■ India
At least 50 die in train crash
Two passenger trains collided head-on in the northern Indian state of Punjab yesterday, killing at least 50 people and injuring around 150, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said. At least four carriages were badly damaged, he told the state assembly. At the scene 21 bodies were lined up on the ground, witnesses said. Railway officials said other bodies had been sent to hospital morgues. More passengers were reportedly trapped inside in the trains. An express train and a local train collided in the heart of rural India 150km east of Amritsar. Railway officials said there appeared to have been a mixup that allowed the local train onto the single-track main line.
■ Vietnam
Mob demands compensation
More than 30 police and security guards were injured by a mob of villagers demanding compensation for their land during a golf course ground-breaking ceremony, officials said yesterday. More than 400 villagers surrounded about 300 officials, police and security guards attending the ceremony Monday morning in Kim No village, just outside Hanoi, a village police officer said on condition of anonymity. Villagers threw rocks, bricks and gasoline-filled bottles and attacked police and security guards with sticks for about three hours, he said. Police and officials were finally forced to leave. It was unclear whether any villagers were injured, and police were still investigating, he said. No arrests have been made.
■ Australia
Backpackers have lots of sex
Sept. 11, the SARS outbreak, the Bali bombings: none of these proved an impediment to the estimated half-million foreigners arriving in Australia this year for a backpacking holiday. Just how they adventurous is documented in a survey of the sexual habits of the backpack brigade. More than half a sample of 559 interviewed in Sydney and the Queensland city of Cairns revealed they had had sex with a new partner in the past three days. Close to four out of 10 said they had had sex with someone they had met that day or that night. A quarter of the sample said they didn't bother with condoms and half said they used condoms sometimes.
■ Thailand
Elephants raid tapioca truck
Wild elephants stumbled upon a feast when they found a tapioca delivery truck with a flat tire, officials said Monday. The driver, Somkuan Sirisat, said he had gone for help to repair the tire Sunday night -- and when he returned, he found five or six elephants surrounding his truck and devouring its contents. Army rangers were sent to the scene, said one of their officers. ITV showed the elephants milling around the truck, one of them holding in its trunk a tarp it had apparently removed from the truck. The elephants left the scene after eating their fill.
■ Singapore
Sexy scents go abroad
Fragrances aimed at getting Singaporeans in the mood for love will soon be sold abroad, after being used by the government in a campaign aimed at boosting the city-state's declining birth rate. His and hers "Romancing Singapore Eau de Parfum" will soon be exported to Asia, North America and Europe, said Jan Chan, marketing manager for the company that handles the scents, Cosmetical Asia Pte Ltd. The perfumes, a floral essence for her and a musky scent for him, were created by chemistry students from Singapore Polytechnic prep school to coincide with the country's "Romancing Singapore" campaign.
■ Germany
Man duped by nude offer
An 81-year-old German dropped his trousers and lost his wallet when two young women asked him to join them in a nude photo shoot but fled with his belongings as he stripped, police said on Monday. "After the pensioner had removed his trousers in eager anticipation, the women left in a hurry," taking the man's wallet with about 250 euros in cash, police in the western city of Wiesbaden said in a statement.
■ Brazil
Pregnant women attack
Police fighting crime against tourists in Rio de Janeiro were surprised to arrest two visibly pregnant assailants during the weekend. A police officer told reporters Monday that three men and the two women mugged two US tourists near the famed Copacabana beach in the Brazilian city Sunday, stealing US$40, sunglasses and a baseball hat. The Americans shouted for help and police arrested the fleeing robbers, who were unarmed. "As far as we understand the pregnant women participated in the attack quite actively despite their bellies," the officer said. Violence experts say poverty, especially in Rio's teeming favela slums, is behind most of the crime in the tropical tourist mecca.
■ United Kingdom
Become a Lord for ?29.99
The British aristocracy has long been an exclusive club but now anyone can become a Lord or Lady -- for as little as ?30. A raft of British Web sites are offering one square foot of the Glencairn Estate in northeast Scotland and, with it, access to the prestigious-sounding title of Lord/Laird and Lady of Glencairn. Buyagift.co.uk is offering the "fun" title as the "ideal gift for anyone who aspires to greatness" for ?29.99, which includes a deed of ownership, a map of the Glencairn estate and a card which proves their title. Lastminute.co.uk and thanksdarling.com are also offering shoppers the chance to lord it up as a Glencairn, which is believed to be nothing more than a small plot of croft land with the title invented for it. One incensed aristocrat is fighting back at what he sees is a scam and is warning potential shoppers that buying the title of Lord, Viscountess, Baron or Earl is meaningless.
■ Peru
Ancient mask to be returned
A gold mask dating back more than 1,000 years to a pre-Inca civilization in northern Peru will be returned home next year after being turned in to police by a collector in Italy, a museum official said on Friday. The well-preserved mask, measuring 35cm long by 22cm wide, represents the sea god Naylamp from the Sican culture, Carlos Elera, director of the National Sican Museum in Peru told Reuters by telephone. "It's authentic. It's classic Sican, gold with deep red mercury sulfide which had religious importance in the beliefs of the ancient Peruvians," Elera said.
■ Russia
Raiders kill four, steal arms
Unknown attackers raided a southern regional branch of Russia's drug control agency early yesterday, killing four employees, police said. The assailants stole an array of weapons including 36 Kalashnikov automatic rifles and 136 pistols, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported, citing law enforcement sources in Nalchik, the capital of the Kabardino-Balkariya, where the attack occurred. The Interfax news agency quoted a regional drug agency spokeswoman as saying that the attackers handcuffed the four employees -- including two agency officers, a riot policeman and a driver -- and led them into a basement, where they shot them.
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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