■ Afghanistan
US pounds rebel outposts
US fighter jets and helicopters pounded suspected Taliban positions before dawn yesterday in a fresh assault on insurgents in the rugged mountain peaks of southern Zabul province, an Afghan intelligence official said. The latest round of bombing in the Dai Chupan district of Zabul went on for three hours overnight ending shortly before dawn yesterday, said Khalil Hotak, the province's intelligence chief. For nearly a week now, the mountainous region, about 70km north of Qalat, the provincial capital, has been the scene of intense battles between suspected Taliban rebels, Afghan soldiers and their US allies. Dozens of Taliban fighters are reported to have been killed and several others arrested so far, although it has been impossible to get independent confirmation on casualty figures.
■ Indonesia
Peace concert turns violent
A free rock concert meant to promote peace and social harmony ended abruptly with rioting and police warning shots yesterday. At least six people were reportedly injured. Veteran rocker Iwan Fals, whose regime-baiting songs were banned by former dictator Suharto, tried to calm the 100,000-strong crowd with a nationalist anthem as people began throwing stones and bottles. But the concert was aborted minutes later as police fired warning shots to disperse the crowd, the Jakarta Post said. Rioters torched several food stalls around the stadium, which is used for political rallies. There was no reason given for the violence.
■ Malaysia
National Day celebrated
Malaysia yesterday celebrated its 46th National Day with a massive parade, fireworks and flowing tributes to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who retires in two months after 22 years in power. Officials estimated more than 300,000 people joined Mahathir and other government leaders in Putrajaya, the administrative capital, to witness this Southeast Asian country's most lavish National Day parade since achieving independence from Britain in 1957.
■ Thailand
One dies in gang battle
Rival school gangs battled with knives and guns at an open-air concert and other areas of downtown Bangkok, killing one student and injuring more than 150, police said yesterday. The fighting between rival vocational schools erupted as thousands of people attended a concert Saturday night, staged to highlight the need to prevent piracy of intellectual property. Police Lieutenant General Damrongsak Nilkooha said Surapong Songsawat, 22, was found dead near a pond close to the concert venue at the Lumpini Park Night Bazaar. He had a bullet wound, and a deep cut in his right leg. At least 152 students were injured, with four in serious condition, he said.
■ United States
Police puzzled by pizza man
A pizza delivery man told police he had been forced to rob a bank and asked authorities to help him minutes before a bomb strapped to his chest exploded and killed him. On Saturday, federal agents and police in northwestern Pennsylvania were trying to solve the bizarre case of 46-year-old Brian Douglas Wells, who left to deliver a pizza to a mysterious address in a remote area about an hour before he turned up at the bank with a bomb strapped to his body.
‘CHILD PORNOGRAPHY’: The doll on Shein’s Web site measure about 80cm in height, and it was holding a teddy bear in a photo published by a daily newspaper France’s anti-fraud unit on Saturday said it had reported Asian e-commerce giant Shein (希音) for selling what it described as “sex dolls with a childlike appearance.” The French Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) said in a statement that the “description and categorization” of the items on Shein’s Web site “make it difficult to doubt the child pornography nature of the content.” Shortly after the statement, Shein announced that the dolls in question had been withdrawn from its platform and that it had launched an internal inquiry. On its Web site, Le Parisien daily published a
China’s Shenzhou-20 crewed spacecraft has delayed its return mission to Earth after the vessel was possibly hit by tiny bits of space debris, the country’s human spaceflight agency said yesterday, an unusual situation that could disrupt the operation of the country’s space station Tiangong. An impact analysis and risk assessment are underway, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said in a statement, without providing a new schedule for the return mission, which was originally set to land in northern China yesterday. The delay highlights the danger to space travel posed by increasing amounts of debris, such as discarded launch vehicles or vessel
RUBBER STAMP? The latest legislative session was the most productive in the number of bills passed, but critics attributed it to a lack of dissenting voices On their last day at work, Hong Kong’s lawmakers — the first batch chosen under Beijing’s mantra of “patriots administering Hong Kong” — posed for group pictures, celebrating a job well done after four years of opposition-free politics. However, despite their smiles, about one-third of the Legislative Council will not seek another term in next month’s election, with the self-described non-establishment figure Tik Chi-yuen (狄志遠) being among those bowing out. “It used to be that [the legislature] had the benefit of free expression... Now it is more uniform. There are multiple voices, but they are not diverse enough,” Tik said, comparing it
RELATIONS: Cultural spats, such as China’s claims over the origins of kimchi, have soured public opinion in South Korea against Beijing over the past few years Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday met South Korean counterpart Lee Jae-myung, after taking center stage at an Asian summit in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s departure. The talks on the sidelines of the APEC gathering came the final day of Xi’s first trip to South Korea in more than a decade, and a day after his meeting with the Canadian prime minister that was a reset of the nations’ damaged ties. Trump had flown to South Korea for the summit, but promptly jetted home on Thursday after sealing a trade war pause with Xi, with the two
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