■ Hong Kong
Gem theft thwarted
Two gem thieves were arrested on the first day of a huge jewelry fair in Hong Kong for trying to switch fake diamonds for real ones, police said yesterday. The men from China allegedly replaced a HK$210,000 (US$27,000) diamond from a stand and put an identical sized fake in its place. Police were alerted and the two men were arrested after a struggle at the opening day of the five-day fair in Hong Kong's Convention and Exhibition Center on Wednesday. A police spokesman said the suspects, aged 26 and 33, were held overnight for questioning but charges had not yet been laid. A number of other fake diamonds were found in the suspects' possession.
■ China
Prostitutes, shrine don't mix
Mixing prostitutes and patriotism is dangerous business in China: Five people received jail sentences of up to 12 years for running a call-girl ring in a revolutionary martyrs shrine. Manager Zhang Chuanhu was given the heaviest sentence for organizing women to offer sexual services and perform stripteases in the Zhongshan Hotel, part of the Martyrs Mausoleum complex in southwestern Luzhou City, the official Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday. The site is dedicated to people who died for the revolutionary cause since 1911, when China's last dynasty, the Qing, was overthrown by a revolutionary army. Four others who helped manage Zhang's prostitutes were sentenced to eight months to 10 years in prison, Xinhua said. Government officials and police who helped protect the operation were also punished, it said, without giving details.The harshness of the penalties appeared to be linked to the site's sensitive status.
■ Japan
Talks with China next week
Japan and China will meet late next week to settle a feud over claims to undersea oil and gas deposits in disputed waters, a Japanese government official said, following Japan's protests over new drilling activity by China in the area. The two sides agreed to resume talks on jointly developing reserves that fall within the countries' UN-defined maritime economic zones, Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said late on Wednesday. Earlier this week, Tokyo urged Beijing to reverse what it said was a one-sided decision to start extracting natural gas from the Tianwaitian oil field in the East China Sea.
■ Indonesia
Officer stabs wife, judge
An Indonesian navy officer stabbed to death his former wife and a judge who tried to save her after a court ruled against him in a divorce hearing, a navy police official said yesterday. Captain Muhammad Irfan refused to accept the ruling by the three-member panel in Sidoarjo in East Java, which rejected his claim to a house inherited from his former in-laws, the official said. Irfan rushed out to his car, grabbed a dagger and went back to the courtroom where he repeatedly stabbed ex-wife Eka Suhartini, and then attacked judge Ahmad Taufik when he tried to stop him, said the official, identified only as Winky. Local newspaper Jawa Pos quoted Irfan after the arrest as saying "I just went wild."
■ China
Fake maps confuse drivers
Can't seem to navigate China's mammoth city of Shanghai? Check your map, it's probably counterfeit. An increasing number of drivers in Shanghai are having trouble getting to their destinations when the rely on their car's GPS navigation system because many electronic maps installed are fake, the Shanghai Daily reported. The government is aware of the problem but is at loss over how to handle it because there are no statutes on its books to deal with such a modern phenomena, the newspaper said yesterday. Although the Chinese Academy of Surveying and Mapping granted eight companies the right to produce electronic navigation maps only six months ago the number of counterfeit, and misleading, maps exceed genuine ones.
■ Pakistan
Bike bombs kill six
Two bicycle bombs exploded minutes apart in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore yesterday, killing at least six people and injuring more than 20, police and security officials said. The first bomb exploded near the historic Minar-e-Pakistan monument in a crowded area of the city, killing one person and wounding 13, local police officer Amir Zulfiqar said. The device killed the owner of a nearby handcart, Zulfiqar said, adding that the condition of the injured people was not serious. Minutes later a second blast in Icchra, Lahore's busiest shopping district, killed another five people, Lahore police chief Tariq Saleem Dogar said.
■ India
Hundreds found alive
Nearly 400 people who had been listed as missing in a storm off the southern coast of India were found alive after they took shelter on rooftops, trucks and buses, officials said yesterday. But there were still scores missing, and survivors in neighboring Bangladesh, which was also hit by the storm in the Bay of Bengal on Monday, spoke of bodies floating in the sea. At least 66 people have been killed, authorities in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh said.
■ United States
Bobbitt in trouble again
A man who gained notoriety when his then-wife cut off his penis in an argument 12 years ago has been arrested and charged with battery. John Wayne Bobbitt, 38, filed for divorce on Monday, following his arrest last weekend on a domestic battery charge involving Joanna Ferrell, Bobbitt's lawyer said on Wednesday. It was at least the third arrest for Bobbitt in Las Vegas, Nevada involving Ferrell. He posted US$ 10,132 bail and was freed on Tuesday from jail, police said. Bobbitt was arrested on Saturday after he was accused of chasing Ferrell, 40, and pushing her to the ground outside his office.
■ Bolivia
Blaze destroying lives
A massive fire is burning in the forests of the country's north, fed by drought and high winds, officials said on Wednesday. Hundreds of emergency workers and soldiers have been fighting the blaze for six days, but it has already devoured 150,000 hectares and blanketed the country in smoke, forcing airports to close. Officials fear that it will destroy the livelihood of many residents of the impoverished Latin American country -- trees harvested for nuts or timber, pastureland and headwaters of rivers that are a lifeblood for communities in the area.
■ Mexico
Crash kills drug official
A Cabinet minister who helped lead the anti-drug fight, his deputy and seven others died as their helicopter crashed into a wooded mountaintop about 30km west of the capital on Wednesday. While one official aboard the craft had received death threats from a drug trafficker, authorities said the crash appeared to be an accident caused by poor visibility due to dense cloud cover. The helicopter, carrying Public Safety Secretary Ramon Martin Huerta, Federal Preventive Police Chief Tomas Valencia, had taken off from a military parade ground in Mexico City.
■ Israel
Sharon still popular
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would comfortably win re-election with a new party in the event he lost a Likud leadership battle to rival Benjamin Netanyahu, a poll showed yesterday. The survey, by the Yedioth Ahronoth daily said Sharon would win 36 parliament seats, four less than Likud's current total. Netanyahu began a bid to oust Sharon as leader after quitting the party last month to protest at Israel's pullout from Gaza, which rightists said betrayed a biblical Jewish birthright to the land. A majority of Israelis supported the removal of Jewish settlements.
■ Nigeria
Militia's threat to oil
Armed followers of a militia leader detained for treason vowed to destroy oil facilities and attack the army if he was not released. Police said Moujahid Dokubo-Asari was detained on Tuesday because he called for the breakup of the country in the Daily Independent newspaper, grounds for treason charges. Asari says the people of the Niger delta should break away and take control of the billions of dollars of oil flowing from their land. Asari's deputy, Alali Horsefall, had earlier given a deadline for his leader's release after which, he said, he and other militia members "would start action." Oil company Shell would not confirm reports that four of its flow stations had already been overrun by militants.
■ United States
Saudi sanctions waived
US President George W. Bush decided to waive any financial sanctions on Saudi Arabia, Washington's closest Arab ally in the war on terrorism, for failing to do enough to stop the modern-day slave trade in prostitutes, child sex workers and forced laborers. In June, the State Department listed 14 countries as failing to adequately address trafficking problems, subjecting them all to possible sanctions if they did not crack down. Of those, Ecuador and Kuwait were given a complete pass on any sanctions, a State Department spokeswoman said. Only Myanmar, Cuba and North Korea were barred completely from receiving certain kinds of foreign aid.
■ Italy
Economy minister resigns
Economy Minister Domenico Siniscalco has resigned, a move that deals a blow to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government less than a year away from general elections. An Economy Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Siniscalco stepped down on Wednesday night. The official refused to give details. Italian news reports said Siniscalco had resigned after his efforts to oust the Bank of Italy governor Antonio Fazio failed. According to the daily La Repubblica, Siniscalco contended the government was "immobile" in the scandal surrounding Fazio, who was accused of discriminating against a Dutch bank in a takeover battle.
■ Mexico
Police free kidnapped coach
Federal police on Wednesday rescued Ruben Omar Romano, the coach of one of the country's most popular soccer teams, who was kidnapped two months ago by armed men in broad daylight. Initial radio reports indicated that Romano was freed in a raid on a house on the east side of Mexico City. At least four suspected kidnappers were captured. Romano, 47, was born in Buenos Aires and has been popular in Mexico for years, first as a player and later as the coach of Cruz Azul. "I feel relieved," he said. "I always had faith. Now I am worried about my family."
■ Italy
July 21 suspect extradited
The suspect in the failed July 21 London bombings who was arrested in Rome left Italy yesterday to be extradited to Britain, Italian. Hamdi Issac, a British citizen also known as Osman Hussain, boarded a plane at Rome's Ciampino airport that took off at around 12:15pm. He was arrested in Rome on July 29. British authorities want to prosecute him for his alleged role in the attempted bombing at the Shepherd's Bush subway station. Issac fought extradition, but Italy's highest court on Sept. 13 upheld a lower court's decision to extradite him. After Issac arrives in London he will be charged with conspiracy to commit murder and other offenses.
■ United Kingdom
Attacks may change rights
Britain could consider pulling out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) if its terms hindered anti-terrorism efforts, interior minister Charles Clarke said. Feeling unable to properly defend Britain against a potential terrorist threat due to the terms of the convention, which is incorporated into British law, would put "almost unstoppable pressure" on politicians, he said. "People would ask whether we were really saying that adherence to the European Convention was more important than Joe Bloggs blowing up a Tube [subway] train," he said. "In those circumstances there would be immense pressure to change our relationship with the European Convention on Human Rights."
ROCKY RELATIONS: The figures on residents come as Chinese tourist numbers drop following Beijing’s warnings to avoid traveling to Japan The number of Chinese residents in Japan has continued to rise, even as ties between the two countries have become increasingly fractious, data released on Friday showed. As of the end of December last year, the number of Chinese residents had increased by 6.5 percent from the previous year to 930,428. Chinese people accounted for 22.6 percent of all foreign residents in Japan, making them by far the largest group, Japanese Ministry of Justice data showed. Beijing has criticized Tokyo in increasingly strident terms since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last year suggested that a military conflict around Taiwan could
Germany is considering Australia’s Ghost Bat robot fighter as it looks to select a combat drone to modernize its air force, German Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius said yesterday. Germany has said it wants to field hundreds of uncrewed fighter jets by 2029, and would make a decision soon as it considers a range of German, European and US projects developing so-called “collaborative combat aircraft.” Australia has said it will integrate the Ghost Bat, jointly developed by Boeing Australia and the Royal Australian Air Force, into its military after a successful weapons test last year. After inspecting the Ghost Bat in Queensland yesterday,
A pro-Iran hacking group claimed to breach FBI Director Kash Patel’s personal e-mail inbox and posted some of the contents online. The e-mails provided by the hacking group include travel details, correspondence with leasing agents in Washington and global entry, and loyalty account numbers. The e-mail address the hackers claim to have compromised has been previously tied to Patel’s personal details, and the leaked e-mails contain photos of Patel and others, in addition to correspondence with family members and colleagues. “The FBI is aware of malicious actors targeting Director Patel’s personal email information,” the agency said in a statement on
RIVALRY: ‘We know that these are merely symbolic investigations initiated by China, which is in fact the world’s most profligate disrupter of supply chains,’ a US official said China has started a pair of investigations into US trade practices, retaliating against similar probes by US President Donald Trump’s administration as the superpowers stake out positions before an expected presidential summit in May. The move, announced by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce on Friday, is a direct mirror of steps Trump took to revive his tariff agenda after the US Supreme Court last month struck down some of his duties. “China expresses its strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to these actions,” a ministry spokesperson said in a statement, referring to the so-called Section 301 investigations initiated on March 11.
RSS