■ Japan
Military reports suicides
Three of about 2,800 Ground Self-Defense Force troops dispatched to Iraq committed suicide after they returned home, Japan's Defense Agency reported yesterday. Although the officials are uncertain whether the suicides were related to their services in Iraq, the rate is higher than the number of suicides by troops who were not deployed there. About 2,800 ground troops have returned home since they completed their mission in southern Iraq early in 2004, Kyodo News Agency quoted agency officials as saying.
■ Pakistan
Quake survivors beat winter
The race to save earthquake survivors from the Himalayan winter has been won, the UN said on Wednesday. "There has been no second wave of deaths, no massive population movement down the mountains, no severe malnutrition, and no outbreak of epidemics," said Jamie McGoldrick, deputy humanitarian aid coordinator in Islamabad. About 87,000 people died when a huge quake hit Kashmir and North-West Frontier province last November. A second wave of deaths was averted by a milder than expected winter and a helicopter-led aid effort.
■ Singapore
Day off calls ignored
Politicians have rejected calls to give foreign maids a mandatory rest day -- a standard practice for workers covered by its Employment Act -- because such time off could "inconvenience" many households. Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Manpower, Hawazi Daipi said that prescribing minimum employment terms and conditions for maids would lead to "rigidities and inconvenience" for many families.
■ Thailand
Ex-PM's house targeted
A small bomb exploded yesterday outside the residence of the chief adviser to King Bhumibol Adulyadej, former prime minister Prem Tinsulanonda, slightly wounding two foreigners, police said. They said the bomb, hidden under a stone bench near the security booth in front of the residence, sent glass flying and damaged three cars parked in front of the house. Police said flying glass injured a 28-year-old Briton and a Canadian aged 51, who were passing by the house. Prem, who was inside the house when the bomb exploded, served as prime minister for eight years in 1980s and is still a key political figure who mediates rifts among politicians and soldiers.
■ China
Blogs reappear after a day
Two of the country's most adventurous Web logs reappeared yesterday, a day after apparently being shut down by government censors. The blogs, belonging to Beijing-based journalist Wang Xiaofeng (王曉峰) and to the Guangzhou-based entertainment reporter Yuan Lei, carried messages saying they had been temporarily closed, but they were both accessible again yesterday. "I like telling jokes, but this really wasn't a joke and it wasn't meant to deceive everyone," read a new post on Wang's blog, known as "Massage Milk." But Wang, who blogs under the name "Dai San Ge Biao," a play on former leader Jiang Zemin's (江澤民) "Three Represents" slogan, is known for his political satire, raising the possibility that the closure may have been a prank.
■ Hong Kong
Top cop attempts suicide
A top policeman was seriously ill yesterday after attempting to commit suicide by burning charcoal in a sealed room and taking pills. Chief Superintendent Stephen Fung, 49, former head of the Organized Crime and Triad Bureau, was found collapsed in a home in the New Territories on Wednesday afternoon. A police spokesman said no suicide note was found and Fung, a policeman for 30 years, was rushed to hospital where he was in a serious condition. Fung was reportedly on leave while assisting the Independent Commission Against Corruption over a bribery case.
■ Australia
Even the dead need phones
Death is no obstacle to the deep relationship many Australians share with their cellphones. Funeral directors are noticing an increasing number of people choosing to farewell loved ones with their cellphone by their side, the Age reported. One Melbourne funeral director told the daily he had across the request three times recently. "It's more a funny thing than anything else," he said. "It's the idea that `Mum loved her mobile phone and was never off it, so we thought we would put it in with her,' that makes people think of it." The report said there are are rules for including a cellphone in a coffin. Funeral directors insist that for burial the line must be dead, and for cremation the battery must be removed to avoid explosions.
■ Singapore
Bowling ball tosser jailed
A Thai woman was jailed for three months after picking up two bowling balls and tossing them from her 11-story apartment after an argument with her husband, the Straits Times reported yesterday. No one was hurt, but Chaifu Charin, 27, admitted in district court that she put at risk the lives of others, the newspaper said. She also admitted to injuring her husband, Tay Joo Meng, 35, when she lunged at him with a kitchen knife.
■ United Kingdom
Toothy suicide attempted
A man being tried for four murders tried to bite himself to death while detained at a high-security psychiatric facility, a doctor testified on Wednesday. Daniel Gonzalez, 25, is standing trial on charges that he stabbed two men and two women to death, and tried to kill two other men over a three-day period in September 2004. Prosecutors earlier told the jury that Gonzalez had wanted to kill at least 10 victims to achieve notoriety as a serial killer. Gonzalez's lawyers said he suffers from mental illness and heard voices that commanded him to kill, including that of Freddy Krueger, the fictional serial killer in the horror film franchise A Nightmare on Elm Street.
■ United States
Shooting reveals tumor
They may be the gunshots that save Donald Batsch's life. The market owner was being treated for two gunshots in the arm and abdomen suffered during a robbery when doctors discovered a tumor. "It was like an act of God that he shot me," Batsch said on Tuesday. Batsch, 54, was shot in the arm and abdomen during a Feb. 16 robbery at his Chester Lane Market in Bakersfield, California. He fully recovered from the wounds, but doctors found the tumor. He was still waiting to hear whether the growth is cancerous. The robbery was caught on tape, but police have not arrested anyone.
■ United States
Dog sweetens deal
When Jared and Whittnie Essner bought their brand new home in Scott City, Missouri, the deal came with a long-term leash. To get ownership of the house, they were also required to take on ownership of a dog. "In every offer, there's always something to be negotiated," said their real estate agent, Greg Lincoln. In this case, that something happened to be a beagle-mix named Rocky. Carlos Chitty, 93, and his wife, Ruby, 88, had to leave the dog behind when they moved to a nursing home, but the couple did not want Rocky to be evicted, so they wrote him into the contract. The place made an instant impression on the new owners when they toured it, as did the home's sole inhabitant. "He's the most lovable dog I've ever seen," Jared said.
■ United States
Bank robbers charged
Three people were charged with stealing US$7.4 million and three others were indicted for kidnapping one of the alleged robbers, in what authorities on Wednesday likened to a gangster movie. "The brazenness of this crime is the stuff of Hollywood movies," said Alexander Acosto, US attorney for the southern district of Florida. "In a classic ending, the good guys ... unraveled one of the largest heists in our state's history," he said, announcing the indictments. The money was part of a shipment of US$80 million from Germany that was to be delivered at the Federal Reserve Bank in Miami in November.
■ Venezuela
Horse takes a left
A white horse in the national coat of arms will switch directions and gallop to the left instead of the right in a politically symbolic change brought about by President Hugo Chavez. Parliament in Caracas approved new designs for Venezuela's flag and coat of arms late on Tuesday. By galloping to the left, the horse will be "an emblem of independence and liberty," said the measure backed by lawmakers. Chavez is an anti-US leftist populist with growing influence in Latin America.
■ United States
Carter slams Iraq War
Former US president Jimmy Carter has criticized the war in Iraq, urging a troop drawdown. "It was a completely unnecessary war. It was an unjust war," said the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize winner. "It was initiated on the basis of false pretenses." He urged the Bush administration to bring home as many troops as possible within the next 12 months. "The violence is increasing monthly," Carter said on Wednesday. "My prayer is we'll see some kind of democracy eventually evolve." His comments came at a news conference before a building dedication at the University of Washington.
■ United Kingdom
Soldier held over beatings
Military police have arrested a fourth soldier over a videotape that appears to show British troops beating protesters during a demonstration in southern Iraq in 2004, the Ministry of Defense said on Wednesday. A spokesman said a total of four soldiers had been arrested in connection with the video, which was broadcast around the world after it first appeared in a British newspaper last month. The ministry declined to give more details of the fourth arrest. The video appears to show a group of soldiers dragging Iraqi protesters behind a wall and then beating and kicking them.
■ Uganda
Church collapse kills 21
Authorities yesterday said they suspected illegal construction was to blame for the collapse of a church roof in a heavy thunderstorm that killed 21 worshippers. More than 200 born-again Christians were attending a prayer service at the church in the capital Kampala on Wednesday when torrential rain struck. Nearly 100 people were badly hurt and rushed to hospitals. The death toll was expected to rise. Rescuers said the number inside the unfinished building had been swollen by people seeking shelter from the downpour. A fire brigade spokesman said city bureaucrats would be probed over whether they had approved the structure for use.
■ UAE
Female pioneer flying high
A woman has obtained a commercial pilot's license and a certificate as a flight trainer, becoming the first female in the country and the second Arab woman to do so. Captain Aisha al Hamli was granted a commercial flight license from the Royal Jordanian Academy and a certificate of flight trainer from the Jordanian Middle East Academy, WAM news agency reported. She completed 1,600 flying hours to qualify for commercial flights with full standards, the agency said. Last year, Saudi Captain Hanadi Hindi was the first Arab woman to gain a commercial pilot's license.
■ United Kingdom
Robbers raid cash van
Robbers have swooped on a security van filled with cash police said yesterday, but the amount of money stolen has yet to be determined. BBC radio and Sky News television said the van belonged to Securitas, which ran the cash depot in Tonbridge that was the scene of a record ?53 million (US$93 million) heist on Feb. 21. No one was hurt in Wednesday night's robbery in Warrington, mid-way between Liverpool and Manchester, though Sky News said "hundreds of thousands of pounds" had been taken. "Any talk of figures is pure speculation," said local police inspector Tony McEvitt. "Due to the nature of the forensic examination of the vehicle, we can't categorically state if any money was taken, let alone how much."
AFGHAN CHILD: A court battle is ongoing over if the toddler can stay with Joshua Mast and his wife, who wanted ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’ for her Major Joshua Mast, a US Marine whose adoption of an Afghan war orphan has spurred a years-long legal battle, is to remain on active duty after a three-member panel of Marines on Tuesday found that while he acted in a way unbecoming of an officer to bring home the baby girl, it did not warrant his separation from the military. Lawyers for the Marine Corps argued that Mast abused his position, disregarded orders of his superiors, mishandled classified information and improperly used a government computer in his fight over the child who was found orphaned on the battlefield in rural Afghanistan
STICKING TO DEFENSE: Despite the screening of videos in which they appeared, one of the defendants said they had no memory of the event A court trying a Frenchman charged with drugging his wife and enlisting dozens of strangers to rape her screened videos of the abuse to the public on Friday, to challenge several codefendants who denied knowing she was unconscious during their actions. The judge in the southern city of Avignon had nine videos and several photographs of the abuse of Gisele Pelicot shown in the courtroom and an adjoining public chamber, involving seven of the 50 men accused alongside her husband. Present in the courtroom herself, Gisele Pelicot looked at her telephone during the hour and a half of screenings, while her ex-husband
NEW STORM: investigators dubbed the attacks on US telecoms ‘Salt Typhoon,’ after authorities earlier this year disrupted China’s ‘Flax Typhoon’ hacking group Chinese hackers accessed the networks of US broadband providers and obtained information from systems that the federal government uses for court-authorized wiretapping, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Saturday. The networks of Verizon Communications, AT&T and Lumen Technologies, along with other telecoms, were breached by the recently discovered intrusion, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter. The hackers might have held access for months to network infrastructure used by the companies to cooperate with court-authorized US requests for communications data, the report said. The hackers had also accessed other tranches of Internet traffic, it said. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs
EYEING THE US ELECTION: Analysts say that Pyongyang would likely leverage its enlarged nuclear arsenal for concessions after a new US administration is inaugurated North Korean leader Kim Jong-un warned again that he could use nuclear weapons in potential conflicts with South Korea and the US, as he accused them of provoking North Korea and raising animosities on the Korean Peninsula, state media reported yesterday. Kim has issued threats to use nuclear weapons pre-emptively numerous times, but his latest warning came as experts said that North Korea could ramp up hostilities ahead of next month’s US presidential election. In a Monday speech at a university named after him, the Kim Jong-un National Defense University, he said that North Korea “will without hesitation use all its attack
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