■ South Korea
More bird flu cases reported
More South Korean farmers reported suspected bird flu among ducks nationwide yesterday as authorities struggled to test and contain the highly contagious disease. The latest cases of avian influenza -- which in rare cases can be deadly to humans -- have been traced to duck-breeding farms in South Cholla province, home to half of South Korea's 8 million ducks. The Agriculture Ministry said about half of the target of 1 million chickens and ducks had been slaughtered and buried. The total includes thousands of chickens who died instantly after contracting the flu. "A total 19 suspected cases are being tested including the newly reported cases," the ministry said in a statement.
■ China
Gas blast kills at least 163
An explosion at a natural gas field in China's southwestern municipality of Chongqing has killed at least 163 people and poisoned scores, the official Xinhua news agency said yesterday. Authorities had evacuated residents within 5km of the disaster site, it said. The blast happened on Tuesday morning at the Chuandongbei gas field in Kaixian county of Chongqing municipality. A well had burst, releasing "a high concentration of natural gas and sulfurated hydrogen," the news agency said. The field belongs to China National Petroleum Corp, parent of oil major PetroChina.
■ North Korea
US to donate more food
The US will give additional food aid to North Korea after UN officials reported fewer obstacles to tracking distribution, the State Department said on Wednesday. The US will donate an additional 60,000 tonnes of agricultural commodities to North Korea through the UN World Food Program, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in a statement. The promise of more aid comes as Chinese and US officials met earlier this week in Beijing to discuss how to move forward on six-way negotiations to curtail North Korea's nuclear arms program.
■ China
Judge jailed for corruption
A high-ranking judge has been jailed for 15 years for pocketing more than 1 million yuan (US$120,800) in bribes, the People's Daily said yesterday. A Beijing court sentenced Mai Chongkai, president of the Supreme People's Court in the wealthy southern province of Guangdong, on Wednesday, the Communist Party newspaper said. He was found guilty of taking bribes totalling 1.06 million yuan (US$128,100) from companies with legal problems in exchange for using his influence to intervene on their behalf, it said. Bribery and other forms of corruption remain rampant in China, despite the Communist Party's high-profile attempts to root it out via regular graft-busting campaigns.
■ Singapore
Maid jailed for cutting penis
An Indonesian maid in Singapore was jailed for cutting a 2-year-old boy's penis with a knife, a news report said yesterday. Suharti Sumito, 22, was sentenced to one-and-a-half years in jail after a district court ruled she had used a knife to inflict a 2cm wound on the boy under her care in September, the Straits Times newspaper said. Suharti was using the knife to cut chicken when she was asked to check on the boy -- who had just finished bathing and was running around. The paper said she cut the boy when she caught hold of him. She denied that she had intentionally cut the toddler.
■ Tanzania
Wife nags man to death
A Tanzanian man killed himself by drinking a chemical used in cattle dips, leaving a suicide note saying it was to escape a nagging wife, police said. The body of the 32-year-old was found in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam with the suicide note and a glass containing traces of the chemical, used for killing insects on livestock, said regional police commissioner Alfred Tibaigana. "I've decided to end my life," Tibaigana quoted the suicide note as saying. "I am fed up with the constant nagging of my first wife." Police did not have any further details about the man's death in the East African country, where polygamy is common.
■ Germany
Tabloid shock: no bad news
Germany's top-selling newspaper published nothing but good news, dropping its normal fare of crime, violence and scandal for stories about tax cuts, falling petrol prices and accelerating economic growth. "There's only good news today," Bild said in large letters on its cover, where headlines are usually devoted to sex scandals, Germany's cannibal trial, killers, adulterers or dishonest politicians. Skipping its usual "loser of the day" entry, Bild picked two "winners of the day," including rock star Ozzy Osbourne who was released from intensive care after an accident in Britain. Even a story in the paper about a Berlin celebrity who broke up with her boyfriend took a positive approach: "Great news, Djamila Rowe is single again."
■ United States
City duped over flu shots
Faced with nationwide flu shot shortages amid an epidemic, Georgia health officials came across an offer they couldn't refuse -- 100,000 extra flu shots for a hefty US$1.65 million. They wired the money. But the flu shots never came. They never even existed, state officials said on Wednesday. Health division director Kathleen Toomey said on Wednesday that she was told by the FBI that other states may have been similarly defrauded. Georgia has managed to recover all but US$70,000 of its money back with FBI help. The rest of the money is expected to be returned within days.
■ Spain
Police intercept bombs
Police foiled a plot to detonate two powerful bombs aboard a train at a bustling Madrid railway station on Christmas Eve, officials said. Two suspected members of the armed Basque separatist group ETA were arrested. One 25kg bomb was found on the train traveling from the Basque city of San Sebastian to Madrid. Police stopped the train in the northern city of Burgos, evacuated it, removed the bomb and defused it, Interior Minister Angel Acebes said. A second device of about the same size was seized in possession of one of the two detainees in San Sebastian before it could be planted on the train, and it was this arrest that led police to the bomb on the train, he said.
■ Haiti
Medical staff protest
Medical students and doctors marched Wednesday to protest against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's government as the death toll rose during anti-government demonstrations that have plagued this impoverished Caribbean country since September. The rising tensions came as the government prepared for celebrations on Jan. 1 marking Haiti's 200th anniversary of independence from slave-trading France.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Hundreds of people in rainbow colors gathered on Saturday in South Africa’s tourist magnet Cape Town to honor the world’s first openly gay imam, who was killed last month. Muhsin Hendricks, who ran a mosque for marginalized Muslims, was shot dead last month near the southern city of Gqeberha. “I was heartbroken. I think it’s sad especially how far we’ve come, considering how progressive South Africa has been,” attendee Keisha Jensen said. Led by motorcycle riders, the mostly young crowd walked through the streets of the coastal city, some waving placards emblazoned with Hendricks’s image and reading: “#JUSTICEFORMUHSIN.” No arrest
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