■ Vietnam
Three people electrocuted
A man and his two son's were electrocuted while installing a television antenna in southern Vietnam, a local official said yesterday. Nguyen Van Le, 51, and his sons, aged 30 and 18, were killed trying to install the antenna on the roof of their home in Soc Son commune in the Mekong Delta region, said Diep Quoc Phong, an officer with the commune people's committee. "The electrocution occurred when the antenna suddenly fell onto an electric cable running across the roof," Phong said. The three were killed instantly while a third son, 28-year-old Nguyen Van Diep, was seriously injured, Phong said.
■ Singapore
Maids a `murderous team'
Two Indonesian maids formed a "murderous tag team" to suffocate a Singaporean woman, news reports yesterday quoted the prosecution as saying at the start of the defendants' murder trial. Deputy Public Prosecutor Amarjit Singh said Monday that evidence would show the two maids allegedly planned a week ahead to kill Esther Ang Imm Suan, a 47-year-old oil-rig company purchasing officer, steal her cash and valuables and fake a robbery. Ang's maid, Juminem, 19, and her former husband's domestic helper, Siti Aminah, 16, have been accused of strangling the woman and using a wine bottle to hit her abdomen and head several times at her condominium on March 2 last year. They each took turns suffocating Ang with a pillow and jumping on her abdomen, The Straits Times reported.
■ New Zealand
Airplane's wheel falls off
A wheel fell off a Mount Cook Airlines plane with 60 people aboard as it was taxiing down the runway for takeoff at Christchurch Airport, it was reported yesterday. The 66-seater ATR aircraft's nose landing gear axle broke, but it was safely brought to a halt and nobody was hurt in Monday's mishap, Radio New Zealand reported. The airline initiated an inquiry, and general manager Peter O'Regan said the plane was only six years old, was checked regularly and had been reliable to date.
■ China
Greenpeace fights for trees
The environmental group Greenpeace and Singapore-based Asia Pulp and Paper Co (APP) are again clashing over a large Chinese project, this time a paper plant in southern Hainan Province, state media said yesterday. Hainan Jinhai Pulp and Paper Co, a subsidiary of the paper making giant which also has extensive operations in Indonesia, officially started production Monday amid protests from environmental campaigners. the China Daily reported. With a capacity to produce a million tonnes of pulp every year, it is the largest project of its kind in China, according to the newspaper. "APP is promoting a manufacturing method that combines tree planting, pulp and paper-making together in the industry," said Yao Xusheng, chief executive for APP in China.
■ Japan
PM takes advice from Gere
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, whose tension with political foes often spills over, got some advice yesterday from American actor Richard Gere -- follow the Dalai Lama and listen to your rivals. Gere was in Japan to promote his film Shall We Dance? and Koizumi took him up on the offer, taking his hands for a few steps with the actor in front of the cameras at the prime minister's residence. Gere told reporters later that Koizumi promised to see the film, a remake of the 1996 Japanese original by the same name, "at least 10 times."
■ United States
Ex-envoys oppose Bolton
Fifty-nine former US envoys oppose the nomination of John Bolton to be the US ambassador to the UN, according to a letter that was to be delivered to Senator Richard Lugar, the chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday. "We urge you to reject that nomination," the former diplomats said in the letter. They took issue with what they said was Bolton's view that the UN is valuable only when it directly serves the interest of the US. They also said Bolton has an exceptional record of opposing efforts to enhance US security through arms control and has worked for Taiwan as a paid researcher and has said Taiwan should be treated as a sovereign state.
■ Czech Republic
Load of manure kills driver
A tractor driver died under 8 tonnes of manure in a bizarre accident that has baffled his employers, local media reported. The 34-year old man suffocated after the load fell on him while he was dumping it in a field near the western city of Karlovy Vary, according to the news Web Site www.novinky.cz on Sunday. "It absolutely beats me how this could happen," said Vladimir Erps, chief of the company employing the victim. "The truck is operated from the tractor cabin, using hydraulics. There was nothing for him to do under the truck, but it's tough to blame him now that he is dead," he said.
■ South Africa
Surfer survives shark bite
A British surfer who was attacked by a great white shark off the coast of Cape Town on Monday escaped with just bites to his legs. Chris Sullivan, 32, paddled 500m to the shore after being bitten and was given first aid by a South African doctor who happened to be on the beach. Sullivan was then flown by helicopter to a nearby hospital, where he received 200 stitches for deep multiple bite wounds to his lower right leg and foot. A nurse said Sullivan had spoken of his terror as he turned around to see the 4m-long shark heading towards him. "He was shocked but when it took hold of him he managed to kick it with his other leg and then punch it," she said. "Then he hauled his right leg free and got away."
■ Belarus
Protesters jailed for demo
A court on Monday sentenced all 24 people arrested last Friday for demanding President Alexander Lukashenko's resignation to jail terms of up to 15 days for violating regulations on holding demonstrations, a human-rights organization said. One of the leaders of the protest was fined 1.2 million rubles (US$560). Police and special forces police using dogs broke up the protest by 300 people outside the presidential building on Friday. Opposition politicians and human rights activists said those arrested had been beaten and that many needed to be hospitalized.
■ United States
Bible study leads to change
The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday threw out the death penalty in a rape-and-murder case because jurors had studied Bible verses during deliberations. On a 3-2 vote, justices ordered Robert Harlan to serve life in prison without parole for kidnapping 25-year-old cocktail waitress Rhonda Maloney in 1994 and raping her at gunpoint for two hours. The jurors in Harlan's 1995 trial sentenced him to die, but defense lawyers discovered five of them had looked up Bible verses, copied them down and talked about them while deliberating a sentence behind closed doors.
The pledge by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to “work, work, work, work and work” for her country has been named the catchphrase of the year, recognizing the effort Japan’s first female leader had to make to reach the top. Takaichi uttered the phrase in October when she was elected as head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Many were initially as worried about her work ethic as supportive of her enthusiasm. In a country notorious for long working hours, especially for working women who are also burdened with homemaking and caregiving, overwork is a sensitive topic. The recognition triggered a
Tropical Storm Koto killed three people and left another missing as it approached Vietnam, authorities said yesterday, as strong winds and high seas buffeted vessels off the country’s flood-hit central coast. Heavy rains have lashed Vietnam’s middle belt in recent weeks, flooding historic sites and popular holiday destinations, and causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. Authorities ordered boats to shore and diverted dozens of flights as Koto whipped up huge waves and dangerous winds, state media reported. Two vessels sank in the rough seas, a fishing boat in Khanh Hoa province and a smaller raft in Lam Dong, according to the
‘HEART IS ACHING’: Lee appeared to baffle many when he said he had never heard of six South Koreans being held in North Korea, drawing criticism from the families South Korean President Lee Jae-myung yesterday said he was weighing a possible apology to North Korea over suspicions that his ousted conservative predecessor intentionally sought to raise military tensions between the war-divided rivals in the buildup to his brief martial law declaration in December last year. Speaking to reporters on the first anniversary of imprisoned former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol’s ill-fated power grab, Lee — a liberal who won a snap presidential election following Yoon’s removal from office in April — stressed his desire to repair ties with Pyongyang. A special prosecutor last month indicted Yoon and two of his top
The Philippines deferred the awarding of a project that is part of a plan to build one of the world’s longest marine bridges after local opposition over the potential involvement of a Chinese company due to national security fears. The proposals are “undergoing thorough review” by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which acts as a lender and an overseer of the project to ensure it meets international environmental and governance standards, the Philippine Department of Public Works and Highways said in a statement on Monday in response to queries from Bloomberg. The agency said it would announce the winning bidder once ADB
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