SOUTH AFRICA
Fridge suspect blames wife
A Danish man accused of storing female genitalia in his freezer in Bloemfontein has told a Danish newspaper that the 21 pieces of mutilated flesh belong to his estranged wife. The man dismissed the accusations against him as “totally unfounded,” adding “it is my wife who keeps these kinds of things … it is her fridge.” He told the Ekstra Bladet that “I have never ever committed anything criminal in South Africa.” He was interviewed at the gun shop that he owns while police searched the store. He said his wife had befriended witchdoctors. He also said that he was allowed to photograph women being circumcised while visiting remote mountainous regions of neighboring Lesotho, where he owns a second gun shop. Police have accused the man of keeping the genitalia as trophies. He has been charged with sexual assault, intimidation and breaking medical laws.
AUSTRALIA
Rare wallabies spotted
Rare black-flanked rock wallabies have been spotted in Kalbarri National Park for the first time in 20 years. Two of the 45cm-high marsupials, also knowns as warru or black-footed rock-wallaby, were photographed in a gorge by rock climber Remi Vignals last month. Western Australian Minister for Environment and Heritage Albert Jacob said it was clear the notoriously shy animals had been living unseen in the national park since they were last sighted in 1995, because the nearest known population was 450km inland. The exact number of black-flanked rock wallabies in the wild is not known, but they are listed as a vulnerable species. There are 14 known populations in Western Australia.
CHINA
Ex-minister faces trial
Former deputy sports minister Xiao Tian (肖天), who once sat on the nation’s Olympics Committee, will be prosecuted for graft after an investigation found he abused his position and took bribes, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said yesterday. Xiao abused his position to get his wife promotions, took bribes, spent government money on banquets and had private companies arrange for him to play golf, the commission said. He has been expelled from the Chinese Communist Party, it said.
THAILAND
Defense seeks more time
Lawyers for two Burmese migrant workers accused of killing two British tourists on Koh Tao yesterday asked for more time to prove the pair were scapegoats innocent of the brutal, high-profile murders. Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun are on trial for the murders of Hannah Witheridge and David Miller. Lawyers are trying to convince the judge that the two men were framed by police under pressure to solve a case. The defense tentatively had until today to wrap up its case, but chief lawyer Nakhon Chomphupat said there were problems convincing witnesses to testify as some feared retribution.
NEW ZEALAND
New flag option offered
Voters now have a fifth option to choose from when deciding whether to change the national flag after a popular campaign for a geometric design called “Red Peak” prompted lawmakers yesterday to change the rules. About 50,000 people signed a petition urging that the design be considered. Many people felt the original four designs did not offer enough choice, as three featured silver ferns. The flag that wins the November referendum is to face off against the current flag in a second vote in March.
UNITED STATES
Letter urges Liu’s release
Twelve Nobel Peace Prize winners have urged fellow laureate President Barack Obama to press for the release of jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波) and his wife when he meets Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) today. In a letter dated Sept. 2 a dozen peace prize winners — including South African churchman Desmond Tutu, Polish anti-communist leader and former Polish president Lech Walesa and the Dalai Lama — call for Liu’s release. “We are writing as your fellow Nobel Peace Prize Laureates to ask that you call publicly on the Government of China to release from house arrest Liu Xia (劉霞), the wife of our imprisoned fellow Laureate Dr Liu Xiaobo, and to allow her to travel abroad for medical treatment as she has requested,” they wrote. “We also ask that you urge his immediate release as well,” they added.
CANADA
Life for terror conspirators
Two men found guilty of plotting to derail a passenger train with support from al-Qaeda were sentenced on Wednesday to life in prison. Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jaser must serve a minimum of 10 years before becoming eligible for parole on their life sentences. A jury convicted Tunisian national Esseghaier earlier this year of planning to derail a Via train heading from New York to Toronto and four other terror-related charges. Jaser was found guilty of conspiring to commit murder in support of terrorism and two other charges. Jaser, who was born in the United Arab Emirates to Palestinian parents but is not a UAE citizen, was living in Toronto when he was arrested in 2013. Investigators say the men received guidance from members of al-Qaeda in Iran. Iranian government officials denied having anything to do with the plot.
UNITED STATES
Banks to pay for bombing
Three banks must turn over Sudanese funds to victims of al-Qaeda’s deadly 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen to help satisfy a US$315 million judgement, the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York ruled on Wednesday. The court rejected Sudan’s claim that the plaintiffs failed to follow proper procedures in seeking the assets, which are held in accounts controlled by Mashreqbank PSC, BNP Paribas SA and Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank. The attack on Oct. 12, 2000, occurred in the Yemeni port of Aden, where the US Navy destroyer USS Cole was refueling. The bombing killed 17 sailors and injured more than three dozen.
RUSSIA
Czar exhumed in death probe
Investigators on Wednesday exhumed the remains of czar Nicholas II and czarina Alexandra as part of a new probe into the notorious 1918 slaying of the Romanov family. A leading investigator involved in the probe, Vladimir Solovyov, told the Echo of Moscow radio station that they had taken “samples from Nicholas II, from the empress, and from the uniform of emperor Alexander II,” the last czar’s grandfather, who was himself assassinated in 1881. The czar, his wife, their five children and their servants were shot by the Bolsheviks and thrown into a mineshaft in 1918 before being burnt and hastily buried. Russia first looked into the murder of the family after a mass grave was discovered in 1991 near Yekaterinburg in the Urals. In 2007, a second grave was discovered at a different spot containing two more bodies, believed to be those of the czar’s heir Alexei and daughter Maria, who were 13 and 19 years old when they were killed.
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