■ Indonesia
Earthquakes rock east
Two strong earthquakes rocked Indonesia's eastern province of Maluku on yesterday, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties, the local Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said. The first quake of magnitude-6.4 struck just about 40 minutes after midnight while the second, measuring 6.0 magnitude came at 7:40am, said Benny Sipollo of the Agency's office in Ambon. He said the first quake was centered beneath the 7,500m-deep Banda Sea, about 245km northwest of Ambon and the second was only 10km farther, both with the same depth of about 225km under the seabed.
■ North Korea
Fowl culled in bird flu scare
Hundreds of thousands of chickens were culled yesterday, as state media confirmed an outbreak of deadly bird flu in the communist state for the first time. The North's official Korean Central News Agency quoted quarantine authorities as reporting bird flu cases at up to three chicken farms in the capital Pyongyang. "The bird flu has recently broken out at two to three chicken farms, including Hadang farm," KCNA said in a Korean-language dispatch monitored by Yonhap news agency. It did not specify the date. Hadang is one of the five largest chicken farms in Pyongyang. KCNA said state health and quarantine officials "have buried and burnt hundreds of thousands of infected chickens at those farms" to prevent the avian influenza from spreading to other areas.
■ Hong Kong
Things thrown out window
A man was arrested and checked for mental illness after he emptied his 35th-floor apartment by dropping its contents from the window, police and media said yesterday. No one was reported injured by the falling objects. The Apple Daily said the man was upset because he had recently broken up with his girlfriend. Newspapers ran pictures showing the ground near the apartment building littered with pots, books, a broken electric fan and other items. Apple Daily published a photo showing a falling mattress. "He tossed whatever was in his apartment," said police spokesman Edwin Hung. By the time the man was done, all that was left inside was his air conditioner, refrigerator, washer and large pieces of furniture, the Apple Daily said.
■ India
Purchase of US F-16s mulled
The government is considering buying American F-16 fighter jets for its air force, a news report said yesterday, just days after New Delhi protested a US decision to sell the same aircraft to India's neighboring arch-rival, Pakistan. India's air force now depends mainly on aging Russian planes. US fighter aircraft and weapons' manufacturers "are willing to work with us and they have submitted some proposals to us," the Press Trust of India news agency quoted Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee as saying in the eastern city of Calcutta.
■ Hong Kong
Flights may cause cancer
Airline Cathay Pacific has limited air crews' flights on the non-stop Hong Kong-New York route after it was found the journey could increase the likelihood of cancer, a report said yesterday. Staff of the British-owned, Hong Kong-based airline say they have been limited to just two of the ultra long-haul flights per month since it was found the route exposed passengers and crew to high levels of cosmic radiation when they flew over the North Pole.
■ Jerusalem
Israeli, Palestinian in love
A teenage Israeli soldier who disappeared on holiday and was feared kidnapped by her worried parents, has run off with her Palestinian boyfriend, police said. The 18-year-old conscript, from the town of Kiryat Malachi, south of Tel Aviv, disappeared several days ago while on leave from military service. Her panicked father rang the police but his daughter later phoned home with the news she was shacked up with her Palestinian lover. The Romeo, known to the girl's parents, had told them he was Tunisian. The young couple are thought to be lying low in the West Bank.
■ United kingdom
Former PM dies
Lord Callaghan of Cardiff, the affable, self-educated sailor's son who rose from poverty to become prime minister in the dying years of consensus politics in postwar Britain, died on the eve of his 93rd birthday. James Callaghan died Saturday at his family home in East Sussex county, 11 days after the death of Audrey, his wife of 67 years. Cause of death was not given. Callaghan, who entered Parliament in the Labor Party landslide of 1945, was the only British politician to hold, at different times, the four top posts of prime minister, Treasury chief, foreign secretary and home secretary.
■ United Kingdom
Barman sues over smoking
The first barman to sue over the effects of passive smoking is to go to court in a case that could trigger a multi-million dollar compensation bill for Britain's pub trade. Lawyers believe it could set a legal precedent, paving the way for similar claims against the UK's 60,000 pubs. The case involves a bar worker in the city of Nottingham, who developed severe breathing difficulties. His lawyers believe these stemmed directly from his working in a pub. Central to the action are allegations that the bar's owners were negligent in protecting staff from exposure to smoke. Tom Jones, a partner at Thompsons solicitors, which is pursuing the claim, said his company has received scores of further potential claims from pub staff.
■ Monaco
Prince Rainier ailing
Monaco braced for the worst as Prince Rainier III appeared to be losing his fight against heart, lung and kidney failure, with his doctors increasingly pessimistic about the chances of survival for the 81-year-old ruler of one of Europe's oldest dynasties. Rainier has overseen the tiny Mediterranean principality for more than a half-century. As the prince spent a fifth straight day in intensive care, the palace on Saturday said that his prognosis was "extremely reserved." Rainier's three children -- Caroline, Albert and Stephanie -- continued to take turns visiting the hospital.
■ United Kingdom
`Life vests' to help patients
Vests that can detect heartbeat and activity rates are to be tested on patients in the UK to see if they can be monitored from home and so reduce hospital check-up visits. The "life vest," which can be worn under normal clothes, transmits data continuously which can be analyzed by computer and reported to doctors. Using 10 patients as guinea pigs, a trial is to begin at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital next month. Staff could check on patients who have diabetes, heart failure or lung disease, rather than having to ask them to attend outpatient clinics.
■ Lebanon
Car bomb injures five
A car bomb exploded in a predominantly Christian neighborhood in eastern Beirut on Saturday night, the eve of Easter, wounding at least five people and destroying two factories. The bomb, which went off about 9:30pm in the Sid al Bushriya neighborhood, was the third attack on a Christian neighborhood in a week. Last Saturday, a bomb exploded in northern Beirut, wounding nine people. On Wednesday, two people were killed when a bomb exploded at a shopping center in Jounieh, north of Beirut. The bombings have taken place against a backdrop of political turmoil set off by the assassination on Feb. 14 of Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister.
■ Vatican City
Pope blesses, can't speak
Pope John Paul blessed crowds on Easter Sunday yesterday but was unable to speak. The 84-year-old Pope appeared at his window overlooking St Peter's Square after one of his senior cardinals celebrated an Easter Mass for the ailing Pontiff. Aides had brought a microphone to the Pope's mouth. The Pope tried to speak. He made a few sounds but was unable to pronounce any words. The Pope, who returned to the Vatican from hospital on March 13, stayed at the window while his secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, read the pontiff's Urbi et Orbi message in the square below.
■ Iraq
Video of execution posted
Loyalists of al-Qaeda's Iraq frontman, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, posted a video on their website yesterday showing the execution of a man who said he was an Iraqi colonel. The man, who identified himself as Colonel Ryad Kateh Olyway, was shown being shot in the head blindfold by a masked man after "confessing" that he had "collaborated" with US forces in Iraq. "The religious court of the Organization of al-Qaeda of Jihad in the Land of Two Rivers has decided to implement God's order on this infidel ... to serve as a lesson to others," said the gunman before shooting his captive. The shooter was flanked by two masked men armed with assault rifles who posed in front of a banner carrying the organization's name.
■ Brazil
Serial killer may be at large
Police fear a serial killer may be preying on women tourists in the beach towns of Maranhao in northeastern Brazil, the state public security secretary said on Saturday. The bodies of two women, a Spaniard and a German, were found buried on beaches and a Brazilian tourist is still missing. All the women were travelling alone and seen with a man shortly before they disappeared, Detective Nordman Ribeiro of the Civil Police in Maranhao said. Witnesses provided a similar description of the man seen with the murdered women, Ribeiro said.
■ United States
FBI flubbed on secret files
The FBI admitted it accidentally gave classified documents back to the US translator who pleaded guilty to taking them from the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Ahmed Fathy Mehalba, who was released from jail earlier this month, contacted the FBI's Boston office Tuesday after he realized agents had inadvertently given him the compact disc containing the secret files along with his personal property. Mehalba had the disc in his possession for only a "matter of hours" before the FBI retrieved it, said Assistant US Attorney Michael Ricciuti. "Someone in the bureau obviously made a serious mistake," Ricciuti said.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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