AUSTRALIA
Sydney hit by floods, wind
Emergency crews were mopping up yesterday after gale force winds, torrential rain and snow wreaked havoc across Sydney and surrounding areas. The New South Wales State Emergency Services responded to more than 1,200 calls for help overnight as wind gusts of up to 160kph brought down trees and up 170mm of rain caused widespread flooding. More than 14,000 homes lost power across the state, while roads and train lines were closed, disrupting public transport in the morning rush hour. “The rain caused flash flooding in a number of locations, with at least 57 flood rescues undertaken, most for people trapped in cars after driving into floodwater,” a spokesman said. “Several people have been rescued from their homes which were affected by flash flooding.” The storm caused disruptions at Sydney airport, with more than 20 flights diverted or canceled, although operations were getting back to normal yesterday.
CHINA
Eight killed in land dispute
Eight people were killed in a clash between construction workers and villagers in the southwestern region of Yunnan, authorities said yesterday, as land disputes grew more violent. The Tuesday clash on the construction site for a warehouse and logistics center in Jinning County also left 18 people injured, the local government said in an online statement. It said six construction workers and two villagers were killed. The official statement did not give a reason for the conflict, but land disputes are common in China. The Shanghai-based The Paper said the villagers had complained about inadequate compensation for their expropriated land. The report said there had been several clashes between villagers and the construction crew before the conflict turned deadly.
AUSTRALIA
No sign of Flight MH370
Authorities released their first update on the latest underwater probe for missing Flight MH370 yesterday, saying more than 670km2 had been searched without success. The Malaysia Airlines aircraft carrying 239 people vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8 and no sign of the jet has been found despite a massive air and sea search. The Boeing 777, which is believed to have crashed into the southern Indian Ocean after inexplicably veering off course, is now the subject of a renewed underwater hunt far off the west coast. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is leading the search, said the Malaysian-contracted vessel GO Phoenix was continuing to conduct underwater search operations. The underwater search began on Oct. 6 and followed a survey to map the seabed. About 127,000km2 of the search zone has been mapped so far.
CHINA
Putin’s tiger attacks hens
Media say a rare Siberian tiger released into the wild by Russian President Vladimir Putin has attacked a henhouse in the northeast, raising concerns that farmers may hunt it down. Xinhua news agency says the animal, known as Kuzya, was believed to have eaten five chickens in a raid on a farm in Heilongjiang Province’s Luobei County in recent days. Xinhua did not say how Kuzya was identified as the culprit, although she had been fitted with a tracking device that earlier alerted Russian experts of her crossing the border into the country. The 19-month-old cub was one of three Siberian tigers released by Putin in a remote part of the Amur region in May.
NEPAL
Snowstorm kills trekkers
A snowstorm in the Himalayas has killed three foreign trekkers and a local, while more than 100 others remain out of contact, officials said yesterday. “There has been heavy snowfall in the area, up to three feet [91cm],” local police official Ganesh Rai said. “Among the dead are two Polish trekkers and one Israeli. A Nepali was also buried by the snow,” he said. Officials rescued 13 trekkers stranded in the storm after the weather cleared yesterday, but more than 100 other foreign tourists remain out of contact in Mustang district, Rai said. He said a total of 168 tourists had registered to trek in Mustang along the highly popular Annapurna circuit this week, of whom 152 were out of contact.
SOUTH AFRICA
Winnie Mandela fights will
Late former president Nelson Mandela’s ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela on Tuesday filed court papers challenging the statesman’s will, media reported. Madikizela-Mandela wants ownership of Mandela’s house in rural Qunu, which was left to the family trust and his widow, Graca Machel, according to papers seen by the Daily Dispatch newspaper. The 78-year-old states that the house, built on an expansive estate where the revered South African leader is buried, was acquired by her in 1989, when he was still in prison. In the papers filed in Mthatha High Court, Madikizela-Mandela claims the registration of the house under Mandela’s name was unlawful and should be set aside. The couple divorced in 1996 and she was not named in his US$4.4 million estate in the will, which was released in February. Mandela gave money to various family members, staff, schools and his party, the African National Congress.
RUSSIA
Leaders to discuss gas deal
A long-running dispute over natural gas supplies will be on the agenda when Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko hold talks in Italy later this week, the Kremlin said. A Kremlin statement issued late on Tuesday said the Ukrainian and Russian presidents had spoken by telephone and discussed measures to restore peace in eastern Ukraine. They are expected to continue discussions on the conflict as well as hold talks on the gas dispute on the sidelines of a summit of European and Asian leaders they are attending in Milan today and tomorrow. Russian natural gas producer Gazprom cut supplies to Ukraine in June after Kiev failed to pay gas debts that Russia says have now reached more than US$5 billion. Ukraine faces a possibility of energy shortages this winter if no deal is reached. Officials from Russia and the European Commission, which is mediating the talks, say a deal could be near.
UNITED STATES
Libyan leader faces charges
The Libyan militia leader charged in a deadly attack on the US’ diplomatic mission in Benghazi has been hit with a slew of new criminal counts, some punishable by death. The US Justice Department said on Tuesday that a federal grand jury in Washington indicted Ahmed Abu Khatallah with more offenses linked to his alleged role in the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks that killed US Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. Khatallah, 43, a Libyan national, was indicted on June 26 on the charge of conspiracy to provide material support and resources to terrorists resulting in death. Tuesday’s indictment includes a total of 17 new charges, including some potentially calling for a death sentence.
UNITED STATES
Killings were ‘destiny’: man
A central California man whom authorities say confessed to stabbing his elderly father and mother, his two sons and the family dog has been charged with murder and animal cruelty. Santa Barbara County prosecutors said on Tuesday that a grand jury indicted 45-year-old Nicolas Holzer on felony charges that include special allegations. Prosecutors have not decided whether to seek the death penalty. Holzer remains jailed without bail. Prosecutors contend that in August at his Goleta home, Holzer grabbed kitchen knives and attacked his 73-year-old father, then his sons, aged 10 and 13, as they slept, then his 74-year-old mother and the family dog. Authorities say Holzer then called the police emergency dispatcher to report killing his family. Authorities say Holzer, who had no criminal history, told detectives that the killings were his destiny.
UNITED KINGDOM
Australian wins Booker prize
Australian author Richard Flanagan’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North, set during the building of the Thailand-Burma “Death Railway” in World War II, won Britain’s prestigious £50,000 (US$79,530) Man Booker literature prize on Tuesday. Flanagan’s sixth novel beat what jury chairman Anthony Grayling said was a strong shortlist of six books that for the first time included works by two Americans, giving rise to fears beforehand that the British prize might come to be dominated by US writers. Flanagan, 53, is ranked among Australia’s finest novelists and also worked as a writer with director Baz Luhrmann on the 2008 film Australia. His father, who was a survivor of the Burma Death Railway, died at age 98, the day Flanagan finished The Narrow Road to the Deep North.
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
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
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the