CHINA
Stars who break law banned
Stars who have used drugs, visited prostitutes or broken other laws are not to be allowed to appear on Chinese television, in movies or any other form of broadcast, state media reported yesterday. The ban by the broadcast regulator, which includes radio and advertisements, is meant to “keep the industry healthy,” the China Daily reported. “Celebrities who break the law should not be invited to appear in programmes, and transmission of their words should be suspended,” the newspaper said, citing a statement from the regulator. Chinese prosecutors last month approved the arrest of Jaycee Chan (房祖名), son of Hong Kong movie star Jackie Chan (成龍) and Taiwanese actor Kai Ko (柯震東), after a suspected drugs offense. China has detained several other mostly B-list celebrities in recent months on drug-related charges, cases that have been widely publicized in both state and social media.
MYANMAR
Thai helicopter pilot found
The Thai pilot of a helicopter that went missing in a mountainous area almost two weeks ago has been found and taken to hospital. The pilot — identified by Thai media as Chatchawal Thanthong — arrived in Yangon late on Wednesday. He had been flown from northern Kachin State after a search party discovered him earlier in the day. His helicopter disappeared on Sept. 27 as it was delivering supplies to rescuers looking for lost climbers on one of Myanmar’s tallest mountains. Two other men were on board, both from Myanmar. Hope was fading for the crew when one of the men walked into a small town on Tuesday. He said his crewmates were still alive, prompting the search that found the Thai pilot. The other crew member is still missing.
INDIA
Pakistan gets warning
Minister of Defense Arun Jaitley yesterday warned Pakistan to stop its shelling in Kashmir, after some of the worst cross-border violence to hit the disputed region in years. “If Pakistan persists with this adventurism, our forces will make the cost of this adventurism unaffordable for it,” Jaitley said in New Delhi. “Pakistan should stop this unprovoked firing and shelling if it wants peace on the border.” The nuclear-armed neighbors have traded blame for the cross-border violence that has killed at least 12 civilians this week.
MALAYSIA
Grenade blast kills one
Police say one person died and 13 were injured when a hand grenade blew up yesterday outside a night club at a popular tourist belt in Kuala Lumpur. A senior police official, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the pre-dawn explosion in the Bukit Bintang area was believed to be due to a gang fight and was “not a terrorism act.” He said police also found a second hand grenade under a car after it failed to explode. Another police official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said that a Malaysian succumbed to his injuries and died, while 13 others, including foreigners from Thailand, China and Singapore, were hospitalized.
AUSTRALIA
Nurse assessed for Ebola
An Australian woman was being assessed yesterday for the Ebola virus after she developed a fever following her return from a month working as a Red Cross nurse in Sierra Leone, officials said. Queensland state chief health officer Jeanette Young said the 57-year-old developed a “low-grade fever” yesterday morning and went to Cairns Hospital, where she was kept in isolation. Blood was taken from her and sent to Brisbane by plane for testing. “There is the potential there so that’s why we’re treating this so seriously,” Young said, adding that the woman had helped treat Ebola patients in Sierra Leone.
PALESTINE
Cabinet meets in Gaza Strip
Members of the new Palestinian unity government are traveling from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip for their first Cabinet session there — a meeting meant to signal the end of Hamas’ absolute control of the territory. The meeting was set for later yesterday. It comes three days ahead of an international pledging conference where Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is seeking US$4 billion for Gaza’s reconstruction following the summer Israel-Hamas war. By meeting in Gaza for the first time, the Cabinet, which reports to the Western-backed Abbas, hopes to reassure donors it can lead reconstruction efforts.
UNITED STATES
Museum hosts Bigfoot fans
Bigfoot believers are gathering this weekend in Washington state, as the Yakima Valley Museum hosts a Bigfoot Round-Up. The Yakima Herald-Republic reports the event will honor Yakima’s own Bob Gimlin and the late Roger Patterson, who filmed what they say was a Bigfoot encounter in 1967 in northern California. The well-known footage has since been debated and scrutinized, with some calling the filmmakers Bigfoot research pioneers and other saying the video shows a man in an ape suit. The event is planned in conjunction with the museum exhibit “Sasquatch Revealed.” It includes lectures and a banquet to honor Gimlin and Patterson.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing