■ Vietnam
Horny buffalo kills two
A water buffalo went mad and killed a father and son in northern Vietnam as it tried to break free to reach a female in heat, police said yesterday. Pham Van Quy, 73, was killed instantly when the buffalo gored him in the stomach on Sunday in Nam Dinh province, some 100km south of Hanoi, said local police officer Bui Van Bac. Quy's 46-year-old son was also gored to death when he tried to intervene, he said. Police suspected that the bull went mad when Quy tried to stop it from reaching the female, Bac said. The buffalo later wandered to a nearby village where it was cornered and electrocuted by the villagers, he said.
■ Philippines
Streaking students protest
A group of young male students ran naked around a crowded Manila university block near the presidential palace yesterday, saying they wanted to "bare the government's shortcomings" in education funding. The 15 activists, mostly in their 20s and some with "Education for all" written on their bodies in red paint, snarled traffic and drew giggles from passing females.
■ Thailand
Brawling monks defrocked
Five Thai Buddhist monks have been defrocked and fined after a brawl with monks from a nearby temple, police and newspapers said Tuesday. The street fight was the culmination of years of antagonism between monks from the two temples who had often exchanged curses, insults and rude gestures as they collected alms on different sides of a road, the Manager newspaper said. "When an ordinary person is given a middle-finger sign, he will be mad. So am I," it quoted one of the defrocked monks, Boonlert Boonpan, as saying after the brawl in the northeastern state of Nong Khai Monday. Boonlert said he usually carried a knuckle-duster in his shoulder bag during the morning collection of alms on which Buddhist monks depend, it said.
■ South Korea
Foreign kimchi vilified
South Korean farmers are protesting cheap Chinese imports of kimchi, saying the competition could destroy domestic producers of the famously pungent national dish. Farmers groups sent a letter to discount chain Home Plus asking it to stop selling Chinese kimchi that costs about half that of the domestic variety, the JoongAng Daily newspaper reported yesterday. "Chinese kimchi imports are increasing and if a large discount mart starts selling kimchi made there, the domestic cabbage industry will collapse," the paper quote the letter as saying. "Next to rice, kimchi is the most important food for Koreans. If Home Plus does not stop selling the China made kimchi, it will be responsible for all future mishaps," the letter said.
■ China
`NY Times' worker charged
China has filed a new charge of fraud against a New York Times researcher detained for allegedly leaking state secrets to foreigners, his lawyer said yesterday. Mo Shaoping, the lawyer for Zhao Yan, said the government informed the law firm last month that they found new evidence against the employee of the New York Times' Beijing bureau and have charged Zhao with fraud. Mo said the move enables the government to continue to hold Zhao in custody without trial. It was unclear whether the fraud charge replaces the initial charge of "divulging state secrets" -- a crime punishable by death.
■ United States
Slater busted for groping
Christian Slater, who is appearing in a revival of The Glass Menagerie on Broadway, has been arrested on a charge that he groped a woman. Slater and his girlfriend were arguing at a small grocery store on Manhattan's Upper East Side early on Tuesday, a prosecutor said in Manhattan criminal court. Another woman was buying a soda in the store when Slater allegedly walked up behind her and grabbed her buttocks, the prosecutor said. Slater was charged with third-degree sexual abuse. He didn't enter a plea when he appeared in court, chewing gum and wearing a blue shirt, jeans and a beige jacket.
■ United States
Rock dropped on driver
A teen was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly throwing a concrete chunk from an interstate overpass, killing a driver, police said. Carolyn Mirek, 50, was heading home with her daughter when their SUV was struck on Saturday. She was pronounced dead early on Sunday. A 17-year-old from Little Rock, Arkansas, was one of three individuals questioned in the death, Arkansas State Police said. The teen faces charges of first-degree murder and commissioning a terroristic act, police said. The woman's 15-year-old daughter, Mary Catherine Mirek, said she saw a dark object fall toward their car, smash through the windshield and strike her mother's head.
■ United Kingdom
Couple celebrate 80 years
A British couple recognized as having had the world's longest marriage ever recorded were celebrating their 80th anniversary yesterday, and revealed the secret to wedded bliss as never letting arguments fester. Or, as 105-year-old Percy Arrowsmith put it more succinctly, the regular use of two words: "Yes, dear." Arrowsmith and his 100-year-old wife, Florence, were married on June 1, 1925. Florence Arrowsmith attributed the success of their union to hard work and never going to bed with an argument unresolved. "We don't argue much these days, only when I want to watch the soaps [soap operas] on television, which he hates," she said.
■ United Kingdom
Congregation goes online
British telecom operator BT Group has wired up a church in Wales to allow the congregation to hook onto local high-speed Internet connections when they want a break from the sermon. Britain's largest fixed-line telecom operator said on Tuesday that it had installed a Wi-Fi wireless network access point, known as a hotspot, in Reverend Keith Kimber's St John's Rectory church in the city of Cardiff. "The church has to move with the times and I wanted to make St John's a sanctuary for everyone, including businesspeople with laptops and mobiles," Kimber said in a statement.
■ Russia
Satellite lab in orbit
A Russian rocket carrying a satellite laboratory blasted off from Kazakhstan's Baikonur cosmodrome on Tuesday on a 17-day mission. Russia's Federal Space Agency said the Soyuz-U rocket was launched at 4pm and entered orbit 10 minutes later. The European Space Agency said the Foton-M2 research satellite was carrying some 385kg of equipment to conduct more than 20 chemical, physical and biotechnological experiments. Newts, scorpions, geckos and snails were among the animals on the craft for the experiments, which will be monitored from Sweden.
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
A plan by Switzerland’s right-wing People’s Party to cap the population at 10 million has the backing of almost half the country, according to a poll before an expected vote next year. The party, which has long campaigned against immigration, argues that too-fast population growth is overwhelming housing, transport and public services. The level of support comes despite the government urging voters to reject it, warning that strict curbs would damage the economy and prosperity, as Swiss companies depend on foreign workers. The poll by newspaper group Tamedia/20 Minuten and released yesterday showed that 48 percent of the population plan to vote
‘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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