AUSTRALIA
Koala gets kiss of life
A lucky koala was recovering yesterday after being caught by firefighters when it fell unconscious from a tree before being given mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Emergency crews were called to the Melbourne suburb of Langwarrin on Thursday night after reports that an injured animal was lying on the road after being hit by a car. When officials arrived, they found the furry native marsupial had climbed a tree for shelter and firefighters were brought in to bring it down. “We believed it had died in the tree, just when we were trying to rescue it,” Langwarrin Country Fire Authority’s Sean Curtin told Fairfax radio. “Then it fell out of the tree and the members caught it in a blanket.” A wildlife officer on the scene then performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, while another rescuer pumped its chest to revive its heart. The koala — nicknamed Sir Chompsalot by the firefighters — was taken to the Animalia Wildlife Shelter where he was “well and eating” yesterday.
INDIA
Gandhi film blocked
The film certification board has blocked the release of a film on the assassination of former prime minister Indira Gandhi, saying it glorifies her killers and could trigger violent protests. The board said the film glorified the two Sikh bodyguards who killed Gandhi to avenge her suppression of an insurgency that culminated in an army assault on Sikhism’s holiest shrine. The film Kaum De Heere, or Diamonds of the Community, was scheduled to be released yesterday. Certification board chief Leela Samson said panel members saw the film and decided it could not be released as it poses a threat to public order. Samson said the home ministry had expressed concern about a clearance earlier given to the film and had asked the panel to review it.
JAPAN
Boat, crew held in Russia
A Japanese whaling vessel and its crew were being held in Russia yesterday after the ship entered Russian territorial waters without permission, Tokyo said. The 712-tonne Shonan-maru No. 2 was ordered into a Russian port on Friday last week after sailing through the Sea of Okhotsk off Sakhalin Island, an official from Japan’s Fisheries Agency said. The vessel, which does not catch whales itself, but monitors the oceans for signs of the creatures, had 19 Japanese crew and one Russian observer on board. Tokyo has admitted the vessel changed its initial course and entered Russian waters without going through the proper procedures. “The crew members have been voluntarily questioned,” the official said, adding that Tokyo was asking for their early release through diplomatic channels. Ties between Japan and Russia have warmed in recent years after decades of mistrust over disputed territory taken by Soviet troops during World War II. However, the relationship has soured as Tokyo has joined its Western allies in imposing sanctions on Russia in the wake of its annexation of part of Ukraine.
UNITED STATES
Actor’s ashes scattered
The cremated remains of Hollywood actor Robin Williams, found dead on Aug. 11 after an apparent suicide, were spread in San Francisco Bay, US news media reported on Thursday. According to Williams’ death certificate, published by the celebrity gossip site Radar Online, Williams was cremated on Aug. 12, one day after his personal assistant found him dead in his home in Marin County, near San Francisco. A formal investigation is under way, but the local sheriff’s office said all the evidence points to Williams having taken his own life by hanging himself with his belt. Under “Place of Final Disposition” of the remains, the death certificate reads: “Scattering in San Francisco Bay off the coast of Marin.” And under “Cause of Death” it says: “Pending investigation.” His widow had said that Williams, a father of three, was suffering from depression and the early stages of Parkinson’s disease.
UNITED STATES
Move to ban meal toys
A New York city councilor wants to ban toys in fast-food restaurant kids’ meals that do not meet strict dietary guidelines. Democrat Ben Kallos introduced a bill on Thursday that would ban the toys from a child’s meal if the food serving contains more than 500 calories and more than 600mg of sodium. The measure would also encourage including one half-cup of fruit or vegetables, or a serving of whole-grain products. Under the proposal, violators would be fined between US$200 and US$500 for their first offense, no more than US$1,000 for the second violation, and up to US$2,500 for subsequent violations. On average, 17 percent of children and teens in the United States are overweight or obese, according to figures from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
CANADA
Stolen police car recovered
Red-faced federal police launched a review of their arrest and detention procedures on Thursday after a drunk driving suspect stole an officer’s police car and sped off. The 25-year-old suspect had been restrained and placed in the rear of a police cruiser while officers dealt with others at the scene of a road accident west of Calgary, Alberta, earlier this week. Suddenly, the officers “observed the police vehicle departing the area,” according to a statement. They pursued the stolen car but lost it in a cloud of dust on a rural dirt road, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Corporal Mel Calahasen said. A tip three days later led authorities to the car and the suspect, who has been charged with impaired driving, escaping police custody and car theft. Calahasen said that RCMP vehicles are equipped with global positioning system (GPS) tracking, but the suspect had disabled it.
VENEZUELA
Fingerprinting at stores
President Nicolas Maduro has announced plans to introduce fingerprint scanners at supermarkets in a bid to stop food smugglers he blames for the crippling shortages gripping the country. Price controls in Venezuela keep food and other basic goods up to 10 times cheaper than in neighboring countries, and Maduro blames the shortages on smugglers who buy cheap products and sell them for large profits across the border, particularly in Colombia. Under the new system, the scanners would be used to prevent people from making repeat trips to the supermarket and buying abnormally large amounts of food. Earlier this month, Venezuela began closing its 2,200km border with Colombia every night in a bid to crack down on smuggling.
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