■ China
Visit `not in vain'
A Chinese envoy dispatched to Pyongyang to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il after the North's nuclear test said yesterday that his trip "has not been in vain." State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan (唐家璇), who delivered a letter and gift to Kim from Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) on Thursday, told US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that he returned from Pyongyang last night. "Fortunately my visit this time has not been in vain," Tang told Rice, as reporters watched, before the two officials began their latest round of consultations on the North Korean nuclear issue. Tang's comments were the first public remarks about his trip. His mission marked the first time a foreign envoy was known to have met Kim since his regime tested a nuclear device on Oct. 9.
■ United States
Suspicious ship tracked
The US is monitoring a North Korean vessel that appears to be suspicious, a US intelligence source said on Thursday. "It isn't clear what it's carrying. It's a suspicious vessel," the source said. The CBS Evening News, quoting US intelligence sources, reported that a North Korean ship possibly carrying military equipment banned by UN sanctions had left that country for an unknown destination. The report said the ship was being tracked while US officials tried to determine what was on board and what to do about it. No other details were available. The UN Security Council approved financial and weapons sanctions against North Korea on Saturday after the communist state's first nuclear test on Oct. 9 drew worldwide condemnation.
■ China
Axe murderer sentenced
A court has given the death sentence to a man convicted of the gruesome axe murders of 10 people in a Taoist temple in July, state press reported yesterday. Qiu Xinghua (邱興華) was given the death penalty by the Ankang Intermediate Court in Shaanxi Province on Thursday, in a brutal case that shocked the nation, the China Daily reported. Qiu was convicted of killing 10 people aged between 12 and 62 at the Tiewadian Temple in Hanyin County on July 16, the paper said. The temple's abbot, Xiong Wancheng (熊萬成), was "disemboweled and his eyeballs, heart and lungs were found sliced and fried," earlier reports said. All of the victims were hacked in the head while they were sleeping at the temple.
■ Australia
Airline worker stole hair
An airline baggage courier in Melbourne pleaded guilty yesterday to stealing samples of women's hair from their lost bags and keeping them on file. Rodney Petersen, 30, had faced 110 charges of theft and stalking after taking strands of both head and pubic hair from the luggage of female passengers whose lost suitcases he had been charged with returning. Petersen collected the samples by rifling through suitcases before delivering the lost bags to their owners, but it was unclear whether he took the samples from items such as hairbrushes or from other sources. He was arrested when police stumbled on him looking through luggage in the back of his van in the Melbourne area.
■ Australia
Thief forgets loot
A bungling robber who held up a gas station at sword-point was arrested after returning to the crime scene to pick up the loot he had accidentally left behind, police said yesterday. The 20-year-old went back to the petrol station in the western Australian city of Perth to retrieve the forgotten booty, only to find the attendant had locked the doors and was refusing to let him in again. Police said the inept crook, who had earlier threatened the attendant with a ceremonial sword, begged his victim to hand him the haul of cash and cigarettes he had forced him to put in a bag.
■ India
Police locked in gun battle
Islamic militants and police were yesterday locked in a gun battle near Indian Kashmir's agricultural university , officials said as two rebels died in two other attacks. "The fighting erupted when police raided a suspected hide-out on a tip-off," said a federal police spokesman. "We believe at least two militants are holed-up inside a residential house ... near the university. We have cordoned [off] the house and the area," said spokesman Bisht, who uses one name. There were no immediate reports of casualties. The university lies on the outskirts of Kashmir's summer capital, Srinagar, and was closed for a public holiday.
■ India
Bus plunges into lake
Fifty-six people, including 15 children, drowned when their bus plunged into a lake in central India, police officials said yesterday. First reports on Thursday had put the death toll at 40 dead in Rewa district, 530km east of the Madhya Pradesh State capital Bhopal. But after divers completed search operations, police superintendent Ravi Gupta told the Press Trust of India news agency that only seven passengers had managed to swim to safety and 56 had perished. The initial investigation suggested the steering on the bus may have broken before the vehicle crashed through a mud barrier into the water.
■ Malawi
Creditors cut most of debt
The Paris Club of creditor nations agreed on Thursday to cancel almost all of Malawi's debt, reducing the small southern African nation's remaining debt to just US$9 million, the group said. National representatives to the informal group, which meets monthly in Paris, agreed to recommend to their governments that some US$180 million in debt owed by the impoverished country be canceled. A further US$174 million of debt is set to be canceled in an additional relief effort, the group said in a statement.
■ Ecuador
Killer volcano shakes again
About 300 villagers were evacuated from the slopes of Tungurahua Volcano following a surprise eruption of ash, lava and incandescent rocks, a local mayor said on Thursday. "We were able to take them out last night from the most dangerous zones located on the flanks where the explosions occurred Aug. 16," said Juan Salazar, mayor of Penipe, which is 20km from the volcano. No injuries were immediately reported. Experts have warned that renewed explosions could come any time from the 5,023m volcano 135km south of the capital of Quito. A violent eruption in mid-August killed four people.
■ United States
Fishing threatens Antarctic
Illegal fishing for Chilean sea bass and fishing vessels that vacuum up tiny shrimp-like creatures that are a staple for whales, seals and penguins are menacing Antarctic waters, environmentalists said on Thursday. Both kinds of fishing could undermine the complex ecosystem of the Southern Ocean around Antarctica, the US conservation experts said, and will be on the agenda next week at a meeting of the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources in Hobart, Australia. The antarctic conservation group, which includes the US and 23 other countries, has been working to end illegal fisning in the area for more than a decade.
■ Kazakhstan
Borat invited to `his' land
Alarmed by the antics of a fictional TV reporter who portrays their country as a nation of horse urine-drinking misogynists, Kazakh authorities have invited the British comedian who plays the character to come and see the truth for himself. Rakhat Aliyev, Kazakh first deputy foreign minister and a powerful son-in-law of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, asked British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen to visit the vast, oil-rich nation and meet normal human beings rather than the larger-than-life lunatics shown by Cohen's TV reporter Borat.
■ United Kingdom
Seniors wanted more sex
Pensioners regret not having had more sex while younger, while 20-somethings wish they'd got on the property ladder earlier, according to a survey released yesterday. The generational study questioned 1,500 Britons over 65 and the same number aged between 20-29 about their top-10 wishes if they could turn back the clock. Seventy percent of the pensioners said they wished they'd had more sex, with 57 percent regretting they had not travelled more. Four out of 10 regretted not saving more for their retirement. Of the younger respondents, 77 percent wished they had bought their first home earlier, with 56 percent regretting "wasting" their money on socializing and drinking. The poll was commissioned by television channel UKTV Gold.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
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