■ Philippines
Bombing suspects held
Authorities have arrested two Muslim rebels suspected of bomb attacks linked to Jemaah Islamiah (JI), the military said yesterday in Manila. The attacks in December 2000 killed 22 people. Mamasao Naga, alias Zainal Paks, and Abdul Pata, alias Mohamad Amir, were captured yesterday in Marawi City with a pistol and documents detailing JI links. "Paks and Amir were identified to be responsible for the bombing in the light rail transit in Manila and a bus in Quezon City in 2000," army spokesman Buena-ventura Pascual said. The bombings were coordinated with the Christmas 2000 bombings of Indonesian churches, indicating that JI carried out both series of attacks, an official said.
■ South Korea
North cancels talks
South Korea expressed regret at North Korea's decision to cancel Cabinet-level talks with Seoul that were scheduled to begin yesterday and urged the North to reconsider. The unification ministry issued a statement in Seoul calling on North Korea to convene the talks as soon as possible in an effort to contribute to the "continuous improvement of inter-Korean relations." The cancellation was an apparent protest by the reclusive North over a mass defection last week of nearly 500 North Koreans who arrived in South Korea via a third unidentified country.
■ China
Miss Plastic Surgery sought
China is giving the beauty pageant a surgical makeover with plans to anoint its first Miss Plastic Surgery this October, state media said yesterday. Open to women from any country, the only requirement in the made-to-order competition is proof of inauthenticity -- in the form of a doctor's certificate of cosmetic surgery, the China Daily said. The idea for the pageant came after one woman was barred from a traditional beauty contest because she had spent more than 110,000 yuan (US$13,000) on plastic surgery that gave her a whole new face, it said.
■ Hong Kong
Fountain piranha bites boy
A 14-year old boy needed three stitches in his finger after being bitten by a piranha while playing in a public fountain. The species -- which can devour whole cows when hunting in packs -- is a popular fish in Hong Kong home aquariums and can be bought in local pet shops for less than HK$100 a pair (US$12.80). The bleeding teenager was taken to a local hospital on Monday night and was said to be in a stable condition, Hong Kong newspapers reported. Estate management staff drained the fountain yesterday morning and found three freshwater fish, two of which were identified as a rare breed of piranha.
■ Cambodia
Thrifty farmer foils thief
A motorcycle thief was caught when the bike ran out of gas, police said yesterday. Seng Dara, 25, saw farmer Yorn Phon, 22, leave his red Honda on the roadside near his fields in Thbong Khmom district, about 150km northeast of Phnom Penh. Police caught the thief after the motorbike ran out of fuel less than 500m away. "Seng Dara stole the bike while police stood nearby, but as he sped away and we prepared to chase him, the bike stopped by itself and we grabbed him," Thbong Khmom district police chief Hing Hong said. "It is very lucky for Phon that he did not fill the tank." Police said the thief was in custody and would face charges later this month.<
■ Russia
Nyet to beer advertising
The Russian parliament is poised to introduce new legislation that will ban beer advertising on TV between 7am and 10pm because of growing concerns about the number of children who have become addicted to alcohol. The new law also prohibits the use in ads of people, animals or cartoon figures, and messages that suggest beer will help you achieve your goals, improve your health or mental capacity or satisfy your thirst. Beer advertising will also be banned on the front and back covers of newspapers and magazines. The Duma, the country's lower house, is expected to pass the law tomorrow.
■ United Kingdom
Sniffer dog overdoses
A police sniffer dog has died from a suspected amphetamine overdose after taking part in a drugs search, police said on Monday. The black and white Springer spaniel, named Todd, became unwell after hunting for illegal substances in Preston, northwest England, late last month. The dog's handler noticed the animal was ill about an hour after finishing the search. "Todd was taken to the vet, who confirmed that his symptoms were similar to those seen in previous cases where amphetamines have been ingested," said a spokeswoman for Lancashire Police.
■ Denmark
Officer sent home
A Danish army intelligence officer has been sent home from Iraq and is under investigation after colleagues complained about the way he interrogated Iraqi prisoners, the army said on Monday. "Due to a strong sense of justice, Danish soldiers who saw things they thought were out of order contacted their superiors," Danish armed forces spokesman Hans-Christian Mathiesen said. The unidentified officer stationed at Camp Eden in southern Iraq was sent home two weeks before his tour of duty was due to end. The Ekstra Bladet daily said the officer denied prisoners water and forced them to hold uncomfortable positions for long periods of time.
■ Spain
Funding mosques for peace
The government has begun discussions on a proposal to expand financing to religious institutions, and security officials say that one intention is to subsidize mosques to make them less dependent on money from militant groups abroad. The justice ministry proposal, which legal experts say is likely to test the limits of Spain's separation of church and state, reflects a widespread belief among counterterrorism officials that Spanish mosques are vulnerable to the influences of militant groups because they feel the need to turn to the militants for money. The ministry has not decided what form the proposal will take.
■ Greece
Price list targets profiteers
Greek authorities are distributing price lists of commonly bought items, including kebabs and bottles of water, in an attempt to stop local businesses from ripping off visitors to the Olympic Games. The leaflets, which come in a variety of languages, will be distributed at airports and other entry points in the run-up to and during the Aug. 13 to Aug. 29 games. Last week, Greece's Restaurant Association admitted that establishments had already doubled prices in popular tourist areas in Athens. "Hundreds of inspectors will also visit restaurants and shops during the games," a development ministry spokesman said.
■ United States
`Tigger' trial starts
A 13-year-old girl testified that a Walt Disney World character worker dressed as Tigger fondled her breast while she posed for a photo with him and her mother at the Magic Kingdom. Earlier Monday, the worker, Michael Chartrand, 36, rejected a plea deal that would have spared him prison time if convicted. The prosecutor disputed claims that Chartrand didn't know where he was placing his hands because of the bulkiness of the costume's paws. "This defendant knew where his paws were," the prosecutor said. The Tigger costume was to be shown to jurors yesterday, and they were to be allowed to try it on in the jury room during deliberations. Chartrand's lawyer, who also works part-time as a costumed character at Disney, said he expected jurors to handle the Tigger costume so they can see how difficult it would be to grope somebody inside the outfit.
■ Mexico
PRI close to upset win
Mexico's former ruling party appeared to have survived a strong challenge in a key southern state and to have won a stunning upset in Tijuana, where a racetrack operator may be the next mayor, according to election returns released Monday night. If the results hold, they would boost the morale of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, whose 71-year hold on the presidency ended in 2000 with the election of Vicente Fox.
■ United States
Arnold settles doll case
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has settled a lawsuit against an Ohio firm that produces bobblehead dolls in his image. The former Hollywood actor, who is fiercely protective of his image, sued Ohio Discount Merchandise Inc in April to halt production of the plastic dolls that featured a gun-toting Schwarzenegger in a business suit. Under the new agreement, Ohio Discount can produce Schwarzenegger-the-politician dolls -- without the gun. Ohio Discount also agreed to donate a portion of sales to Schwarzenegger's nonprofit Arnold All-Stars after-school program in Los Angeles.
■ United States
Craft sets out for Mercury
US spacecraft Messenger lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, early yesterday on a six-year exploratory journey toward Mercury, the closet planet to the Sun. With Messenger safely nestled in its payload bay, a massive Delta II rocket roared off from its launching pad at 2:16am local time, turning in a matter of seconds from a fire-breathing giant into a tiny speck of light in the sky. Minutes after launch, the Delta rocket released the refrigerator-sized probe on the first leg of its 7.9-billion-kilometer odyssey through the solar system.
■ United States
Man held over bomb note
A Japanese man was temporarily detained at a US airport over the weekend after being found carrying a note saying "suicide bomb", Japanese media reported yesterday. The man in his 60s, whose name was withheld, boarded a United Airlines flight bound for Columbus, Ohio, from Chicago's O'Hare Airport on Sunday evening, Japan's Jiji Press said. The man said he found the words "suicide bomb" somewhere on the plane but did not know what they meant and wanted to find the Japanese meaning. So he wrote the words down on a piece of paper and planned to look at his English-Japanese dictionary later. A passenger next to him saw the memo and immediately reported the note to a crew member.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
JOINT EFFORTS: The three countries have been strengthening an alliance and pressing efforts to bolster deterrence against Beijing’s assertiveness in the South China Sea The US, Japan and the Philippines on Friday staged joint naval drills to boost crisis readiness off a disputed South China Sea shoal as a Chinese military ship kept watch from a distance. The Chinese frigate attempted to get closer to the waters, where the warships and aircraft from the three allied countries were undertaking maneuvers off the Scarborough Shoal — also known as Huangyan Island (黃岩島) and claimed by Taiwan and China — in an unsettling moment but it was warned by a Philippine frigate by radio and kept away. “There was a time when they attempted to maneuver
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