■ Australia
Terror suspects to face trial
A magistrate yesterday ordered 11 men accused of being members of an alleged terrorist cell in Australia to stand trial. Magistrate Paul Smith said at a court hearing in the southern city of Melbourne that he was satisfied prosecutors had enough evidence to justify sending the men to trial. A decision on whether to send two other men with the group to trial would come later, the magistrate said. The 11 suspects sent to trial pleaded innocent at the hearing to charges that they were members of a terrorist organization. Some face additional charges of funding a terrorist organization.
■ Australia
Drone plane test announced
Australia announced plans yesterday that it would test unmanned drones in the fight against illegal fishing, drug running and human trafficking. The defense department said it was testing the ability of a US-made drone to conduct patrols along the the Northwest Shelf, off the coast of western Australia, an area it described as having "vital strategic and economic importance." Liberal Party Senator Sandy Macdonald, the parliamentary secretary to the minister for defense, said the unmanned aircraft would work in tandem with a naval patrol boat throughout this month. He said the drone would record the movements of vessels passing through Australian water.
■ Japan
Three die in likely suicide
Three young women were found dead in an apparent group suicide in a parked car in Tokyo, police said. A police officer on patrol discovered the bodies of the women, all believed to be in their twenties, inside the vehicle in a deserted parking lot in western Tokyo, according to a local police official who gave only his last name, Yasuda. There was no sign that any of the women struggled and investigators suspect they committed suicide, Yasuda said. Three still-smoking charcoal stoves were found in the sealed car and the women likely died of asphyxiation, Yasuda said. Charcoal stoves emit fumes that cause asphyxia. Police have yet to identify the bodies.
■ Australia
Attack kills over 40 seals
Police on Friday were investigating a shooting attack on a colony of rare seals on a remote southern island that killed more than 40 of the animals. Fishing industry officials denied accusations by animal welfare activists that the attack was probably carried out by fishermen as an illegal cull of seals living in lucrative fishing grounds. A group of university students who were studying seals on Kanowna Island witnessed the attack on Wednesday, police said. Police on Thursday detained two fishermen and found two high-powered rifles aboard their boat, but the men were released without charge. The investigation is continuing.
■ Russia
Japanese fishing was legal
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the entry of 39 Japanese vessels into Russian waters, which it had previously protested, actually had been done legally, Interfax reported. The Foreign Ministry summoned the Japanese ambassador on Monday to protest a violation of its waters. However, ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said on Thursday that the vessels' presence was legal under a 1981 agreement, Interfax said.. "It looks like emotions played a role here," Kamynin said. That apparently was a reference to the tensions that have soared after the Russian seizure of a Japanese trawler during which one Japanese fisherman died from gunshot.
■ United Kingdom
TV drama targets Bush
Public broadcaster Channel 4 is courting controversy with what it calls a "shockingly real" drama about the assassination of US President George W. Bush. Death of a President, shot in the form of a documentary examining the assassination, will use a blend of archival footage and computer-generated special effects to portray Bush being killed by a sniper in October next year in Chicago. It will air next month on Channel 4's More4 digital channel, as well as at the Toronto Film Festival this month. "It's a pointed political examination of what the war on terror is doing to the American body politic," said More4 boss Peter Dale at a press conference on Thursday. "I'm sure there will be people upset by it ... I hope people will see the intention as a good one."
■ United Kingdom
Extradited man arrested
A British man wanted for questioning about the beating deaths of his wife and three children was returned to London yesterday after being deported from Thailand, authorities said. Rahan Arshad, 36, was arrested on Wednesday at a checkpoint on the Thailand-Malaysia border. Greater Manchester Police confirmed that a 36-year-old man had been arrested at Heathrow Airport after arriving from Thailand. Arshad had been sought for questioning about the killings of Uzma Rahan, 32, and her three children -- Adam, 11, Abbas, 8, and Henne, 6. Their bodies were found in their home in near Manchester on Aug. 20.
■ United States
Execution toll rises by two
Executions of two convicted murderers on Thursday in Texas and Oklahoma took the total number of people put to death in the US this year to 41. James Malicoat, 31, apologized for the murder of his one-year-old daughter in 1997 before he was put to death by lethal injection in McAlester, Oklahoma, a prison official said. Shortly afterward Texas executed Derrick Frazier, 29, who was sentenced to death for the 1997 murder of Betsy Nutt. Frazier continued to insist on his innocence in the crime before he was executed by lethal injection in Huntsville, Texas. An accomplice, Jermaine Herron, was convicted of killing Nutt's son in the crime and was executed last May.
■ United Kingdom
Raving squatters in trouble
The owner of an eight-bedroom mansion in one of London's most fashionable neighborhoods will evict squatters who have turned the property into a summer venue for rave parties, police said on Thursday. The squatters, who arrived in June, have occupied a house near Regent's Park which was slated for demolition. Since the middle of last month the group has been hosting massive raves. Jane Anderson Craig, a neighbor, said the squatters had been charging for entry. "The noise was just incredible," she said. "They were filing by the houses throwing beer bottles into the streets."
■ United States
Buffett weds companion
Billionaire Warren Buffett married a longtime friend Astrid Menks in a private ceremony in Omaha, Nebraska, on Wednesday, the Omaha World-Herald reported on Thursday. Buffett's daughter, Susan, hosted the wedding at her Omaha home. She said her father and Menks, 60, were married in a 15-minute ceremony on Buffett's 76th birthday. "It's her only and his last [wedding]," she said, recalling her father's take on the ceremony. Buffett's first wife, Susan, died in 2004.
PARLIAMENT CHAOS: Police forcibly removed Brazilian Deputy Glauber Braga after he called the legislation part of a ‘coup offensive’ and occupied the speaker’s chair Brazil’s lower house of Congress early yesterday approved a bill that could slash former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s prison sentence for plotting a coup, after efforts by a lawmaker to disrupt the proceedings sparked chaos in parliament. Bolsonaro has been serving a 27-year term since last month after his conviction for a scheme to stop Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 election. Lawmakers had been discussing a bill that would significantly reduce sentences for several crimes, including attempting a coup d’etat — opening up the prospect that Bolsonaro, 70, could have his sentence cut to
A plan by Switzerland’s right-wing People’s Party to cap the population at 10 million has the backing of almost half the country, according to a poll before an expected vote next year. The party, which has long campaigned against immigration, argues that too-fast population growth is overwhelming housing, transport and public services. The level of support comes despite the government urging voters to reject it, warning that strict curbs would damage the economy and prosperity, as Swiss companies depend on foreign workers. The poll by newspaper group Tamedia/20 Minuten and released yesterday showed that 48 percent of the population plan to vote
A powerful magnitude 7.6 earthquake shook Japan’s northeast region late on Monday, prompting tsunami warnings and orders for residents to evacuate. A tsunami as high as three metres (10 feet) could hit Japan’s northeastern coast after an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.6 occurred offshore at 11:15 p.m. (1415 GMT), the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said. Tsunami warnings were issued for the prefectures of Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate, and a tsunami of 40cm had been observed at Aomori’s Mutsu Ogawara and Hokkaido’s Urakawa ports before midnight, JMA said. The epicentre of the quake was 80 km (50 miles) off the coast of
Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro on Friday said that his father, jailed former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, has chosen him to lead the country’s powerful conservative movement, shaking up next year’s election race. The 44-year-old senator said on social media that he will carry forward the political legacy that reshaped Brazilian politics. His announcement makes him an instant contender for the presidency. Jair Bolsonaro, 70, is unlikely to run after being sentenced to 27 years for plotting a coup and banned from public office. He is appealing and seeking a legislative pardon. The former president also faces serious health issues, including complications from a
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