■ Hong Kong
Croc hunter to use cages
An exasperated crocodile hunter said yesterday he would use large cages to try to catch an elusive reptile that has been loose on the Hong Kong-China border for more than a fortnight. John Lever, who has spent three nights trying to catch the 1.2m crocodile by hand without success, said the funnel-shaped cages loaded with bait may be the key to capturing the creature. The Australian TV celebrity -- who was flown to Hong Kong by the territory's English-language newspaper the South China Morning Post -- has so far failed to corner the crocodile using his famous methods.
■ Thailand
PM defends sinking of boat
Thailand's prime minister said yesterday that Indonesia was justified in sinking a Thai trawler caught fishing illegally in its waters, and appealed to his country's fishermen not to encroach on foreign territory. Indonesian navy patrol boats rounded up five Thai trawlers off the coast of Surabaya on Friday, and destroyed one with cannon fire after evacuating the crew. "It was to demonstrate that the Indonesians are serious and will not tolerate illegal fishing in their water any longer," Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra told reporters. He said he is warning Thai fishermen against fishing illegally in the waters of neighboring nations.
■ Singapore
Human cloning to be banned
Scientists who try to clone humans in Singapore could be jailed for a decade and fined up to S$100,000 (US$58,000) under newly proposed legislation, the Health Ministry said. The bill, which is expected to be signed into law early next year, would also require researchers to get Health Ministry approval before beginning research on human stem cells, according to a statement seen yesterday on the ministry's Web site. The legislation aims to prevent scientists from abusing the open attitude toward human stem-cell research in Singapore.
■ China
Suspected killer arrested
An introverted drifter arrested for 65 murders in China cycled from town to town stabbing entire families to death during a two-year campaign of killing, according to Chinese media reports yesterday. The man suspected of being one of the world's worst serial killers was reportedly a convicted rapist and robber whose time in prison and labor camps had turned him against society. The man, named by his parents as Yang Xinhai, 35, was identified as the main suspect through DNA tests on hair and other evidence he left behind at the scenes of the killings, according to the Beijing News.
■ Australia
`Death machine' unveiled
Controversial Australian euthanasia campaigner Philip Nitschke unveiled his latest suicide device yesterday, highlighting the ease with which it can be assembled using household items such as a jam or Vegemite jar. Nitschke said the device, dubbed "death machines" by Australian media, would cost about A$52 (US$37) to build using bottles or jars and carbon monoxide. He said just two or three breaths from what he calls the "CO Genie" -- CO is the chemical formula for carbon monoxide -- would result in death. "It's a simple device and they are getting simpler," Nitschke told a press conference. "We've got 200 people booked in for workshops across Australia where people want to come along and build this device," added Nitschke, who has challenged police and lawmakers for more than a decade with his liberal stance on euthanasia.
■ United States
Schwarzenegger upbeat
Arnold Schwarzenegger was upbeat and in a joking mood as he met friends and supporters late on Sunday on the eve of becoming California governor after a remarkable career change. "I want to laugh it up and say thank you and I will see all of you tomorrow," the former bodybuilder and actor told his high-powered transition team at a night meeting in Sacramento. "The serious work will begin from tomorrow on." In a ceremony before about 7,500 invited guests, four past California governors and some Hollywood celebrities and foreign dignitaries, Schwarzenegger was to take the oath of office at 11am on yesterday.
■ Zimbabwe
Police embark on cash grab
Police have thrown up roadblocks across the country in a desperate bid to seize foreign currency, whether legally held or not. "It's terrible. Police stand by as youth militia give body searches to everybody," one Zimbabwean motorist said. "They take all the foreign currency they find, even through legally we are entitled to hold up to US$250." In the tourist center of Victoria Falls, police barged into the offices of big travel agencies and safari operators and confiscated all foreign currency. At the northern Chirundu border post, Zimbabwean police searched Zambian and South African travellers and seized all their currency.
■ France
Cabinet discusses attack
An emergency meeting of the French Cabinet was to be held yesterday after a devastating arson attack on a Jewish school in Paris on the weekend. President Jacques Chirac and the prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, will meet leaders of the Jewish community to discuss a joint strategy in response to the latest incident. About 100 firefighters were called in to stop the blaze at the Merkaz Hatorah private school, in the Saint-Denis suburb to the north of the capital, early on Saturday morning. No one was injured, but 3,000m2 of the school were destroyed.
■ Burundi
Peace accord signed
Burundi President Domitien Ndayizeye and the leader of the main Hutu rebel movement, Pierre Nkurunziza, on Sunday signed a peace accord to end 10 years of civil war in the central African country. African leaders, after witnessing the signing in the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam, issued an ultimatum to the smaller National Liberation Forces rebel group, giving it three months to open negotiations to reach a comprehensive peace accord for Burundi or face consequences.
■ Spain
Independence party gains
A small party advocating independence for Spain's rich and powerful Catalonia region scored huge gains in local elections, emerging as kingmaker for two major parties that lost support. Negotiations to form a regional government among the region's two key parties and three smaller powers were expected yesterday after the pro-independence Republican Left nearly doubled its 12 seats to 23 in the 135-member regional assembly at the expense of the Socialist Party of Catalonia and the ruling Convergence and Union coalition. The results from Sunday's regional poll reflected growing nationalist sentiment in the northeast region that gained limited autonomy in 1978.
A string of rape and assault allegations against the son of Norway’s future queen have plunged the royal family into its “biggest scandal” ever, wrapping up an annus horribilis for the monarchy. The legal troubles surrounding Marius Borg Hoiby, the 27-year-old son born of a relationship before Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s marriage to Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon, have dominated the Scandinavian country’s headlines since August. The tall strapping blond with a “bad boy” look — often photographed in tuxedos, slicked back hair, earrings and tattoos — was arrested in Oslo on Aug. 4 suspected of assaulting his girlfriend the previous night. A photograph
‘GOOD POLITICS’: He is a ‘pragmatic radical’ and has moderated his rhetoric since the height of his radicalism in 2014, a lecturer in contemporary Islam said Abu Mohammed al-Jolani is the leader of the Islamist alliance that spearheaded an offensive that rebels say brought down Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and ended five decades of Baath Party rule in Syria. Al-Jolani heads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is rooted in Syria’s branch of al-Qaeda. He is a former extremist who adopted a more moderate posture in order to achieve his goals. Yesterday, as the rebels entered Damascus, he ordered all military forces in the capital not to approach public institutions. Last week, he said the objective of his offensive, which saw city after city fall from government control, was to
IVY LEAGUE GRADUATE: Suspect Luigi Nicholas Mangione, whose grandfather was a self-made real-estate developer and philanthropist, had a life of privilege The man charged with murder in the killing of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare made it clear he was not going to make things easy on authorities, shouting unintelligibly and writhing in the grip of sheriff’s deputies as he was led into court and then objecting to being brought to New York to face trial. The displays of resistance on Tuesday were not expected to significantly delay legal proceedings for Luigi Nicholas Mangione, who was charged in last week’s Manhattan killing of Brian Thompson, the leader of the US’ largest medical insurance company. Little new information has come out about motivation,
‘MONSTROUS CRIME’: The killings were overseen by a powerful gang leader who was convinced his son’s illness was caused by voodoo practitioners, a civil organization said Nearly 200 people in Haiti were killed in brutal weekend violence reportedly orchestrated against voodoo practitioners, with the government on Monday condemning a massacre of “unbearable cruelty.” The killings in the capital, Port-au-Prince, were overseen by a powerful gang leader convinced that his son’s illness was caused by followers of the religion, the civil organization the Committee for Peace and Development (CPD) said. It was the latest act of extreme violence by powerful gangs that control most of the capital in the impoverished Caribbean country mired for decades in political instability, natural disasters and other woes. “He decided to cruelly punish all
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