■ Indonesia
Aceh rebels dispute law
Former Aceh rebels said a law that grants the province greater autonomy and control over most of its natural gas revenues falls short of promises made by the government in a peace accord last year. The rebels threatened to contest the bill with international monitors, saying it had "the potential to ruin peace." Munawarliza Zain, a spokesman for the former rebels, took issue with a clause saying that Indonesia's central government must "consult" Acehnese lawmakers about international aid destined for the province, rather than get their "consent."
■ New Zealand
No clues to handless body
Police said yesterday that they had no clues in the killing of an elderly man whose hands were cut off, apparently to prevent his identification. Police said the man, believed to be in his 60s, had been badly beaten and attempts had been made to cut off his head. The body, with its feet tied, was found floating in the sea near Wellington on Sunday. Police, who called the killing "brutal and macabre," said they had not ruled out a drug-related execution.
■ Bangladesh
Woman battles tiger
A woman armed with only an oar battled a Bengal tiger yesterday to save her husband's life. Nazma Akhter, 18, and her husband Anwarul Islam, 25, were fishing when the big cat pounced. "The tiger bit the man's knee and was dragging him into the forest, but his wife Nazma frantically beat it back with an oar from their boat," the police said. Akhter kept the tiger at bay for around 10 minutes before it abandoned her husband. Islam was recovering in hospital yesterday.
■ Hong Kong
Filipino boy receives aid
A seven-year-old Filipino boy is to undergo life-saving surgery in Hong Kong after donations flooded in to pay for his liver transplant, a news report said yesterday. Louie Adrielle Perez's operation was postponed last week after his family raised only US$72,000 of the US$110,000 needed to pay for it at a public hospital. Louie was born with a defect of the liver-bile ducts. Surgeons said his only chance of survival is a transplant. When his plight was published in the South China Morning Post, donations flooded in and covered the shortfall within days. The family can now afford the operation, which is to use part of Louie's father's liver.
■ China
Cops to tackle crime wave
More than 500 special armed police will be assigned to the streets of Guangzhou to tackle a wave of vicious crime in the booming southern metropolis, state media said yesterday. It will be the first time the city has deployed special police to guard the streets, and the number of plainclothes officers will increase to around 1,000 from the current 300 by the end of the year, the China Daily said. Crime has soared along with the economic boom in Guangdong, with motorcycle-riding bag-snatchers sometimes hacking off the hands or arms of victims who hang on to their valuables.
■ China
Toxic fumes poison 164
Medical staff treated 164 people for chlorine gas poisoning yesterday after the gas leaked from a rusting pipe at a chemical plant in the northwestern Ningxia region, state media said. At least one person was seriously poisoned by fumes that spread across the Xixia residential district of the regional capital, Yinchuan, late on Sunday and early yesterday, the official Xinhua news agency said.
■ China
Activist's trial date set
A blind activist detained for nearly a year for protesting coercive state family planning policies will face trial next week, his lawyer said yesterday. "The court told me the trial will take place on July 17 [Monday]," lawyer Li Jinsong said. The court declined to comment when contacted about the case of Chen Guangcheng (陳光誠), an opponent of forced abortions and sterilizations known as the "barefoot lawyer." Chen, 34, has provided legal advice to locals on state family planning policies, while accusing officials in Linyi City of carrying out forced abortions and sterilizations in violation of population control guidelines. Li said the trial was unexpected, and expressed frustration that he and other lawyers were barred from collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses who he said had been intimidated by local authorities.
■ New Zealand
Fugitive otter re-captured
Jin, an otter bred in captivity at Auckland Zoo, was caught yesterday after four weeks of freedom. Zoo officials said the short-clawed Asian otter who escaped on June 13 was caught in a baited trap after a yachtsman had seen her. They told Radio New Zealand she appeared to be in good condition and had apparently managed to feed herself although she had no previous experience of living in the wild. Having swum 10km across the city's harbor after escaping from the zoo, she was known to have covered another 15km to and from Rangitoto Island, in the Hauraki Gulf at least three times. Zoo curator Marian Finnigan said that while otters were good swimmers, she was "absolutely stunned" at the distance she traveled.
■ United States
Building collapses in blast
A four-story building on Manhattan's East Side went up in flames and collapsed yesterday after what witnesses described as an explosion that rocked the neighborhood. New York City Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta told CNN TV news that he believed a gas explosion caused the blast. The White House said there was no indication of terrorism. The power company Con Edison said they were on the scene at a building next door -- responding to a report from a gas customer -- when the blast occurred. Authorities said that two civilians were taken to New York Hospital, and one firefighter suffered neck and back injuries and was taken to a hospital.
■ United States
Singer rehired after surgery
An American soprano fired by the Royal Opera House because of her weight has been rehired after undergoing stomach surgery and losing 61kg, her spokeswoman and the theater said on Sunday. Deborah Voigt, one of the world's top opera singers, lost her part in Richard Strauss' Ariadne on Naxos in 2004 because the Royal Opera House decided that a slimmer singer would be better. She now has a contract to return to the role in the 2007-2008 season, a Royal Opera spokeswoman said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the house does not officially announce its casts so far in advance.
■ United States
`Discovery' OK to land
Space shuttle Discovery's astronauts got some happy news: It's safe to fly home. Mission Control informed the crew of six on Sunday that the ship's thermal shielding is "100 percent cleared for entry" in another week. "Boy, that is great news, that's fantastic," shuttle commander Steve Lindsey said. "And to get all that done by the end of flight day six ... is just amazing," he said. Only one heat shield issue remained going into the late afternoon mission management meeting -- a 5cm-long piece of fabric filler sticking out about 2.5cm from thermal tiles on Discovery's belly.
■ United States
Pedophile sentence sought
The attorney general was to decide yesterday whether to seek to increase the sentence handed down to pedophile Craig Sweeney, whose jailing last month provoked a storm of protest and charges of political interference. Sweeney, 24, was sent to prison for life but with an eligibility for parole after five years when he admitted to kidnapping and sexually assaulting a three-year-old girl. Home Secretary John Reid said this was "unduly lenient" and said he wanted the government's top lawyer, Attorney General Peter Goldsmith, to consider referring the case to the appeal court with a view to obtaining a longer sentence.
■ United States
Couple vies for Kansas seat
The candidates say they offer legitimate political differences. Their conservative critics say it is a campaign dirty trick. Jeff Ippel is a Republican, involved in a three-way primary race for a seat in the Kansas House. His wife, Pam, is unopposed in next month's Democratic primary -- for the same seat. Pam Ippel, whose platform emphasizes health care and funding for education, said she was the first to enter the race for an open seat from this Kansas City suburb. "The more Jeff thought about it, the more he thought he'd have a better chance," she said.
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
Counting was under way in Nepal yesterday, after a high-stakes parliamentary election to reshape the country’s leadership following protests last year that toppled the government. Key figures vying for power include former Nepalese prime minister K. P. Sharma Oli, rapper-turned-mayor Balendra Shah, who is bidding for the youth vote, and newly elected Nepali Congress party leader Gagan Thapa. In Kathmandu’s tea shops and city squares, people were glued to their phones, checking results as early trends flashed up — suggesting Shah’s centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) was ahead. Nepalese Election Commission spokesman Prakash Nyupane said the counting was ongoing “in a peaceful manner”
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