AUSTRALIA
Tourist burned at festival
A French tourist who had reportedly taken hallucinogenic drugs suffered serious burns to about 40 percent of her body when she fell into a campfire three times, officials said yesterday. The woman was at the Mushroom Valley music festival near Yalboroo on the east coast when she “wandered away into bushland to another campsite,” the Central Queensland Helicopter Rescue Service said in a statement. “The 21-year-old woman suffered serious burns to her legs, torso and forearms after she fell into a campfire three times. She also sustained serious cuts and lacerations to her arms and legs from a barbed wire fence.” The woman, who has not been named, was returned to the festival by campers and flown to a hospital by helicopter.
THAILAND
Ancient dual leads to case
An 85-year-old social critic faces up to 15 years in prison for offending the monarchy after questioning whether a duel on elephant-back, fought more than 400 years ago by a king against a Burmese adversary, ever took place. Police yesterday escorted Sulak Sivaraksa to a Bangkok military court where he was officially charged with insulting the monarchy. The case stems from remarks Sulak made in 2014 when he told a public forum to think critically about the nation’s history and questioned whether King Naraesuan had really won the Battle of Nong Sarai in 1593 by defeating a Burmese prince in solo combat, mounted on a war elephant. Sulak, who walks with the aid of a cane, said he had no idea why the case was going ahead now, so long after his speech. Sulak’s attorney said he would fight the charges.
INDIA
Death sentences commuted
The Gujarat High Court yesterday commuted the death sentences given by a lower court to 11 people after one of the many deadly riots that swept the western state of Gujarat 15 years ago in which more than 1,000 people died. The 11 will now face life in prison. The court also upheld the life sentences for 20 other people convicted of involvement in setting fire to a train coach in which 60 Hindu pilgrims were killed in 2002. The court dismissed the state government’s appeal against the acquittal of 63 people due to lack of evidence.
INDIA
Firecracker ban in Dehli
The Supreme Court yesterday ordered a temporary ban on the sale of firecrackers in New Delhi, ahead of the Diwali festival that leaves the city shrouded in toxic smog. Firecrackers are set off day and night during Diwali — the Hindu festival of lights — which this year falls on Thursday next week. Acting on a petition, the court directed that all licenses to sell firecrackers in New Delhi and neighboring cities be suspended until Oct. 31. The court imposed a similar ban in November last year when the city’s air quality reached “hazardous” levels after Diwali.
JAPAN
Poodle shuts runway
A poodle’s dash for freedom yesterday briefly shut down one runway at Tokyo International Airport. The dog escaped at Haneda airport as its cage was being loaded onto a Japan Airlines plane bound for Naha, Okinawa, about 8:50am, airport police said. It appeared to enjoy its brief taste of freedom, dashing across a runway and sniffing around in grassy areas. Officials had to close one of four runways for six minutes, causing delays for 14 flights, police said. The poodle’s owner had to come out to catch it about 40 minutes later.
BRAZIL
Dead teacher honored
President Michel Temer on Sunday honored a nursery school teacher who died while rescuing children from a blaze set deliberately by a security guard, killing nine people. Temer posthumously awarded the National Order of Merit to Heley de Abreu Silva Batista, who “gave her own life to save the lives of her students,” the presidency said in a statement. Batista, 43, worked at the nursery school in Janauba, a small town about 600km from the state capital of Minas Gerais. On Thursday last week, the security guard, who authorities say had mental problems, entered and sprayed students with flammable alcohol before setting fire to the building. The teacher and eight children died, as did the guard.
VENEZUELA
Maduro thanks Trump
President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday baited US President Donald Trump by thanking him for a barrage of criticism that had made him famous worldwide. “It’s an honor that the head of the empire mentions me every day,” said the 54-year-old president, just back from a trip to Russia, Belarus and Turkey. “That means I’m doing something right,” Maduro said during his weekly program on state TV. “Donald Trump has become the head of the Venezuelan opposition,” said Maduro, who has ruled the OPEC member since 2013, but seen his popularity plummet during an economic crisis.
BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
Oric acquitted of war crimes
Muslim commander Naser Oric, who led the defense of Srebrenica during the 1992-to-1995 war, was yesterday acquitted of war crimes against Serbs, a ruling that is set to deepen ethnic divisions 22 years after the conflict ended. Serbia and the Bosnian Serbs had accused Oric’s men of killing Serb civilians in and around Srebrenica earlier in the war. Srebrenica eventually fell to Bosnian Serb forces in 1995 — the ensuing killing of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys was seen as Europe’s worst atrocity since World War II.
UNITED KINGDOM
Dove apologizes for ad
Personal care brand Dove has apologized for an advert that showed a black woman removing a top to reveal a white woman underneath, following accusations of racism. The three-second video clip appeared in the US on the social networking site Facebook. Dove said on Twitter that it had “missed the mark in representing women of color thoughtfully” and deeply regretted any offense caused. The body wash ad showed a black woman removing her top, revealing a white woman underneath. She then took off her T-shirt, showing a third woman underneath. “This did not represent the diversity of real beauty which is something Dove is passionate about and is core to our beliefs, and it should not have happened. We have removed the post and have not published any other related content. We apologize deeply and sincerely for the offense that it has caused,” it said.
FRANCE
Hiker falls to his death
A German man hiking with his family on Sunday fell to his death while taking a picture, rescue services said. The 48-year-old lost his footing in the southern Gard region and plummeted from a 30m high cliff face about 10am as his family looked on helplessly. “He was just taking a picture or was having his picture taken” in an area reputed for its scenery, a rescue services spokesman said.
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion