■ Philippines
Man stopped by soft drink
A German man killed two men and wounded two others with a pistol in a farming town in the northern Philippines before he was knocked unconscious with a soft drink bottle, police said yesterday. The trouble began when a 51-year-old German national, who is married to a Filipina woman, was summoned to the community hall to answer complaints from his neighbors accusing him of issuing threats on Sunday. During a heated argument with his four neighbors, the man pulled out a .45 caliber pistol and began shooting at people inside the hall, said Jefferson Soriano, chief of police in the northern Cagayan Valley region.
■ South Korea
Hu Jintao to visit
Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) will visit South Korea next month for talks with President Roh Moo-hyun and a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders, Roh's office announced yesterday. It is the first time in 10 years that a Chinese president will visit South Korea. Hu will be in Seoul from Nov. 16-17 for a state visit before traveling to South Korea's second-largest city of Busan for a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, scheduled for Nov. 18-19, the presidential office said in a statement. The two leaders will hold "wide-ranging talks" on bilateral relations, the standoff over North Korea's nuclear program and other issues of common interest, the presidential office said.
■ South Korea
Baby blurs borders
The first South Korean baby born in the North came to the South yesterday, but her mother said her home will always be Pyongyang. Hwang Seon was visiting the North to see a festival when she went into labor on Oct. 10, earlier than scheduled. She was the first woman from the South to give birth in the North. She said the care given by doctors and nurses at the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital had been exceptional. Hwang faced disappointment on her return with her as yet unnamed baby because the father was not there to meet them. "I hope that the baby's father, who is wanted under the National Security Law, will come home soon so that we can go to Pyongyang together on the baby's first birthday," she said.
■ Australia
Scientists track geese
Scientists assessing the bird flu threat will use satellite tracking to test whether any of the magpie geese found across northern Australia fly in from the island of New Guinea to the north, a researcher said yesterday. Four Indonesians have died from bird flu but none in Papua. Concern about bird flu infections is heightened by the role of magpie geese as a traditional food of Aborigines who are allowed to hunt them without restrictions. People slaughtering and preparing infected fowl are considered the most at risk from the H5N1 strain.
■ Australia
Howard says no to temps
Australian Prime Minister John Howard yesterday dashed the hopes of Pacific island leaders that the region's richest country would accept temporary workers from its impoverished neighbors. Australia had long-held reservations about the idea, which had been raised as part of an unprecedented plan to improve the economies, governance and security in the Pacific region, Howard said ahead of the opening of a meeting of 16 regional leaders.
■ United Kingdom
Cops question bomb suspect
Anti-terror police were granted more time yesterday to question a man arrested on Saturday in connection with the July 7 bombings in London. Detectives now have until tomorrow to decide whether to charge or release the 27-year-old man or apply for a further extension. The man was arrested in Dewsbury. Three of the four July 7 bombers hailed from Leeds and its environs in West Yorkshire. The suspect was held on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000. The man is the only person in police custody over the July 7 attacks.
■ United Kingdom
Three sisters in single birth
A woman who was left infertile after chemotherapy to treat cervical cancer has a baby boy thanks to her two sisters -- one of whom donated an egg and the other who acted as a surrogate. Alex Patrick's twin sister, Charlotte Pestell, 32, offered her ovum and her older sister, Helen Ritchie, 35, carried the fetus through pregnancy. The egg was fertilized in a laboratory using sperm from Patrick's husband, Shaun. Their son, Charlie, was born 16 weeks ago weighing 3.8kg after a short labor. Woolwich resident Patrick said she would be "forever indebted" to her sisters. It is thought to be the first case in Britain where three sisters have been involved in a single surrogate birth.
■ Nigeria
US forensics help requested
The government requested expert help from the US to determine what brought down a passenger jet, whose crash carved a deep pit into the earth and killed all 117 aboard. Aviation Minister Babalola Borishade told reporters at the crashsite his country had made a formal request to the US for aviation investigators and forensic experts. He did not completely rule out the possibility of foul play, but said, "For now, we just believe it's an accident."
■ Canada
Cuban singers seek asylum
As many as half the members of Cuba's 40-member National Choir skipped their downtown Toronto hotel on Sunday to seek asylum in Canada, the president of the Cuban-Canadian Foundation, Ismael Sambra, said. Among the asylum seekers is baritone Ernesto Hermes Cendoya Sotomayor. The choir began a cross-Canada tour on Oct. 18 and were due to fly to Vancouver in the coming days. "We're trying to help those young people who are seeking asylum," Sambra said. "Unfortunately some went back to the hotel to get their clothes and were held by the state security officials." Sambra estimated about 20 people had sought asylum and that at least one person was in Ottawa.
■ Canada
John Lennon lyrics for sale
The original lyrics of John Lennon's song Give Peace A Chance are going up for sale. The lyrics, written on an envelope from Montreal's Queen Elizabeth Hotel in 1969, will be auctioned in London next month. To publicize the auction, Bonhams auction house re-enacted the ``bed in'' hosted by Lennon and Yoko Ono 36 years ago in the same Montreal hotel room where the couple caused a media frenzy by putting on their pajamas and inviting the world press for the 10-day event. The original words to the song Give Peace a Chance, which Lennon and Ono recorded in the hotel suite's living room, are on both sides of the envelope. Bonhams hopes to fetch at least US$250,000 for the lyrics.
Former Nicaraguan president Violeta Chamorro, who brought peace to Nicaragua after years of war and was the first woman elected president in the Americas, died on Saturday at the age of 95, her family said. Chamorro, who ruled the poor Central American country from 1990 to 1997, “died in peace, surrounded by the affection and love of her children,” said a statement issued by her four children. As president, Chamorro ended a civil war that had raged for much of the 1980s as US-backed rebels known as the “Contras” fought the leftist Sandinista government. That conflict made Nicaragua one of
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to visit Canada next week, his first since relations plummeted after the assassination of a Canadian Sikh separatist in Vancouver, triggering diplomatic expulsions and hitting trade. Analysts hope it is a step toward repairing ties that soured in 2023, after then-Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau pointed the finger at New Delhi’s involvement in murdering Hardeep Singh Nijjar, claims India furiously denied. An invitation extended by new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to Modi to attend the G7 leaders summit in Canada offers a chance to “reset” relations, former Indian diplomat Harsh Vardhan Shringla said. “This is a
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