■ Myanmar
Woman breastfeeding tigers
Hla Htay has three hungry infants to feed these days -- a seven-month old baby boy and two Bengal tiger cubs. Three times a day, the housewife goes to the Yangon Zoo where she breastfeeds the hungry black-striped, orange-brown cubs rejected by their natural mother. "The cubs are just like my babies," Hla Htay said as as one of the baby big cats suckled her breast. "It's not scary at all," she said of the 45-minute feeds. "I needed to do something for the cubs because I felt really sorry for them." Three cubs were born at the zoo in mid-March, but their mother killed one and refused to nurse the others.
■ Vietnam
Funeral held for veterans
They had survived wars against both the French and Americans. After three decades of peace, they were on their way to tour their old battlefields. It was a trip from which the 29 elderly Vietnamese veterans would never return. Yesterday, several hundred grief-stricken friends and family members gathered at a cemetery outside Hanoi for a memorial service for veterans who were killed in a bus crash along the Ho Chi Minh Highway. The group had been heading to festivities next Saturday marking the 30th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War in southern Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon.
■ Vietnam
Drug smuggler to get death
A Vietnamese-Australian was sentenced to death by a court in Ho Chi Minh City for heroin trafficking, state-controlled media reported yesterday. Nguyen Van Chinh, 45, was condemned to face the firing squad after being convicted of heroin trafficking at the one-day trial Friday, the Tuoi Tre newspaper said. Three Vietnamese women involved in the case were given jail terms ranging from 20 years to life in prison on the same charges, the paper said.
■ Malaysia
Pirates captured after chase
Malaysian police have detained seven Indonesian men suspected of robbing several ships, including a Japanese oil tanker, near the Singapore strait, a newspaper said yesterday. The New Straits Times said the men, aged between 37 and 50, were arrested on Thursday after a high-speed chase off the Malaysian state of Johor bordering Singapore. The crackdown followed a recent spate of sea robberies and kidnappings by armed pirates in the Malacca and Singapore straits, among the world's busiest sea lanes. Malaysia's maritime police chief, Abdul Rahman Ahmad, said the men had attacked an unnamed Japanese oil tanker on April 8 and robbed crew members of about 30,000 ringgit (US$7,900) in foreign currency and 11 mobile phones.
■ Australia
Rights activist Grassby dies
A former Australian immigration minister who helped end the country's decades-old "White Australia Policy" on migration died yesterday, Australian Labor Party officials said. Al Grassby, 78, who was immigration minister from 1972 to 1974, suffered a heart attack on Thursday and died yesterday. His daughter, Gabriella Davis, said her father is expected to be honored with a state funeral next week. Grassby was a Labor Cabinet minister in 1974 when he declared that the migration policy, used by successive governments until the 1970s to attract European settlers to Australia and to restrict Asian immigration, had ended. "The white Australia policy is dead -- give me a shovel and I will bury it," Grassby said then during a visit to the Philippines.
■ Russia
Chechen rebel leader buried
Aslan Maskhadov, the Chechen rebel leader killed by Russian troops last month, has been buried in a secret grave after the authorities refused to return his body to his family, Interfax news agency reported on Friday. "Maskhadov has been buried and the location of his grave will not be disclosed," said Nikolai Shepel, deputy prosecutor general in charge of southern Russia. The killing of Maskhadov, a former Soviet army colonel elected Chechen president during the rebel region's short-lived independence in 1996-2000, was the highest profile killing by Russian forces since they brought the province back under direct rule.
■ Italy
Town drafts strict dog law
Dog owners in Turin will be fined up to 500 euros (US$650) if they don't walk their pets at least three times a day, under a new law from the city's council. People will also be banned from dyeing their pets' fur or "any form of animal mutilation" for merely aesthetic motives such as docking dogs' tails, under the law about to be passed in the northern Italian city. "In Turin it will be illegal to turn one's dog into a ridiculous fluffy toy," the city's La Stampa daily reported.
■ Germany
Man-eater to face 2nd trial
A top court ordered a cannibal to be retried Friday, saying his manslaughter conviction for killing and eating a willing victim was too lenient. "The conviction only for manslaughter and not for murder does not stand up to legal review," the Federal Court of Justice said in a statement, upholding an appeal by prosecutors. Armin Meiwes, 43, was sentenced to eight and a half years in January last year after a gory case that both fascinated and repulsed Germany and the world. Meiwes admitted to killing a Berlin computer specialist, Bernd-Juergen B, he met via the Internet, but was spared a murder conviction as the victim had asked to be eaten in a startling case of sexual fetishism.
■ United Kingdom
Bee swarm goes missing
Police appealed for help on Friday to trace a swarm of up to 30,000 missing honey bees, a day after they were last seen at their hive in Worcestershire, central England. "The bees, which would cost 100 pounds (US$190 dollars) to replace, could have travelled in any direction," a spokesman for West Mercia Police said. "The owner cannot explain why they suddenly left their home, where there is a second hive, which remains stable." The beekeeper, who was not identified, asked members of the public to report to police any swarm they might see.
■ Australia
Teen gets stuck in garbage
Firefighters in the city of Melbourne have successfully tackled their most bizarre rescue -- freeing a teenage reveller who got himself trapped head-first in a rubbish bin. The 18-year-old began rummaging in the bin early yesterday when one of his friends threw his mobile phone into it and then found he couldn't get out. "He was trapped in the bin with his arm and head through the stainless steel top of the bin, a bit like a lobster trap," said Peter Yeoman of the fire brigade's rescue squad, who were called to the Fitzroy Street bar strip in St. Kilda district. A large crowd of revellers enjoyed the unexpected entertainment as firefighters unscrewed the stainless steel lid from the bin and then tried in vain to free the man by lubricating his head.
■ Bulgaria
Pilot's identity confirmed
An official from the company that owned a helicopter shot down in Iraq confirmed that a man who appeared in a video of the downed aircraft was the Bulgarian pilot of the flight. Mihail Mihailov, the manager of the Bulgarian Heli Air company, said the man shown being shot by insurgents in the video was "definitely" one of the two pilots of the Mi-8 helicopter downed Thursday near Baghdad.
■ Peru
In-flight film causes dispute
Chilean airline LAN came under fire for an in-flight film that Peruvian lawmakers said portrayed Peru as a "pigsty" -- showing a man urinating in the street, a road strewn with litter and children clinging to the back of buses. LAN hastily withdrew the 30-minute movie, which it had been showing on all flights, and apologized after the Peruvian Congress demanded an explanation and Peru's civil aviation authority called for sanctions. "We express our sincere apologies ... for having aired the video, whose main aim was to promote adventure tourism," the president of LanPeru said. The company had shown the movie without actually seeing it.
■ United states
Abu Ghraib officials cleared
The Army has cleared four top officers -- including the three-star general who commanded all US forces in Iraq -- of all allegations of wrongdoing in connection with prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib. Ricardo Sanchez, who was the senior commander in Iraq in June 2003, had been faulted in earlier investigations for leadership lapses that may have contributed to prisoner abuse. He is the highest ranking officer to face official allegations of leadership failures in Iraq, but he has not been accused of criminal violations. The Army's inspector general, Stanley Green, concluded that the allegations were unsubstantiated. Green reached the same conclusion in the cases of two generals and a colonel who worked for Sanchez.
■ United States
Woman wins against church
A California woman won a US$3.3-million-dollar settlement after being sexually abused for six years by a priest who used rock music to preach his message to the young. The award was the largest single settlement in favor of a female victim in the US since the clergy abuse scandal hit the Catholic Church in 2002. Roberta Saum, 44, was 15 when she was molested by former priest Don Kimball, who was sentenced to seven years in prison for molesting a teenage girl in 1981. That conviction, however, was overturned as a result of a US Supreme Court ruling. Saum said she was a foster child and for six years had a sexual relationship with Kimball, whom she viewed as a father figure. She said, "He messed me up for the rest of my life. I hope by telling my story I can help other people."
■ United States
Stolen violin returned
A rare violin and its bow worth around US$850,000 dollars that a musician reported stolen from her car earlier this week has been returned. The precious 263-year-old musical instrument was in police custody after a man who said he found it turned it in near the supermarket parking lot where it was stolen. Lindsay Deutsch told police the instrument was stolen from her car after she left it in the vehicle when she slipped into the supermarket to shop for groceries. The owner of the 1742 violin, Peter Mandell, said the instrument was insured, but that a clause in the policy did not cover thefts from motor vehicles.
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
CANCER: Jose Mujica earned the moniker ‘world’s poorest president’ for giving away much of his salary and living a simple life on his farm, with his wife and dog Tributes poured in on Tuesday from across Latin America following the death of former Uruguayan president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics. He was 89. Mujica, who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity, lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi wrote on X. “Pepe, eternal,” a cyclist shouted out minutes later,
Myanmar’s junta chief met Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for the first time since seizing power, state media reported yesterday, the highest-level meeting with a key ally for the internationally sanctioned military leader. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing led a military coup in 2021, overthrowing Myanmar’s brief experiment with democracy and plunging the nation into civil war. In the four years since, his armed forces have battled dozens of ethnic armed groups and rebel militias — some with close links to China — opposed to its rule. The conflict has seen Min Aung Hlaing draw condemnation from rights groups and pursued by the
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