NEW ZEALAND
Rape suspect extradited
A Malaysian military officer was back in a New Zealand court to face sexual assault charges five months after he left the country under the protection of diplomatic immunity. Muhammad Rizalman Ismail did not say anything during his brief appearance yesterday at the Wellington District Court. He was taken into police custody and scheduled to reappear before a judge on Tuesday. Rizalman was extradited this week under an agreement between the two countries, which do not have a formal extradition treaty. He was arrested on May 9 for allegedly following a 21-year-old woman home and assaulting her. He was charged with burglary and assault with the intent to rape, each of which carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years. He returned to Malaysia on May 22 under diplomatic immunity protection.
VIETNAM
Prominent banker arrested
Police have arrested a prominent businessman on suspicion of lending fraud. The Ministry of Public Security says Ocean Bank former chairman of the board Ha Van Tham was taken into police custody in Hanoi on Friday for “violating lending regulations.” The statement did not give details. The central bank — the State Bank of Vietnam — said in a statement it has suspended Tham as Ocean Bank chairman of the board following the discovery he committed “serious law violations” and to ensure the bank’s operations are safe and stable.
THAILAND
Briton dies during surgery
A 24-year-old British woman has died during cosmetic surgery at a clinic in Bangkok, prompting Thai police to arrest her surgeon for criminal negligence, officials said on Friday. The Briton died during a corrective procedure on Thursday evening at a cosmetic surgery clinic in the northern Lat Phrao district of the capital where she previously underwent liposuction, police lieutenant Chaleang Inthip told reporters. “She visited the clinic for liposuction on Oct. 14 and came back yesterday after contracting an infection... She died at the clinic at around 9:30pm,” he said. The surgeon who operated on her has been detained in a Bangkok prison for causing death through negligence, a charge which carries a maximum of 10 years in jail, Chaleang said.
MYANMAR
Journalist shot dead: report
The nation’s press council says the army shot dead a freelance journalist who was detained while covering clashes between ethnic rebels and government troops along the country’s rugged border. The council on Friday released a military statement saying Aung Naing was arrested on Sept. 30 in Mon State and that he was shot dead on Oct. 4 while reaching for a soldier’s weapon during an attempted escape. It is not clear why the information was only now released. The interim press council was formed under the aegis of the president and asked for the military’s information last week.
CHINA
Coal mine collapse kills 16
A coal mine collapsed in China’s far western region of Xinjiang killing 16, Xinhua news agency yesterday reported. The accident occurred in the regional capital of Urumqi on Friday night when 33 workers were underground, the report said citing local officials. The report did not give the name of the coal mine and said the cause of the accident is being investigated. China’s mines are the deadliest in the world because of lax enforcement of safety standards and a rush to feed demand from a robust economy.
ARGENTINA
Dictatorship officials jailed
A court has convicted and sentenced to life in prison 15 former military, police and civilian officials for abductions, torture and killings of dozens of dissidents during the country’s 1976-1983 dictatorship. Four others received sentences of 12 or 13 years, and two defendants were acquitted. Among the victims whose cases played a role in the trial was Laura Carlotto, daughter of the founder of the activist group Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo. Her newborn son was taken from her shortly before she was executed in 1978 at the La Cancha detention center in Buenos Aires Province and turned over to a couple for adoption. In August, after DNA tests, the son was reunited with his grandmother, Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo president Estela de Carlotto.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Inmates killed in clash
At least four prisoners were killed and nine wounded, including two guards, after an attempted mass escape at a prison in the south, officials said on Friday. Guards opened fire on inmates at the Najayo jail in San Cristobal, about 35km south of Santo Domingo, after the prison was attacked by armed men in a black SUV, according to law enforcement and prison officials in the Caribbean nation. No prisoners managed to escape, prison officials said. The Najayo prison houses about 2,000 inmates, including a number of foreigners, mostly for drug trafficking. It is also one of a number of model prisons, part of an overhaul of the country’s penitentiary system promoting education and more humane living conditions.
VENEZUELA
Interior minister replaced
President Nicolas Maduro abruptly replaced his interior minister on Friday. Minister of Defense Carmen Melendez was named as Miguel Rodriguez Torres’ replacement. The outgoing interior minister had been saddled with the task of tackling the soaring crime rate, which has made the country one of the most violent in the world, according to the UN. Army General Vladimir Lopez Padrino becomes minister of defense.
UNITED STATES
Alaska languages get nod
Alaska’s governor signed a bill on Thursday to officially recognize the state’s 20 indigenous languages in a symbolic move that gives a nod to tribal efforts to save Native American tongues at risk of dying out. The move would make Alaska only the second state, after Hawaii, to officially recognize indigenous languages, although English would remain the official language. “Alaska native young adults and students throughout the State have demonstrated remarkable success in revitalizing Alaska Native languages,” Governor Sean Parnell said in a statement.
UNITED STATES
Ex-FARC leader jailed
A former commander of Colombia’s leftist FARC rebels was jailed for 27 years on Friday for his role in the 2003 kidnaping of three Americans held captive for five years, the Department of Justice said. Alexander Beltran Herrera, 38, pleaded guilty in March to three counts of hostage-taking relating to the abduction of Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell. The three men were taken prisoner by FARC fighters after their aircraft crashed deep in the Colombian jungle. Two other men — Thomas Janis and Colombian Luis Alcides Cruz — were murdered near the crash site by the rebels. The three men were finally freed during a daring 2008 rescue by Colombian forces.
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