■ Hong Kong
Tonnes of tusks seized
Customs officials have seized 3.9 tonnes in elephant tusks smuggled in a shipping container from Cameroon, the government said yesterday. The tusks, worth about HK$8 million (US$1.03 million), were the largest such seizure "in recent years," Hong Kong Customs said in a statement. Officials couldn't say when the last big seizure was. Officers found the tusks in a concealed compartment in a shipping container that was declared to be carrying timber from the West African nation, the statement said.
■ Hong Kong
Gay helpline set up
A gay group has set up a phone helpline for the millions of homosexuals believed to be living secret lives in rural China, a news report said yesterday. The helpline is intended to reach people outside China's major cities who have little access to counselling and where homosexuality is heavily taboo, according to the South China Morning Post. The Chi Heng Foundation, a gay rights group, said the free service for rural areas had been launched after its existing urban hotlines in China had been overwhelmed by calls. Founder Chung To told the newspaper: "Being gay is still very hard [in China]. That's why people feel they need to talk to people for counselling."
■ Singapore
Bus driver drops dead
The driver of a bus with up to 30 passengers suddenly collapsed at the wheel, but a passenger who quickly pulled the emergency brake averted a collision, news reports said yesterday. Two firefighters from a nearby station rushed to help, but it was too late to save Lek Long Peng, 53. The driver was pronounced dead by a paramedic who arrived at the scene of Tuesday's incident with an ambulance crew, the Straits Times said. Lek, a driver for Yeo's Brother Transport Services, was ferrying employees of PH Hydraulics and Engineering to their company building after picking them up from train stations. He had been the regular driver for the past few months.
■ China
MiG buyer wants refund
A businessman who bought a Russian fighter jet online wants his money back after finding it could not be shipped to him, state media reported on Tuesday. Zhang Cheng, a businessman, bid US$24,730 and paid a US$2,000 deposit for the former Czech air force plane on eBay, the Xinhua news agency said. But legal experts informed Zhang that the MiG-21, located in the US state of Idaho, was "almost impossible to ship back," Xinhua said. Moreover, the seller had clearly confined the destination of the plane to the US and Canada, Xinhua said.
■ Philippines
Smelly drivers create stink
Bus drivers negotiating the sweltering streets of Manila have a new thing to stress about -- their armpits. Faced with complaints from commuters fed up with the stench at the front of the bus, taxi and train, Manila authorities have reminded drivers to wash and deodorize daily during the heat of the summer. "We understand that drivers must earn money to support themselves and their respective families," said Bayani Fernando, chairman of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority. "It is only right that in return, these drivers must observe proper hygiene. If they have body odor or armpit odor, ask the advice of doctors for treatment. But I think if they only take a bath every day, and maybe they can use tawas or deodorant, then there would be no problem."
■ Croatia
Champs to support suspects
Croatia's newly crowned soccer champions Dinamo Zagreb will donate the entire proceeds from its last league match of the season to help fund Croatian suspects awaiting trial at the UN war crimes tribunal. "We hope the stadium will be filled to the rafters as all the money collected will go toward helping the defense of Croatian army generals in The Hague court," club manager Zdravko Mamic told the state news agency HINA on Tuesday. The men, including retired General Ante Gotovina, are suspected of responsibility in atrocities during Yugoslavia's bloody break up into independent republics in 1991 to 1995.
■ United Kingdom
Hacker faces extradition
A British computer expert accused by Washington of the world's "biggest military hack of all time" should be extradited to the US to stand trial, a court ruled on yesterday. Gary McKinnon, 40, was arrested last June following charges by US prosecutors that he illegally accessed 97 government computers -- including Pentagon, US Army, Navy and NASA systems -- causing US$700,000 worth of damage. Britain's Home Secretary will make the final decision on deportation. McKinnon, whose hacking name was "Solo," has admitted gaining access to US government computers but denies causing any damage.
■ Netherlands
Court transfers suspects
The Yugoslav war crimes tribunal on Tuesday transferred four former Bosnian Serb prison camp wardens to Sarajevo for trial by a Bosnian national court, amid efforts to ease the caseload in The Hague. The transfer of Zeljko Mejakic, Momcilo Gruban, Dusan Fustar and Dusko Knezevic followed an appeals court ruling last month dismissing their request to be tried before international judges. The four claimed that under the Bosnian court system they would be subject to "a different set of laws, different standard of liability and different standard of sentencing."
■ United Kingdom
Boy's killing raises tensions
A Catholic schoolboy who was cornered in an alley in Ballymena and beaten with a baseball bat in a sectarian assault has died, inflaming sectarian tensions in the town and reviving concerns about community relations across Northern Ireland. Michael McIlveen, 15, was attacked by a gang of youths after buying a takeaway pizza on Saturday night. The youths trapped him in an alley, struck him repeatedly and stamped on his head. He staggered home and was taken to hospital. His family remained at his bedside until his life support machine was switched off at 8pm on Monday.
■ Germany
Man pays for failed suicide
A man who unsuccessfully tried to kill himself by jumping in front of a train must pay compensation for the damage he caused, a court in Munich ruled on Tuesday. A spokesman for the court said the 47-year-old man leapt too late to land under the train and instead crashed through the side window of the driver's cabin. He suffered head wounds but no other lasting physical injuries, the court said. The driver of the metro train suffered shock and was unable to work for several weeks. For repairs to the train and lost wages for the driver, Munich municipal authorities sued for damages of some 4,200 euros (US$5,325). The court ordered the man to pay half the sum.
■ Canada
Teens suspects in holdups
Three boys are being investigated for a string of bank robberies in the Vancouver area over the past month and a half, police said on Monday. The boys, aged 13 to 14, were arrested on Saturday in connection with two robberies in the suburb of Surrey and may be linked to seven holdups in the area, police said. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said none of the boys are believed to have a previous criminal record. Two of the boys have been released into their parents' custody.
■ United States
Toddler fatally shoots man
Police were searching for the owner of a .38 caliber handgun a California toddler used to fatally shoot a 22-year-old man. The 3-year-old boy apparently found the revolver in a bedroom closet while his mother fed his 1-year-old sister, and two aunts and a grandmother played cards, police Lieutenant David Boersma said on Tuesday. When the boy walked into the living room playing with the gun, the adults tried to get him to put it down. But the pistol fired and struck Luis Fernando Zepeda-Silva in the chest. Silva was later pronounced dead at Highland Hospital in Oakland. California law allows prosecutors to file criminal charges against adults when children find guns and shoot and harm somebody.
■ United States
US jet turns up in Ireland
A tail section from a US Navy fighter jet from Virginia that crashed three-and-a-half years ago off Key West, Florida, has turned up 7,884km away on a beach in Ireland. A retired commercial airline captain, identified by the Irish Examiner as Charlie Coughlan, discovered the piece on Friday, the newspaper said. Initially it was feared the tail fin had fallen from a plane in flight, but the Navy confirmed on Tuesday that markings on the section, including squadron insignia and a serial number, pointed to the downed F-14 Tomcat. Speculation is that currents from the Gulf of Mexico near the tip of Florida carried the nearly 3m long triangular piece of vertical stabilizer to the beach in West Cork.
■ Peru
US offers Humala new visa
The US has offered presidential hopeful Ollanta Humala a new visa after revoking the document last year following his brother's armed takeover of a police station that ended with four officers killed. Humala, a populist former army officer, trails former president Alan Garcia, a more moderate leftist, in the polls ahead of a June 4 runoff vote. A US embassy spokesman in Lima confirmed on Tuesday that Humala's visa was revoked in January last year "based on information that indicated possible ineligibility for admission to the United States."
■ Mexico
Christ image draws faithful
An image that resembles Jesus Christ on a rock is drawing hundreds of believers to the mountains of southern Chiapas state. Gregorio Gomez, a 57-year-old Tzotzil Indian, said a voice told him in a dream last month that he would find an image of Christ on a rock. Last week, he stumbled across the image as he was walking near his village of Santa Anita, on Huitepec mountain, rising 2,270m above sea level. "I saw it and there was Christ," said Gomez, standing in front of the rock marked with what appeared to be part of a face and body. Bishop Felipe Arismendi Esquivel of the San Cristobal Dioceses said that the church must investigate before determining its authenticity.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
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