■ Australia
Army called to attack toads
A state government called yesterday for the army to be deployed against an invasion of toxic toads. Battalions of imported cane toads are marching relentlessly across northern Australia and the West Australian government wants soldiers to intercept the environmental barbarians. State Environment Minister Mark McGowan has written to Defense Minister Brendan Nelson asking permission to use soldiers based in the neighboring Northern Territory to kill the toads.
■ Philippines
Activist gunned down
Two gunmen shot dead a peasants' group official in the latest attack on activists in the south, police and activists said yesterday. Tito Marata, a media officer from the leftist Brotherhood of Farmers (KMP) was shot dead by two men on a motorbike on Saturday in the city of Oroquieta, police said. The KMP, in a statement, blamed the killing on the government of President Gloria Arroyo, citing her efforts to boost the budget of the military to crack down on communist insurgents. Leftist groups charge that more than 93 of their members have been killed in attacks since Arroyo came to power in 2001.
■ Australia
Money delayed births
An announcement in the government's May 2004 budget that a "Baby Bonus" of A$3,000 (US$2,250) would be paid for each child born on or after July 1 that year saw more than 1,000 births delayed, two economists say. Leigh said that using daily births data, he and Melbourne Business School economist Joshua Gans found that there were more births on July 1, 2004 than on any other date in the past 30 years.
■ Philippines
Sex education on hold
The education department has stopped the distribution of sex-education modules to public high schools following strong opposition by the Roman Catholic Church, an official said yesterday. Education Secretary Fe Hidalgo issued the order after receiving "negative feedback from the community" about the sex-education program, said Assistant Education Secretary Vilma Labrador. It was not clear if the program was merely being put on hold or cancelled. The influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines has opposed the sex-education program.
■ China
Africans to study desert
African officials and technicians will head to China in August to learn about its experience fighting the desert, state media reported yesterday. The visitors will spend their time mostly in Gansu Province that is at the forefront of the nation's battle to stem the encroaching desert, Xinhua news agency said. "They will spend about 25 days in the field across Gansu and neighboring provinces and regions to learn how to choose plants for desert control and how to set up windbreaks," said Man Duoqing, a local desert control official. The effort comes as China appears to be stepping up its ties with resource-rich Africa, reflected in an ongoing seven-nation tour of the continent by Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶).
■ Thailand
PM offers to rebuild Buddhas
The country has offered to take the remains of Afghanistan's blasted Buddhas of Bamiyan and rebuild the two 1,600-year-old statues. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said yesterday he made the proposal to reconstruct the statues, which were destroyed by the former Taliban regime, to Afghan President Hamid Karzai on the sidelines of an Asian security summit. "I told President Karzai that Thailand, as a Buddhist nation, is sorry that the Taliban destroyed the Buddha statues, and I asked for the rubble of the statues, so we could reconstruct them," Thaksin said. Karzai said it was a "good idea" that he would discuss with his government, Thaksin told reporters.
■ Afghanistan
School stampede kills four
Four schoolchildren died and 15 were injured in a stampede yesterday after a fire broke out in the kitchen of their school building, police said. The incident occurred in a three-storey primary school in the western city of Herat, provincial police chief Mohammad Ayoub Salangi said. "The fire started to engulf a nearby classroom and the children started to flee," he said. "Four girl children were killed and 15 others were hurt in the stampede." The fire was subsequently brought under control, he said.
■ Thailand
Cup causes tourist drought
European tourists visiting the country are projected to drop 22 percent during the World Cup in Germany, resulting in a downturn in revenue of 2 billion baht (US$60 million dollars) a leading Thai think tank predicted yesterday. The Kasikorn Research Center, an affiliate of Kasikorn Bank, said European tourists would prefer to stay home to watch TV broadcasts of the World Cup, being held in Germany between June 9 to July 9, while others would travel to Germany to see the football matches rather than coming to the country. European tourists account for 22 percent of total foreign tourists, ranking them second after tourists from East Asia.
■ United States
Shuttle launch planned
US space agency NASA announced Saturday that it will continue with plans for a July 1 space shuttle launch. Senior managers have decided that the aging fleet of reusable spacecraft is safe to resume flights to the International Space Station. A flight readiness review by NASA executives and engineers decided that repairs and improvements to shuttle systems, after the destruction on reentry of the Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003 and further safety problems found in the course of a July 2005 shuttle flight. The remaining US shuttles have been grounded since the Columbia disaster, except for last year's single launch. Shuttle Commander Steve Lindsey is to lead a six-member crew on a scheduled 12-day mission. European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter will be delivered to the International Space Station, joining two astronauts already in orbit since March.
■ United Kingdom
Muslims may soon see intel
London police are considering a proposal to let selected British Muslims examine the intelligence used to mount anti-terrorism raids before they take place. The proposal will be considered as part of a review of the raid in Forest Gate, east London, two weeks ago when 250 officers stormed a family house searching for a chemical weapon which was not found. One man was shot and police have apologized for the "hurt" caused by the raid which has further damaged strained relations with the local community. The review began this week and is expected to be completed before the end of the month. While such a review after a controversial incident is standard, this one is unique because British Muslims are involved from the start. A senior police source with knowledge of the issues involved said: "We are working on sharing more information with the community before, during and after events so they understand as much of the context as we can provide."
■ United States
Father kills son on birthday
A man accused of killing his wife chased his son into a neighbor's front yard and stabbed the boy to death on his 11th birthday, authorities in Lake Mary, Florida, said. Nico Duzant was nearly decapitated as his father, Franklyn, repeatedly stabbed him with a samurai-style sword Saturday, said Seminole County sheriff's Lieutenant Dennis Lemma. Authorities went to the family's home and found the decapitated body of 52-year-old Evangeline Duzant, Lemma said. "It was just an absolute gruesome scene," Lemma said. "We're trying to repaint the picture of what led up to this." Franklyn Duzant, 40, has been charged with two counts of first-degree, premeditated murder. A motive for the attacks was not known.
■ United States
Dead dog used as weapon
A woman accused of pummeling a dog breeder over the head with a dead Chihuahua has been charged with two misdemeanors and reimbursed the money she paid for the puppy. Lisa Lynn Hopfer, 33, of St. Louis, Missouri, was charged with trespassing and third-degree assault in the June 7 incident, authorities said. No listed phone number for Hopfer was available. A man at her home who declined to identify himself told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper Friday that "there's another side to the story," but declined to elaborate.
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
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.
When a hiker fell from a 55m waterfall in wild New Zealand bush, rescuers were forced to evacuate the badly hurt woman without her dog, which could not be found. After strangers raised thousands of dollars for a search, border collie Molly was flown to safety by a helicopter pilot who was determined to reunite the pet and the owner. A week earlier, an emergency rescue helicopter found the woman with bruises and lacerations after a fall at a rocky spot at the waterfall on the South Island’s West Coast. She was airlifted on March 24, but they were forced to
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