■ China
Ten rioters sentenced
A court has sentenced 10 people for their roles in a violent protest last month in which incensed residents attacked government offices and destroyed cars in Hubei Province. The 10 were sentenced on Monday to terms ranging from one to five years for damaging government property, interfering with government work and inciting unlawful protests, the Web site Sina.com reported yesterday, citing a state-run newspaper, the Wuhan Evening News. According to earlier reports by Hong Kong and overseas media, thousands of mostly unemployed residents went on a rampage after police used dogs to try to break up a protest over a plan by nearby Huangshi city to annex the city of Daye -- a move some feared might result in a loss of funding for the smaller city.
■ Philippines
Red Cross leaders meet
Red Cross leaders from 10 Southeast Asian nations met in Manila yesterday to discuss ways of increasing inter-regional cooperation to better cope with natural disasters and epidemics. Philippine National Red Cross chairman Richard Gordon said the outbreak of avian flu in the region underlined the urgent need for the region to "come up with a specific plan of action. "We need to clarify the priorities in our public health services and prepare programs that clearly address issues like HIV/AIDS, emerging diseases and potential pandemics," Gordon said. The former tourism secretary and senator said: "Natural disasters are changing in scale and intensity like hurricanes Katrina and Rita that hit the US Gulf Coast and last year's tsunami. "Now avian flu is rearing its ugly head as a potential global public health disaster."
■ Vietnam
Typhoon Damrey kills 9
Typhoon Damrey slammed ashore in Vietnam yesterday, injuring four people and knocking down trees and power lines, after leaving nine people dead on China's southern Hainan island. Damrey, the most powerful typhoon to hit northern Vietnam in a decade, packing winds up to 102kph.
■ Philippines
Piranha attacks inspector
A routine check of a shipment at Manila airport turned bloody when a piranha sprung up and bit one of the inspectors. "I was checking one of the boxes when suddenly, something leaped out of it and bit me," fisheries quarantine inspector Mario Trio said. The bite left a V-shaped wound on the inspector's finger, and the 34 piranhas in the consignment he was checking -- falsely declared as "ornamental fish" from Peru -- were confiscated over the weekend, but died two days later.
■ Nepal
Floods kill 3, displace 1,500
At least three people, including a 10-year-old, were killed and 12 were missing as heavy rains caused flooding in western Nepal. The Mahakali River, which serves as the border between Nepal and India, flooded Chandani and Dodhara villages. More than 700 houses were inundated and 1,500 residents left homeless. The flooding in the villages came after the Mahakali River embankment built 11 years ago by the aid group Japan International Cooperation Agency collapsed.
■ Philippines
Kidnapping ring busted
Police have arrested the leaders of a gang behind a spate of high-profile kidnappings, including a Coca-Cola executive whose body was found two years ago. Arrested in separate raids near Manila at the weekend were Hector Cornista, leader of the gang called Waray-Waray, and three of his men. Cornista's gang was involved in at least 18 kidnap for ransom cases in in recent years. In 2003, the group seized Betty Chua Sy, a finance executive of Coca-Cola Corp in the Philippines. Her body was later dumped on a Manila roadside wrapped in a garbage bag, triggering public outrage.
■ China
Pandas' sex lives tracked
Chinese and US scientists will use satellites to track the movements of giant pandas in a bid to learn more about their sexual behavior. The scientists will use global-positioning-system (GPS) sensors in a US$660,000 project to monitor pandas in the remote bamboo forests of the Foping Nature Reserve in northwestern China's Shaanxi Province. "Tracking [pandas] with advanced technologies and observing their sex activities might help us find ways to avoid their extinction.," Wei Fuwen said.
■ India
Tigers safe in rebel hands
The tiger population at a reserve in central India has increased after Maoist rebels who control most of the forest kept poachers away. Tiger conservation became a hot-button issue after reports that poachers had wiped out the entire population of 16-18 tigers at a leading sanctuary in western India. But poachers had kept away from the Indravati tiger reserve in Chhattisgarh state for fear of the Maoist guerrillas who have banned all entry except visits by census officials. Authorities counted 39 tigers this year, up from 29 in 2002 when the Maoists imposed the ban, the state's chief wildlife warden said. "The tigers are totally safe ... we have had no report of poaching," warden N.K. Bhagat said.
■ Iran
Tehran warns IAEA
The Tehran government threatened yesterday to resume uranium enrichment and block UN inspections of its nuclear facilities unless International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) retracted its moves to refer the country to the Security Council for possible sanctions. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters Iran was giving a "serious warning" to its European negotiating partners and the IAEA. The agency passed a resolution last weekend that put Iran on the verge of referral to the council unless Tehran eases suspicions about its nuclear activities. Iran says the resolution was politically motivated and without legal foundation.
■ Mexico
Islands named heritage site
Hundreds of islands in the Sea of Cortez, a major whale breeding ground, have been declared protected areas by the UN, the government said on Monday. The 244 islands, along with miles of mainland beaches in Baja California, Sonora and Nayarit states, were declared World Heritage sites by the UN Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, a presidential spokesman told reporters. The declaration does not impose new environmental restrictions in the region, but should make it easier for Mexico to seek funding for the islands, whose protection is now seen as an international responsibility. Around 40 percent of sea mammal species can be found in the warm and deep sea around the islands, which house numerous species of cactus along with birds and animals.
■ United Kingdom
Pollution damages sperm
Air pollution can damage sperm, potentially leading to birth defects or miscarriages, according to research published on Monday. Scientists said the results were a warning of the number of chemicals commonly present in the air that can cause damage to human DNA. Led by Jiri Rubes of the Veterinary Research Institute in the Czech Republic, the study, in collaboration with the US Environmental Protection Agency, found a "significant association between exposure to periods of high air pollution [at or above the upper limit of US air quality standards] and the percentage of sperm with DNA fragmentation." The results were published in the latest issue of the journal Human Reproduction.
■ Finland
Reindeer injures hikers
A reindeer injured an elderly couple in the wilds of Finnish Lapland, and the two had to be hospitalized for their wounds, officials said on Monday. A male reindeer suddenly appeared from a forest and attacked a man who was hiking on Sunday with his partner near Kittila. The buck butted the man to the ground and kicked him before turning on the woman, who was talking to her son on a mobile phone, a fire official said. The son alerted rescue workers who arrived in helicopters and flew the couple to a hospital. A researcher at the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute said the attack came during the peak of mating season.
■ United States
`Get Smart' star dies
Don Adams, the star of the award winning TV spy spoof Get Smart died in Los Angeles on Sunday at the age of 82. Adams died in Cedar's Sinai hospital of a lung infection after suffering from illness for over a year. He will be best remembered as the bumbling Maxwell Smart, or Agent 86, in the 1960s era spoof of the James Bond movies.
■ Peru
Strong temblor hits jungle
A powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake that shook Peru's northern jungle over the weekend has killed five people and made several thousand homeless, regional authorities said on Monday. The quake hit on Sunday evening at 8:55pm and its epicenter was 90 km northeast of the coffee-growing town of Moyobamba, 715 km north of Lima. The worst damage occurred in the nearby hilltop town of Lamas in the San Martin region, where a 72-year-old woman, a 9-year-old boy and a man were killed, Lamas Mayor Rafael Saavedra told CPN radio.
■ United States
Police arrest anti-war mom
Cindy Sheehan, the most visible leader of the US anti-war movement, was arrested on Monday outside the White House for disobeying police warnings. Sergeant Scott Fear of the US Park Police said that Sheehan and an unspecified number of demonstrators were arrested for continuing their sit-down strike on the sidewalk outside the White House despite three warnings from police to move along. He said she and the others would be released later yesterday. Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed last year in Iraq, spent most of last month camped out near President George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. She was in the capital over the weekend as part of a 100,000-strong demonstration against the war.
■ United Kingdom
Blair, Saudis in secret talks
The UK has held secret talks with Saudi Arabia to try to secure an arms deal worth up to ?40 billion (US$71 billion), the Guardian newspaper reported yesterday. UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has visited the kingdom to urge the Crown Prince Sultan to buy the Eurofighter Typhoon jet, according to the report, which cited unnamed diplomatic sources. A spokeswoman at Blair's Downing Street office had no immediate comment. The Guardian said Blair visited Saudi Arabia on July 2 for talks on the way to Singapore, where Britain was bidding for the 2012 Summer Olympics. Defense Secretary John Reid visited the Saudi capital, Riyadh, to pursue a deal three weeks later, according to the report.
■ Venezuela
State seizes idle factory
A governor ordered the seizure of a plant owned by the country's largest food company, saying the expropriation was justified because the plant was no longer being used. Hugo de los Reyes Chavez, father of President Hugo Chavez and governor of the southwestern Barinas state, ordered the expropriation on Monday amid rising tensions between the government and business groups. Seizure of the plant owned by Ramavenca, an affiliate of Venezuelan food giant Alimentos Polar, came as business representatives requested a meeting with Chavez to discuss concerns about expropriations and land reform.
■ Darfur
Envoy says violence worse
The UN envoy for prevention of genocide warned that violence is increasing in the war-torn region of Darfur and criticized the Sudanese national courts for doing little to try suspects accused of atrocities. "The situation in Darfur now is disturbing, violence is spreading, and the displaced don't trust the Sudanese police or the Sudanese judiciary system," Juan Mendez said on Monday after his second assessment visit to Darfur. He also lashed out at the Sudanese national courts for not doing enough to punish those suspected of involvement in the violence.
‘CROSSING THE LINE’: China’s embassy in Seoul criticized US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson, asking if his ‘hostile’ remarks were authorized by Washington South Korea and the US are in talks over recent public remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea, Seoul’s presidential office said yesterday, after the comments drew sharp criticism from China. In a recent podcast interview, US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia” from China’s east coast, prompting the Chinese embassy in Seoul to say that he had “truly crossed the line.” The interview came amid growing speculation that Washington might seek to expand the role of US Forces Korea in countering the growing regional influence of China, a key
SEEKING ORDER: Rodrigo Paz said that ‘anyone who wants to destroy the nation will have to deal with this president and the full force of the constitution’ Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz on Wednesday said that the nation was at a “breaking point” after nearly a month of protests that have caused shortages of food, fuel and medicine. Paz, who took office six months ago amid the worst economic crisis there in four decades, is battling a groundswell of fury over his policies. The political capital, La Paz, has been besieged by low-income workers and members of the indigenous majority calling for his resignation. “The country needs order and is reaching breaking point,” the 58-year-old said at a public event in La Paz, renewing his appeal for dialogue. On Tuesday, the Bolivian
Through the noise of rushing papers and whirring belts at a print factory in Kyoto, two creators watch their photo essay come to life in broadsheet form — part of an effort to win new audiences in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the decline of the publishing industry, self-publication and handmade “zine” magazines are growing in popularity in Japan, reflecting the nation’s enduring love of paper in the digital era. While speaking to Agence France-Presse at the plant, his hands black with ink, one of the creators, Kazuma Obara, said: “I think [paper] is a medium that engages all five
Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the 1990s shooter game Doom and said they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing. It is the science-fiction work of biotech boffins at Cortical Labs, who researched and developed the technology that harnesses the workings of the brain’s networking system. Each so-called “biological computer” contains about 200,000 living human brain cells, grown from stem cells that were harvested from blood donations. Having mastered the simple computer game Pong, where a paddle is moved up and down to send a ball
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