cheo Feliciano was born in Ponce on July 3, 1935. Tributes poured in on Thursday from fellow musicians and fans. Feliciano dropped out of school at 17 and moved to New York in 1952 to train with top salsa orchestras, according to Billboard.com. He went on to establish a solo career in the 1970s. In 2008, he was honored with the Latin Grammy Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award. Feliciano’s contribution to salsa “has no expiration date,” Panamanian singer Ruben Blades said on his Web site. “He will always be remembered with fondness and admiration that the greats deserve.”
UNITED STATES
Moon craft crashes
NASA’s small moon-orbiting spacecraft LADEE is no more. Flight controllers confirmed early on Friday that LADEE crashed into the back side of the moon. Researchers believe the robotic explorer vaporized upon contact because of its high orbiting speed of 5,800kph, possibly smacking into a mountain or the side of a crater. As of late Thursday afternoon, the spacecraft was flying 100m above the lunar surface. Its altitude had been lowered on purpose to ensure a crash by tomorrow.
UNITED STATES
Gamer suffocates son
Sheriff’s deputies in northern Florida say a man suffocated his young, crying son so he could play video games. Authorities say 24-year-old Cody Wygant is charged with third-degree murder and child neglect. He was being held on Friday without bail at the Citrus County Jail. Sixteen-month-old Daymeon Wygant was pronounced dead at a hospital on Thursday. According to police, Wygant said the boy was crying uncontrollably, preventing him from playing his Xbox games. He covered the boy’s nose and mouth for three to four minutes until the boy became lethargic, then placed him in a playpen and covered him with bedding. Wygant’s infant daughter was placed in the care of authorities.
Far from the violence ravaging Haiti, a market on the border with the Dominican Republic has maintained a welcome degree of normal everyday life. At the Dajabon border gate, a wave of Haitians press forward, eager to shop at the twice-weekly market about 200km from Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. They are drawn by the market’s offerings — food, clothing, toys and even used appliances — items not always readily available in Haiti. However, with gang violence bad and growing ever worse in Haiti, the Dominican government has reinforced the usual military presence at the border and placed soldiers on alert. While the market continues to
An image of a dancer balancing on the words “China Before Communism” looms over Parisian commuters catching the morning metro, signaling the annual return of Shen Yun, a controversial spectacle of traditional Chinese dance mixed with vehement criticism of Beijing and conservative rhetoric. The Shen Yun Performing Arts company has slipped the beliefs of a spiritual movement called Falun Gong in between its technicolored visuals and leaping dancers since 2006, with advertising for the show so ubiquitous that it has become an Internet meme. Founded in 1992, Falun Gong claims nearly 100 million followers and has been subject to “persistent persecution” in
ONLINE VITRIOL: While Mo Yan faces a lawsuit, bottled water company Nongfu Spring and Tsinghua University are being attacked amid a rise in nationalist fervor At first glance, a Nobel prize winning author, a bottle of green tea and Beijing’s Tsinghua University have little in common, but in recent weeks they have been dubbed by China’s nationalist netizens as the “three new evils” in the fight to defend the country’s valor in cyberspace. Last month, a patriotic blogger called Wu Wanzheng filed a lawsuit against China’s only Nobel prize-winning author, Mo Yan (莫言), accusing him of discrediting the Communist army and glorifying Japanese soldiers in his fictional works set during the Japanese invasion of China. Wu, who posts online under the pseudonym “Truth-Telling Mao Xinghuo,” is seeking
‘SURPRISES’: The militants claim to have successfully tested a missile capable of reaching Mach 8 and vowed to strike ships heading toward the Cape of Good Hope Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim to have a new, hypersonic missile in their arsenal, Russia’s state media reported on Thursday, potentially raising the stakes in their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and surrounding waterways against the backdrop of Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The report by the state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited an unidentified official, but provided no evidence for the claim. It comes as Moscow maintains an aggressively counter-Western foreign policy amid its grinding war on Ukraine. However, the Houthis have for weeks hinted about “surprises” they plan for the battles at sea to counter the