BELGIUM
Rail workers strike
Trade unions in Brussels and the south of the country have begun a 48-hour rail strike which is set to disrupt national traffic and international connections to Paris and London. Workers began walking off the job late on Tuesday to protest planned government reforms aimed at streamlining services and making the sector more efficient. The unions say the government is imposing austerity measures that will cost thousands of jobs and cut services.
UNITED STATES
Paul Bley dies, aged 83
Canadian avant-garde jazz pianist Paul Bley has died at his Florida home. He was 83. The publicist for Bley’s record label, ECM Records, on Tuesday said that Bley died of natural causes on Sunday at his Stuart home. Born on Nov. 10, 1932, in Montreal, Bley began studying music at the age of five and formed his first band at the age of 13. He studied at Julliard in the 1950s, and in the 1960s he pioneered using electric pianos and synthesizers.
UNITED STATES
Hacker gets time served
A Latvian man was spared further prison time on Tuesday for what US prosecutors said was his crucial role in a conspiracy to distribute a computer virus that infected more than 1 million computers worldwide. Deniss Calovskis, 30, spent 21 months in prison before he pleaded guilty in September and admitted to having written some of the computer code for the so-called Gozi virus. At the time, prosecutors sought additional time in custody. US District Judge Kimba Wood in Manhattan called Calovskis’ conduct serious, but said “the goal of punishment has been served already.”
FRANCE
Men jailed over ‘rape’ video
Two young men have been arrested, charged and jailed after shocked Internet users watched a video of a suspected rape and alerted police. Lawyer Francoise Nogues said the two men, aged 18 and 22, were on Tuesday charged with “aggravated gang rape” of an 18-year-old girl and “diffusion of pornographic images.” Perpignan prosecutor Achille Kiriakides said in a statement that the young men were jailed. The prosecutor said the girl knew both men and that a barrage of analyses would help determine if the sexual encounters were “completely and freely” accepted.
SPAIN
Mas ‘ready’ to call elections
Catalonia’s outgoing separatist leader Artur Mas on Tuesday said that he was reluctantly “ready” to call fresh parliamentary elections, with the region’s secessionist faction unable to agree on who should lead a new government after winning September’s polls. “I’m ready — against my will, this is not what we wanted and it is not what I want — but I’m ready to sign the decree to convene elections,” he told reporters in Barcelona as Saturday’s deadline to form a new government drew dangerously close.
MEXICO
Mota investigation deepens
The investigation into the murder of Temixco Mayor Gisela Mota has led police to a clandestine grave containing five other bodies, authorities said on Tuesday. The burial spot was found in the community of Alpuyeca following the killing of Mota on Saturday, just one day after taking office. Three people — a 32-year-old woman, an 18-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy — who were detained right after the mayor’s murder were formally charged with homicide on Tuesday.
HONG KONG
Bird flu death in China
A woman in Shenzhen died last week after being infected with the highly contagious H5N6 bird flu virus, days after she was admitted to hospital, the Hong Kong Department of Health said yesterday. The department said it was also notified by the Guangdong Province health authorities on Friday last week that a 40-year-old woman from Zhaoqing was infected with H5N6 and was in a critical condition. It said health-check systems were in place at border crossings with Shenzhen and the airport.
PHILIPPINES
Demand for compensation
Elderly women forced to work as comfort women by Japanese troops during World War II are calling for compensation from Tokyo after it pledged US$8.3 million for South Korean women forced into Japanese military-run brothels during the war. Their lawyers yesterday said that they are also exploring the possibility of filing cases with UN bodies and holding President Benigno Aquino III liable for allegedly failing to support the case of the women against Japan. “Is there a difference in the rape of a South Korean and a Filipino woman?” said Harry Roque, one of the lawyers, said at a news conference in Manila. “The answer is there should be none, because rape is a crime against women and is prohibited by international humanitarian law and is recognized as an international crime.”
AUSTRALIA
Lizards learn to avoid toads
Scientists yesterday said they had devised an “innovative method of conservation” through feeding giant monitor lizards small cane toads so they will not be killed by adult cane toads, which are so toxic they can kill predators that try to eat them. Researchers from the University of Sydney said they were able to teach free-ranging goannas in the Kimberley wilderness to avoid eating the toxic toads about to invade the remote floodplain. They offered small, non-lethal cane toads to the wild yellow-spotted monitors with further trials confirming “just one or two toad meals were enough to convince a goanna not to eat another toad.” “After training, giant monitor lizards, known as goannas, survived when the toads arrived, whereas untrained lizards were immediately killed,” lead researcher Georgia Ward-Fear said of the study, which was published in the Biology Letters journal.
INDIA
Actress shames pirate
Bollywood star Kriti Sanon posted a series of angry tweets after a passenger sitting next to her on a flight brazenly started watching a pirated copy of one of her films. Sanon was travelling to New Delhi last week when the man seated beside her started using an iPhone projector to watch Hindi blockbuster Dilwale. The movie had only been released 10 days before. The tweets were accompanied by a picture of the passenger, who appeared to be enjoying the movie.
UNITED NATIONS
New CAR abuse claims
The UN peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic (CAR) on Tuesday said it was investigating new allegations of sexual abuse of minors by peacekeepers in the nation. It said that staff of the UN Children’s Fund based in Bangui have met with four of the alleged child victims. The statement said the head of mission was discussing with the human rights office in Geneva ways of combating sexual abuse, including through the formation of a police brigade that would identify perpetrators and deter such abuse.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was