■ China
Mudslides maroon tourists
Mudslides caused by torrential rains have trapped more than 1,200 tourists in a scenic spot in southwestern China, cutting off traffic and electricity and flattening houses, Xinhua news agency said on yesterday. Rescuers had set out to save the tourists trapped in the Hailuo Valley in Sichuan province and search for at least one person missing after two residential buildings in the area were smashed by sudden flows of mud and rock, Xinhua said. "The torrential rains also damaged highways, bridges and power stations, cutting off traffic and causing a blackout in the region," the report said, citing a source from the local government. State media previously said this year's floods and mudslides had killed 560 people by late June, a month in which torrential rains caused many rivers to burst their banks and mountain torrents to smash through villages in southern China.
■ Malaysia
Tiger rescued from the pot
A Malaysian resident rescued a wild tiger cub from a Chinese restaurant, fearing it was destined for the cooking pot, a newspaper reported Friday. S.H. Foo, paid a large amount of money to the restaurant on Monday to save the cub, before handing it to wildlife authorities, the Star said. It said Foo did not reveal how much he paid, but the amount is believed to be more than 10,000 ringgit (US$2,600). Foo or wildlife officials were not immediately available for comment. The Star said the skinny and frightened cub, which appeared to be three months old, was caught recently by villagers in the northern state of Pahang and sold to the restaurant in Kuala Lumpur.
■ Vietnam
Chopsticked, but not blinded
A man who had a chopstick poked 13cm into his right eye during a drunken row in Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday has not only survived but has also retained his sight, doctors said yesterday. "The chopstick was stabbed into the patient's right eye socket with a strong force," said Dr. Ho Dai Duong. "It went through the man's eye, right nose-throat palate, then crossed the left palate to his spine." The 40-year-old man was stabbed by one of his friends during a drinking session. During a one-hour operation, surgeons were able to remove the broken chopstick and save the man's eye and sight. He is not considering pressing charges against the friend who stabbed him, the doctor said.
■ Australia
Ex-soldier suspected
Former soldier Mathew Stewart is suspected of being a masked gunman who appeared in a videotaped terror message this week threatening attacks against the West, newspapers reported yesterday. He had served as a private with the UN peacekeeping force in East Timor before he was discharged on psychiatric grounds from the Australian army in 2001 and apparently disappeared overseas. The masked man wearing a balaclava and speaking with an Australian accent appeared on Dubai-based Al-Arabiya TV in what purported to be an al-Qaeda videotape made in Afghanistan. Stewart's family has told the police that the man in the video was not Mathew. US forces reportedly found documents identifying Stewart as an al-Qaeda recruit when they raided a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan in 2002.
■ Australia
Kiwi charged with cruelty
A New Zealand man described as a finance industry professional appeared in a Sydney court yesterday charged with animal cruelty, bestiality and drug offences after the deaths of 17 rabbits and a guinea pig. Police said the the 36-year-old man was arrested in his Sydney office at about 1am yesterday after an investigation during which police worked with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. He was charged with 18 counts of aggravated cruelty to animals, one count of bestiality and two counts of possession of cannabis for offences committed between July 20 and Aug. 20, police said. He was ordered held in custody until his next court appearance on Aug. 19.
■ Japan
Controversial text adopted
A Tokyo district yesterday adopted a controversial book, The New History Textbook, for use in junior-high schools. The debate on whether to adopt the book in Suginami, which is home to some 500,000 people and has 23 junior-high schools, was so politicized that a decision had been postponed for a week.
■ Russia
Attacks anger Poland
Poland made an official complaint to the Russian foreign ministry on Thursday about attacks on two diplomats who were beaten up outside the country's embassy in Moscow. The incidents have added to the tension that has been growing between Moscow and Warsaw in recent months over a series of issues, including Poland's support last year for the opposition in Ukraine. On Sunday a technical employee of Poland's Moscow mission was attacked by a gang of young men 60m from the embassy, and suffered concussion. Three days later, in another attack meters from the same building, an embassy secretary received injuries to the head and chest, as well as a torn ear and bruising.
■ United Kingdom
Police don green ribbons
A British police force is wearing green ribbons to express their solidarity with local Muslims, British newspapers said yesterday. All 4,000 Nottinghamshire Police officers are to wear the ribbons after race-hate crimes rose 50 percent -- to just under 50 cases -- in the central English county since the July terror bombings in London. Chief Constable Steve Green has ordered 20,000 ribbons in the traditional Islamic shade of green at a cost of ?2,000 (US$3,600) to demonstrate "solidarity." Musharraf Hussain, the imam of Nottingham city's largest mosque, welcomed the move.
■ United Kingdom
Crystal ball torches flat
A French amateur psychic's powers of prediction were under sharp scrutiny after his crystal ball started an inferno that burnt out his flat, a British newspaper reported yesterday. The fortune-telling device caused a fire that destroyed two other flats and rendered several more uninhabitable, the Times said. Herve Vandrot, 24, who studies botany at Edinburgh University, left his trusty crystal ball on a window sill while he sauntered off to the city's Royal Botanical Garden. He returned surprised to find his top floor flat ablaze and suffered blistering to a hand after dashing in to rescue some coursework.
■ Russia
Kursk tragedy remembered
Memorial ceremonies took place across Russia yesterday marking the fifth anniversary of the sinking of the nuclear submarine Kursk with the loss of all 118 aboard, a traumatizing accident that highlighted military incompetence. The anniversary of the sailors' deaths under the icy Barents Sea was all the more poignant as it came just a week after seven Russian submariners were rescued by British experts from a mini-sub stranded under the Pacific Ocean. Church services were being held in Moscow, Saint Petersburg and in the doomed submarine's home base of Vidyayevo.
■ Zimbabwe
Fears of school closures
Half of Zimbabwe's private schools could be forced to close if parliament passes a bill allowing the government to set fees, the Herald newspaper reported yesterday. Edith Mushore, a lawyer for the Association of Trust Schools, told a public hearing on the bill on Thursday that pupils would be "roaming the streets" if the laws were passed. Last year, President Robert Mugabe's government temporarily shut down several private schools after a wrangle over school fees. It accused the schools of being racist and trying to exclude poorer pupils.
■ United States
Undone by love for cat
A woman who escaped a fire in her home was killed when she went back into the burning building to save her cat, authorities said. Iris Kay Call, 42, went back inside the house after escaping the blaze Thursday with her husband. She did not reappear, and firefighters later removed her from the house, according to a police report. Call died of smoke inhalation after being taken to a hospital, authorities said. The cat she was trying to rescue died in the blaze. The cause of the fire, which broke out early Thursday, had not been determined. Pewee Valley is located about 29km outside of Louisville.
■ United States
Bush talks about Iraq
US President George W. Bush said yesterday that pulling US troops from Iraq would send a "terrible signal" to insurgents bent on intimidating the Americans through violence. Bush, after meeting with his national security team at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, reiterated his long-standing position that the Americans will not leave until Iraqi forces are capable of defending their country. His comments come amid increasing US public scepticism about the prospects for success in Iraq. The most recent CNN/USAToday poll showed only 43 percent of Americans believe the mission in Iraq is headed in the right direction.
■ United States
Woman steals coins
A former toll supervisor has been arrested for allegedly stealing more than US$43,000 in coins from automated toll booths, a newspaper reported Thursday. Marlene Sue Dougan, 48, was charged with second-degree theft Wednesday after she allegedly removed coins from toll boxes at the Cape Coral Bridge during her work day and placed them in an expandable folder, local police said, according to The News-Press of Fort Myers, Florida. She was arrested after auditors discovered a shortfall of US$43,394 (euro35,082) from October to February. Dougan faced financial difficulties and used the money to pay bills and help her children, an investigative report said. She had been fired for an unrelated payroll infraction.
■ United States
Pro-choice ad raises hackles
A pro-choice group is withdrawing a heavily criticized television ad that linked John Roberts to violent anti-abortion activists, saying its attempt to illuminate the Supreme Court nominee's record has been "misconstrued." After protests by conservatives, NARAL Pro-Choice America said Thursday night it would pull the ad that began running this week. "We regret that many people have misconstrued our recent advertisement about Mr. Roberts' record," NARAL president Nancy Keenan said.
■ United States
Bank robber leaves ID
A suspected bank robber left his wallet and identification at the scene of the crime, making it easy for police to track him down. Terrell Green, 26, was charged with the Wednesday robbery of the Trustmark Bank in Columbus, Massachusetts. Police said a man walked into the bank and handed the teller a note from his wallet demanding money. He handed the teller a white pillowcase into which she placed more than US$1000 worth of cash. Police set up checkpoints to search for the suspect but had to look no further than the bank counter, where the suspect's wallet was found with his identification inside. Following information from the wallet, investigators went to the suspect's mother's home and arrested Green as he was walking out the door.
DEATH CONSTANTLY LOOMING: Decades of detention took a major toll on Iwao Hakamada’s mental health, his lawyers describing him as ‘living in a world of fantasy’ A Japanese man wrongly convicted of murder who was the world’s longest-serving death row inmate has been awarded US$1.44 million in compensation, an official said yesterday. The payout represents ￥12,500 (US$83) for each day of the more than four decades that Iwao Hakamada spent in detention, most of it on death row when each day could have been his last. It is a record for compensation of this kind, Japanese media said. The former boxer, now 89, was exonerated last year of a 1966 quadruple murder after a tireless campaign by his sister and others. The case sparked scrutiny of the justice system in
The head of Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, was sacked yesterday, days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he no longer trusts him, and fallout from a report on the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. “The Government unanimously approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to end ISA Director Ronen Bar’s term of office,” a statement said. He is to leave his post when his successor is appointed by April 10 at the latest, the statement said. Netanyahu on Sunday cited an “ongoing lack of trust” as the reason for moving to dismiss Bar, who joined the agency in 1993. Bar, meant to
Indonesia’s parliament yesterday amended a law to allow members of the military to hold more government roles, despite criticisms that it would expand the armed forces’ role in civilian affairs. The revision to the armed forces law, pushed mainly by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s coalition, was aimed at expanding the military’s role beyond defense in a country long influenced by its armed forces. The amendment has sparked fears of a return to the era of former Indonesian president Suharto, who ex-general Prabowo once served and who used military figures to crack down on dissent. “Now it’s the time for us to ask the
‘HUMAN NEGLIGENCE’: The fire is believed to have been caused by someone who was visiting an ancestral grave and accidentally started the blaze, the acting president said Deadly wildfires in South Korea worsened overnight, officials said yesterday, as dry, windy weather hampered efforts to contain one of the nation’s worst-ever fire outbreaks. More than a dozen different blazes broke out over the weekend, with Acting South Korean Interior and Safety Minister Ko Ki-dong reporting thousands of hectares burned and four people killed. “The wildfires have so far affected about 14,694 hectares, with damage continuing to grow,” Ko said. The extent of damage would make the fires collectively the third-largest in South Korea’s history. The largest was an April 2000 blaze that scorched 23,913 hectares across the east coast. More than 3,000
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