CHINA
Military bases not secure
The security of military bases is being threatened by illegally built high-rise buildings, and in one case villas built inside a base, and fake tourists seeking access to sensitive sites to spy, state media said yesterday. Only a tiny fraction of the 4,800 local government and military bodies which are supposed to protect such facilities are currently doing their jobs properly, the China Daily cited senior military officers as saying. “Fake companies or sightseeing tours are often used as pretexts by outside entities to approach sensitive Chinese facilities for the purpose of gathering military secrets,” an officer told the newspaper. One government on the southern resort island of Hainan, a province which has responsibility for the disputed South China Sea, allowed villas to be built by a foreign firm inside a base, it added, quoting the military’s People’s Liberation Army Daily. Air bases have also been disturbed by high-rises built too close for safe flying operations, the China Daily added. “There are more than 1,000 high-rises that exceed their approved heights inside the flight security perimeters of our air bases, leading to the closure of nearly 20 bases and about 100 accidents,” another officer was quoted as saying.
INDIA
Bikini ban minister ridiculed
A minister in the resort state of Goa has drawn ridicule by saying women in bikinis should be banned from beaches and girls in short dresses should not visit pubs. Sudin Dhavalikar, the state’s public works department minister, told reporters on Tuesday that bikini wearing “can attract problems, like molestations” which police find out about too late to deal with. “I feel that wearing bikinis should be banned on the beaches,” he said. “We should not allow such types of people to enter public places.” Dhavalikar, a member of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, which is an ally of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, had early sparked criticism for saying girls going to pubs in short dresses did not fit in with local culture. “What will happen to our Goan culture if we allow this? The scantily dressed girls visiting pubs project wrong culture and this should be stopped,” he said. Members of the rival Congress Party in Goa responded by sending a pink skirt to Dhavalikar, saying they would not tolerate “moral policing.”
INDIA
Magazine editor granted bail
The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to a leading editor of an investigative magazine charged with raping a colleague in a high-profile case that has gripped the nation’s elite. A bench headed by Justice H. L. Dattu granted relief to Tarun Tejpal, the founder and editor of Tehelka, on condition that he does not tamper with evidence or threaten witnesses. Tejpal, 51, has been charged with a series of offenses, including sexual harassment, outraging modesty and rape of his junior colleague during a magazine-sponsored event last year in the western holiday state of Goa. The woman, who has quit the magazine, told police she was molested twice in the elevator of a hotel. Tejpal denies the allegations.
INDIA
Khan’s sarod returned
Maestro Amjad Ali Khan said on Tuesday that British Airways had found and returned his beloved sarod, which had gone missing on a London-New Delhi flight at the weekend. After widespread publicity about the loss in the media, the airline tracked down the stringed instrument on Tuesday, returning it to a grateful Khan, who has strummed it for the past 45 years.
UNITED STATES
Man saved from burning SUV
A Minnesota man used his bare hands to pry open a passenger-side door of a burning sport utility vehicle (SUV) and save a trapped motorist from near-certain death, police said on Tuesday. The incident has left police marveling at the actions of Bob Renning, 52, who — apparently fueled by a burst of adrenaline — pried open the door of Minneapolis resident Michael Johannes’ 2006 Chevrolet TrailBlazer on Sunday evening. “To say his actions were heroic would be putting it lightly,” said Lieutenant Eric Roeske, spokesman for the Minnesota State Patrol. “He almost certainly saved Mr Johannes from a horrible death.” Renning was driving along an interstate freeway at about 6:30pm when he noticed the SUV on fire in a suburb north of Minneapolis, Roeske said. After motioning for Johannes to pull over, Renning approached the burning vehicle, Roeske said. Johannes, 51, tried to get out on his own, but the electrical system was disabled and he could not unlock the doors, Roeske said. That is when Renning bent open the top of the passenger door, cleared the shattered glass from the window and pulled Johannes to safety, Roeske said. Soon after, the truck was entirely engulfed in flames. Johannes escaped the incident with minor injuries, and the cause of the fire is not yet clear, Roeske said. “Vehicle fires get hot incredibly fast and oftentimes the opportunity for rescue is very short,” Roeske said. “It was a good thing Mr Renning was there and able to pry that door open.”
UNITED STATES
Bear cub rescued from tree
A frightened bear cub got its head stuck in an oversized cookie jar while rummaging through some trash and had to be rescued from a tree. Environmental Protection Department spokesman Larry Ragonese says the six-month-old cub apparently found the cookie jar on Friday night in Ringwood, near the New York border. As the 13kg animal tried to eat what remained in the jar, he apparently pulled it over his head and it got stuck. The cub became spooked when approached and went up a tree, but got wedged about 12m up. Environmental protection staffers arranged netting in case the bear fell to the ground. After the animal was tranquilized by a department biologist, it was brought down and local firefighters gingerly cut the jar off its head.
UNITED STATES
Woman’s leg found on beach
A woman who found a prosthetic leg on a beach in Washington State has returned it to its owner. Hannah Listle posted information on Facebook about the prosthetic she found while looking for shells on Sunday at Point No Point beach. KOMO reports Megan Smith gratefully claimed the leg on Monday. She said she and her husband had been swimming on Saturday night when she realized the leg was gone.
UNITED KINGDOM
Artist sells bed for US$4.4m
Artist Tracey Emin has sold her bed — and the disheveled sheets, empty vodka bottles, cigarette butts and discarded condoms were part of the lucrative deal. Emin’s artwork My Bed sold for £2.54 million (US$4.4 million) at a London auction on Tuesday, more than double the pre-sale estimate and four times the previous record for the artist. Emin, who has mined her tumultuous personal life for some of her best-known works, attended the auction and grinned when the hammer came down. The work was sold by collector Charles Saatchi, an early supporter of Emin and other modern British artists.
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
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
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