■ Thailand
Two shot dead in south
A soldier and a suspected separatist militant were shot dead yesterday in Thailand's restive Muslim-majority south where about 550 people have died this year, police said. Sergeant Prapan Northong, 43, was shot and killed by two gunmen who followed him as he was taking his two children to school by motorbike in the province of Pattani. The children were unharmed. The shooting came a few hours after Muktar Kureng, 28, was shot dead in an exchange of fire with police and military in Pattani after his car failed to stop at a checkpoint, police said.
■ Philippines
General court-martialed
A Philippine air-force general will face court martial for fraud and non-payment of debt, in a widening crackdown on corruption and misconduct in the armed forces. Lieutenant Colonel Buenaventura Pascual said investigators have recommended the filing of court martial charges against Brigadier General Prospero Ocampo for conduct unbecoming and prejudicial to good order and military discipline. Pascual said the charges against Ocampo stemmed from a complaint by two women, alleging irregularities in the utilization of government funds allotted for various projects.
■ Hong Kong
Government ordered to pay
The Hong Kong government yesterday faced having to pay back millions of US dollars to civil servants after the High Court ruled it had no right to cut their pay. The Court of Appeal ruled in favor of two civil servants in a crucial test case over sweeping cuts of up to 4.42 percent forced on them last year by the Hong Kong government. Judges ruled the pay cuts were illegal because Hong Kong's Basic Law guarantees that civil servants' pay and conditions will be no less favorable than they were in 1997. Unless it appeals to Hong Kong's highest court, the Court of Final Appeal, the government now faces having to reinstate the pay of its 120,000 civil servants and repay money cut since last year.
■ Australia
Whales, dolphins die
More than 100 whales and dolphins died in two separate beachings in 24 hours on remote Australian islands, leaving rescuers yesterday struggling to steer survivors out to sea and prevent more strandings. As the death toll of whales and dolphins on King Island off Australia's south coast climbed above 80 following Sunday's beaching, authorities scrambled to another southern island after 53 long-finned pilot whales became stranded on Maria Island. Half of the whales on Maria Island, off the east coast of the southern island state of Tasmania, died yesterday and rescuers were trying to carry survivors back to deeper water, Tasmanian wildlife officer Shane Hunniford said.
■ Australia
Winning ticket unclaimed
It has Australians rifling through their pockets and delving behind the sofa: An elusive lottery ticket that would make a A$23 million (US$18 million) difference to the Christmas of the holder. In the two months since the draw 18 people have tried to claim the fourth largest lottery win in Australia's history, news reports yesterday. The organizers, Golden Casket, however knows which Brisbane newsagent sold the ticket and will sit tight for seven years until it declares that the cause is hopeless and the winner will never come forward.
■ Saudi Arabia
Sex change sparks row
A Saudi man who had a sex-change operation has created an inheritance problem in the conservative kingdom of Saudi Arabia because, as a man, he inherited a large sum of money from his millionaire father, while as a woman he is only allowed to inherit half of it. Ahmad changed his gender only after inheriting, the Saudi newspaper Arab News reported yesterday. According to Islamic law, as a woman, he would inherit half of what a man inherits. The paper said his relatives have filed a lawsuit, accusing him of deception and asking the court to re-divide the inheritance.
■ France
Two attacked in Paris
The famed Champs-Elysees, which France loves to call the most beautiful avenue in the world, was the scene of a deadly knife-stabbing on Saturday, a day after a security guard in the same area was wounded by gunfire. A man aged about 18 was stabbed to death at around 9pm on Saturday by a knife that pierced his back and his lungs, police said. He also had been hit on the head with an iron bar. According to police, the death followed a confrontation between rival gangs who congregated on the Champs-Elysees. On Friday a security guard for a swanky striptease club on a nearby street was critically injured when he was shot by a customer who was refused entry to the club.
■ Romania
Presidential run-off likely
Exit polls show the ruling party leading in parlia-mentary elections, but forced into a run-off in the race for president. But the governing Social Democratic Party was falling short of gaining a parliamentary majority that would enable it to form a government by itself, the polls indicated. Shortly after polling stations closed at 9pm on Sunday, two exit polls predicted that the Social Democratic Party would get about 40 percent of the vote compared with some 35 percent for the centrist Justice and Truth Alliance. Prime Minister Adrian Nastase was leading the presidential vote with 41 or 43 percent in the different exit polls, while challenger Traian Basescu was in second place with about 35 percent in both polls.
■ Russia
Dalai Lama to visit
The Dalai Lama was expected to arrive in the Kalmykia region of southern Russia yesterday after Russian authorities abruptly reversed their refusal to grant him entry. The Foreign Ministry said that the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists would be given a visa in the expectation that he would limit his activities in Russia solely to pastoral purposes, visiting largely Buddhist communities in Kalmykia. A spokesman for the Tibetan government in exile said on Saturday that the visit was to start yester-day, but the Russian minis-try declined to confirm or deny that.
■ United States
Vitamin E may shorten life
High-dose vitamin E supplements could shorten your life, according to a warning issued by a team of US scientists. Research showed that daily doses of the vitamin above 400iu (international units) were associated with a signifi-cantly increased risk of death. Even taking moderate amounts higher than 200iu was considered risky. Many supplements bought from health stores and pharma-cists contain 400iu to 800iu of vitamin E per capsule. The recommended daily allow-ance (RDA) for the vitamin is just 15iu.
■ Switzerland
Voters OK stem cell research
Voters on Sunday appeared to have approved the world's first referendum to allow scientists to experiment
on stem cells taken from human embryos, in a move which will deepen the division between Europe and the US over the use of such research. Opinion polls on Sunday night showed more than two-thirds of voters backed the proposal, which supporters say could even-tually lead to a cure for incurable diseases like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, cancer and diabetes. The new Swiss law is stricter than in some other Euro-pean countries and prohi-bits the use of cells older than seven days. The new law also prohibits human cloning or the creation of embryos exclusively for
the purpose of stem cell research.
■ Mexico
Ex-spy chief arrested
A former director of the domestic spy agency who faces kidnapping charges returned home on Sunday
to Mexico City, where he
was under house arrest,
the federal attorney general's office said. Miguel Nazar Haro, who directed the
now-dissolved Federal Security Directorate from 1978 to 1982, was arrested
in Feb-ruary and jailed in Monterrey in connection with the 1975 kidnapping
of Jesus Piedra Ibarra, an alleged guerrilla activist
who disappeared after his abduction. Nazar Haro, 80, now faces kidnapping charges in Mexico state
in the disappearance of Ignacio Salas Obregon, a founder of a rebel group..
■ United States
Ebersol in plane crash
A charter plane carrying NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol crashed and burst into flames during takeoff from Montrose Regional Airport in southwest Colorado on Sunday, killing the pilot and co-pilot and seriously injuring Ebersol and one of his sons. Rescue crews are still looking for
14-year old Edward Ebersol. Dick Ebersol, 57, and son Charles, a college senior, survived the crash. The cockpit had been ripped off by the force of the crash.
■ Germany
Abusive officers targeted
Defense Minister Peter Struck vowed to crack
down on army officers who had tortured recruits in training exercises and said he expects further cases of abuse to surface. In a series of interviews, Struck said he was distressed that recruits put through exercises to simulate torture by hostage-takers did not report the abuses sooner and urged
any soldiers who faced such "illegal orders" to come forward. "I want to put things in order. I want a clean Bundeswehr and I can only do that if these inci-dents are reported," Struck told German radio. He said that officers, especially trainers, who abuse soldiers will be thrown out of the army and face prosecution. Prosecutors are investigating one officer and 30 other soldiers over allegations recruits were subject to electric shocks at a base in Coesfeld.
■ Kenya
Decapitated corpse found
Kenyan police have arrested a Zambian man after a woman's decapitated body was found hidden under a bush in the coastal city of Mombasa. Jason Samhpar, 26, is suspected of conning the victim and other women out of hundreds of dollars with fraudulent offers of hotel jobs in Europe and the US. Police officials did not identify the dead woman, whose head had been thrown into a nearby well, butsaid officers were trying to trace her relatives.
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
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
Africa has established the continent’s first space agency to boost Earth observation and data sharing at a time when a more hostile global context is limiting the availability of climate and weather information. The African Space Agency opened its doors last month under the umbrella of the African Union and is headquartered in Cairo. The new organization, which is still being set up and hiring people in key positions, is to coordinate existing national space programs. It aims to improve the continent’s space infrastructure by launching satellites, setting up weather stations and making sure data can be shared across
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