TURKEY
Roadside bombs kill six
Roadside bombs killed at least six people in two separate attacks on security forces on Monday in the largely Kurdish southeast, security sources said, adding to the violence that has flared across the region in the past 24 hours. One bomb hit a passing police vehicle in the town of Silopi in Sirnak Province near the border with Iraq, the sources said, hours after Turkish warplanes struck camps belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq. Four civilians were killed and 19 people were injured, including five security force members, in that attack, the sources said.
NETHERLANDS
LRA rebel to face ICC trial
A top commander of Uganda’s rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) will go on trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in December charged with keeping sex slaves and recruiting child soldiers, among other crimes. Dominic Ongwen, a former child soldier who became one of the most LRA’s most feared leaders, is charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity over his role in the group’s reign of terror in northern Uganda from 2002 to 2005. His trial is to start on Dec. 6, the Hague-based ICC said, with prosecutors starting to present their evidence in January.
FRANCE
Gardener jailed for murder
A court on Monday sentenced a gardener to 30 years in jail, with no possibility of parole for 20 years, for the murder of his British former boss and lover. Jean-Louis Cayrou, 54, was convicted of murdering Patricia Wilson at her home near the southwestern city of Toulouse, in an act portrayed as the work of a “jealous” man who could not accept that Wilson had ended their relationship. The 58-year-old woman was last seen alive on August 17, 2012, at her home in Vabre-Tizac village, on her return from a trip to England. Although police found her clothes and traces of blood, Wilson’s body was never found.
UNITED STATES
Huge alligator scares golfers
An exceptionally large alligator has been filmed taking a casual stroll across a golf course in Florida, as terrified golf players looked on. Charles Helms was enjoying a relaxing afternoon of golf with a friend at Buffalo Creek Golf Course in Palmetto when he spotted the 4.5m-plus reptile heading their way. He immediately reached for his mobile phone and started filming the beast. Initially, the colossal size of the creature made him think it was part of a practical joke. “I was stunned and silent,” he told ABC Action News. “I didn’t know if we were being punked or something... It was just laying down, resting, when it got up and started moving towards the big lake.”
POLAND
Polanski case relaunched
Warsaw yesterday relaunched a procedure to extradite Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski to the US to face sentencing for a 1977 case of statutory rape. Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro told national public radio that he would appeal to the Supreme Court to overturn a previous decision that Polanski should not face extradition. A Krakow court in October ruled that Polanski should not be sent to the US, a decision prosecutors agreed was “justified.” The court was fiercely critical of the US probe into Polanski’s case, saying the US judges and prosecutors had flouted “the rules of a fair trial.” Polanski is still wanted by the US for sentencing over the statutory rape of then 13-year-old Samantha Geimer after a photo shoot in Los Angeles.
INDIA
Depot fire kills 17
A fire broke out at a major ammunitions depot in the west of the country early yesterday, causing fatalities, officials said. Local news reports said at least 17 army personnel were killed and at least 19 injured. The fire at the Pulgaon ammunitions depot started before dawn, said an official at the local police station, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
HONG KONG
Bag fetches US$300,000
A diamond-encrusted crocodile-skin Hermes handbag with white gold details has broken the record for the world’s most expensive ever sold at auction, fetching nearly US$300,000. The rare Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile Diamond Birkin 30 went to an unknown phone bidder late on Monday for HK$2.32 million (US$298,655), beating a pre-sale estimate of HK$2 million, the auction house Christie’s said. “It was the world record price for any handbag sold at auction,” Christie’s spokesman, Bingle Lee, said. Designer handbags are increasingly seen as investment opportunities and are the latest craze for collectors, taking global auction houses by storm and scoring record prices. The new record beat one set last year, also in the territory, when a fuchsia-coloured Hermes bag sold for US$222,912. The handmade bag — described by the London-based auctioneers as the “rarest, most sought-after” — is encrusted with diamonds, while the buckle and trademark mini Hermes padlock are made of 18 carat white gold.
THAILAND
Tigers removed from temple
Wildlife officials have begun removing some of the 137 tigers held at a Buddhist temple following accusations that the monks were involved in illegal breeding and trafficking of the animals. Wildlife Conservation Office Director Teunjai Noochdumrong said three tigers were tranquilized and transported on Monday in an operation involving about 1,000 state personnel that is expected to continue for a week. The animals will be taken to three government animal refuges elsewhere in the country. The temple, a popular money-earning tourist attraction in Kanchanaburi Province, has been criticized by animal rights activists because of allegations it is not properly set up to care for the animals and flouted regulations restricting their trade. The monks resisted previous efforts to take away the tigers, and impeded the effort again on Monday morning. They relented after police obtained a court order.
AUSTRALIA
Kangaroo ruptures implants
A kangaroo jumped onto a woman cycling in South Australia, rupturing her breast implants and using her as a “little airbag,” she told local media yesterday. Sharon Heinrich, 45, was on the Riesling Trail in the Clare Valley with her friend when the “cute” kangaroo she nicknamed “Skip” jumped from an embankment and landed on her, she told local newspaper the Northern Argus. “I saw him and thought: ‘Oh, isn’t he cute’ — then he was on top of me. I’m 5’4” [1.63m] and he was taller than me, and so heavy. Once he landed on me, he used me to launch off again, which caused more damage.” Heinrich said the kangaroo then bounded on her friend. “He ... took our cycles out and used myself as a little airbag and then [has] taken Helen out and hopped away into the wilderness,” she told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Heinrich said she suffered ruptured breast implants, three cracked ribs, grazes and a numb leg, while friend Helen Salter had concussion and whiplash.
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
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese