■ Australia
Two in Cuba to see lawyers
The two Australians being held by US authorities at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba would serve any sentence imposed on them in Australia, officials in Canberra said yesterday. They would also be allowed to meet their families and to see an Australian lawyer before their trial, the attorney general's office revealed. Adelaide-born David Hicks and fellow alleged al-Qaeda member Mamdouh Habib of Sydney have been held in Guantanamo for two years. Hicks, a Moslem convert who was captured in Afghanistan, and Habib, who was picked up in Pakistan on suspicion of links to terrorist organizations, are expected to face military tribunals.
■ Thailand
US praises drug crackdown
A senior US official yesterday described as "successful" Thailand's war on drugs, in which more than 2,000 people were killed, provoking an international outcry about alleged police excesses. William Snipes, the regional director of the US Drug Enforcement Administration, said the war on drugs has been effective. He was speaking to reporters at the Bang Pa-In industrial estate where government officials torched drugs worth nearly 2.9 billion baht (US$72 million), including 19 million methamphetamines pills, marijuana, heroin, ketamine liquid and Ecstasy pills. The drug burning is Thailand's 30th since 1977 and the third this year.
■ Australia
Jail for `resilient' fraudster
A judge paid tribute yesterday to an 82-year-old fraudster's resilience, then jailed him for 30 months. Raymond Lewis Oughton was convicted of defrauding the government to the tune of A$270,000 (US$194,400) by claiming benefits for an elderly couple he invented back in the 1970s. "One cannot help but admire your resilience," Victoria state County Court judge Michael Strong told Oughton, who has been handed a total of 22 prison sentences since doing time for the first time in 1939. "But I have to say you are one of the most dishonest and disreputable individuals I have been called upon to sentence," Strong added.
■ China
Crying dog saves master
A doctor's pet dog saved the life of his collapsed master in China by turning up on a neighbor's doorstep with tears in his eyes. Village doctor Liu Jian-yao collapsed with a burst artery as he returned from a house call in the early hours of the morning, the Hong Kong edition of the China Daily reported yesterday. His dog, which always follows the doctor on his house calls, ran to a neighbor's house and pawed at the door and barked until someone came to the door. The neighbor said the dog had tears in his eyes when he opened the door. It then led him to where his master was lying.
■ Japan
Spy satellites set for launch
After several delays, all systems are go for this weekend's launch of Japan's second set of spy satellites, part of a multibillion dollar surveillance program aimed primarily at North Korea, officials said yesterday. The satellites are to be launched on Saturday atop an orange and black H-2A rocket, the workhorse of Japan's space program, said Hiroaki Sato, a spokesman for Japan's space agency, JAXA. The launch was originally scheduled for Sept. 10 but had to be postponed three times due to technical problems.<
■ Argentina
Jobless go on the march
Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets on Tuesday to disperse hundreds of jobless demonstrators marching in southwestern Argentina to demand greater government subsidies for the country's unemployed. At least 19 people were injured, police said. Helmeted police carrying riot shields clashed for hours with rock-throwing protesters in the streets of a poor district in the city of Neuquen, some 1,000km southwest of Buenos Aires.
■ United States
Agents arrest airport staff
Federal agents on Tuesday arrested 20 airport baggage and cargo handlers and charged them with running a decade-long drug smuggling operation that brought hundreds of pounds of cocaine and marijuana a year through Kennedy International Airport under the noses of customs officials. The arrests unveiled a criminal conspiracy of stunning duration, prosecutors said, in which the baggage handlers moved drug shipments worth tens of millions of US dollars through the airport with virtual impunity.
■ United states
Bullet hits Klan member
A Ku Klux Klan member has been critically injured after being struck by a bullet fired into the air during a Klan initiation ceremony. While the white-supremacist organization is more a subject of ridicule than fear these days, it still has members and still holds initiation ceremonies. The latest took place in Johnson City, Tennessee, the state where the Klan was formed in 1866 by veterans from the Confederate forces. About 10 people were present at the ceremony, in which a new member was blindfolded and tied to a tree. One member, Gregory Freeman, 45, fired a loaded pistol straight up into the air. The bullet, having gone straight up in the air came straight down and straight through the head of Jeffrey Murr, 24. It went through his skull, leaving him in critical condition.
■ Italy
Former PM on cocaine
Former prime minister Emilio Colombo, 83, has stunned prosecutors in Rome by telling them he is a regular cocaine user. Colombo, a former president of the European parliament said he used the drug for "therapeutic purposes." Italy's news agency, Ansa, quoted Colombo as saying: "I have not been a user for long -- not more than a year, year and a half." His disclosure last Thursday was made voluntarily to prosecutors investigating a ring alleged to have supplied drugs and prostitutes to high society figures. The investigation has already seen allegations levelled at a junior minister in Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government, a former porn star and the owner of one of Rome's most fashionable restaurants.
■ Yemen
Al-Qaeda suspect detained
Yemen's security forces on Tuesday detained a top al-Qaeda suspect who had evaded arrest despite heading the Arab state's wanted list for nearly two years. The official Yemeni news agency, Saba, said Mohammad Hamdi al-Ahdal, also known as Abu Asem al-Macci, surrendered to police after they surrounded a house in the capital, Sanaa, where the Islamic militant had been hiding. In Washington, a US counterterrorism official said Ahdal had been among the top 20 to 25 al-Qaeda leaders still at large and called his capture a significant development.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
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