■ China
Party chief sentenced to die
A former senior member of the Communist Party in Anhui Province received a suspended death sentence for taking bribes worth US$900,000, state media reported yesterday. Wang Zhaoyao (王昭耀), 62, who was No. 2 in the Communist Party in Anhui, was found guilty by a court of taking backhanders worth 7 million yuan (US$898,000) from 44 individuals, firms or administrations between 1991 and 2005, the state prosecutor's newspaper said. The court also found he owned properties worth US$1 million and had used his position to benefit his family. The sentence was suspended for two years; if Wang shows "exemplary behavior," the court may commute his sentence to life imprisonment.
■ China
No response over attack
The government has received "no official information" that a rocket used to attack the US embassy in Athens on Friday was Chinese-made, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday. Greek police said the weapon used for the attack, which they suspect was the work of a leftist guerrilla group, was a Chinese-made RPG 7. The blast caused minor damage but no one was hurt. "We have noticed the media reports," a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement on the ministry's Web site, responding to what it said was a reporter's inquiry. "As for the question, the detailed situation is still not clear, and the Chinese side has received no official information," spokesman Liu Jianchao (劉建超) added. The official Xinhua news agency referred to reports that a Chinese-made rocket had been used as a "rumor." Liu said that China was a responsible arms exporter.
■ Afghanistan
Suicide bomber flunks
A suicide bomber attacked a group of foreign construction workers and Afghan soldiers in the south yesterday, injuring one civilian, a police official said. The blast went off south of Qalat, the capital of Zabul Province, killing the bomber, said Muhammmad Asif, a police official. None of the foreigners or Afghan soldiers were wounded, but a passerby was hurt in the blast, he said. The foreigners were working on the construction of a building to be used by Afghan security forces, he said.
■ Vietnam
Bird flu outbreak confirmed
Officials yesterday confirmed a bird flu outbreak among poultry in a southern province, the sixth reported infection in the region since last month, as the virus shows no sign of abating. Some 350 ducklings died at a farm in Tra Vinh Province last week, and test results showed they were infected with the lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu, said Le Tuyet Hong, director of the provincial department of animal health. Authorities have slaughtered 850 other ducklings at the farm and have disinfected it and the surrounding areas, she said, adding the dead birds had not been vaccinated.
■ Thailand
Train crash kills three
Two passenger trains collided near a beach resort town south of Bangkok early yesterday, killing three people and injuring about 60 others, rail officials said. The accident occurred before dawn when a Bangkok-bound train took the wrong track and hit an oncoming train head-on just outside the resort town of Hua Hin, said Wichai Choochumporn, a rail official. The fatalities included two train employees and a third person whose identity was not immediately known, officials at Hua Hin hospital said. Among the injured passengers were an Italian man and a German woman, both of whom were treated for minor injuries, Wichai said.
■ Nepal
Strike cripples the south
A strike called by communist rebels in the south cut off transport and supplies to much of the Himalayan nation yesterday, officials said. The strike called by a rebel splinter group stalled traffic and closed down markets and schools in most of the districts in Nepal's south. Most imports -- including food and fuel -- have to travel through Nepal's south to reach major cities, including the capital, Kathmandu. The Tarai Liberation Front, which split from the main Maoist rebel group in 2004, called the strike, demanding additional rights for the Madeshi people living in the southern plain region, claiming they have been discriminated against by the government.
■ Japan
Leaders mull military role
The government was considering authorizing its troops to launch pre-emptive strikes during international peacekeeping operations, a newspaper reported yesterday, as the administration moved to give its military a greater profile. A change would be a reversal of Japan's defense-only policy stipulated by the county's pacifist constitution. It would also allow Japanese troops to join a broader range of international peacekeeping operations, following the Defense Agency's upgrade last month to ministry status, and the addition of international peacekeeping as a core duty of the military. The government is considering allowing Japanese troops, who have in the past been limited to self-defense, to conduct pre-emptive strikes when deemed necessary, the Yomiuri newspaper reported.
■ Italy
Former Nazis convicted
A military tribunal on Saturday convicted 10 former members of the Nazi SS and acquitted seven others for the 1944 slaughter of more than 700 people near Bologna -- the worst World War II era civilian massacre in Italy, a news report said. The 10 received life sentences, said the Italian news agency ANSA. The defendants, all tried in absentia, are believed to live in Germany. They are one former officer and 16 enlisted personnel of the 16th SS Division.
■ Azerbaijan
Reporters' trial postponed
A court postponed the trial of two journalists who published an article that said Islam has suffocated people and hindered humanity's development, an official said on Saturday. The trial of reporter Rafiq Tagi and editor Samir Huseinov on charges of inciting religious hatred was scheduled to begin this month. It will now be postponed for at least two months after a Baku court decided to extend the two journalists' arrest "in connection with the continuing investigation of the case, with the purpose of fully uncovering all details," said Vugar Aliev, a spokesman for the Prosecutor General's office. The article, published in November, also said that the Prophet Mohammed created problems for Eastern countries.
■ Comoros
Volcano erupts
A volcano spat forth lava and black smoke early on Saturday on an island in Comoros in the Indian Ocean, triggering tremors throughout the day and rattling residents, officials said. The eruption of 2,360m Mount Karthala on Grand Comore, the largest of the three Comoros islands, did not endanger residents, Hamid Soule of the Karthala Observatory said by telephone. The volcano started erupting overnight, bright orange flames showing up against the black sky, he said. The lava production appeared to slow by morning, but the volcano continued to shake and tremble throughout the day.
■ United Kingdom
Prince Harry in Iraq training
A newspaper reported yesterday that Prince Harry was scheduled to begin final training for deployment to Iraq with his Army regiment -- but the defense ministry said no decision had been made on whether his regiment would be deployed. The News of The World said the prince, who is third in line to the throne, would take part in a two-day pre-deployment course which includes instruction in basic Arabic phrases. Harry, known as Cornet Wales by his regiment -- the Blues and Royals -- has trained to command 11 soldiers and four Scimitar tanks. A defense ministry spokesman said the Blues and Royals were among a number of regiments being considered for deployment to Iraq in April.
■ Italy
Vatican gay rights protest
A small group of gay rights activists gathered near the Vatican on Saturday to commemorate the death of an Italian man who set himself on fire in St. Peter's Square to protest the church's treatment of homosexuals. The group of a few dozen gathered on the edges of the square, carrying banners and waving rainbow flags, a symbol of the gay rights movements. They also protested what they said was the Vatican's interference in the affairs of the Italian state. "Less Vatican, more self-determination," read one banner.
■ Bolivia>
Evo to meet Ahmadinejad
President Evo Morales said he will discuss trade and diplomatic relations with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when the leaders meet in Ecuador for the inauguration of president-elect Rafael Correa today. "The president of Iran has asked me for a bilateral meeting," Morales said at a news conference on Saturday night in Cochabamba, 230km southeast of La Paz. "They've proposed a diplomatic agreement with us, or actually we've already discussed trade agreements and we'll see if it's necessary to have a diplomatic agreement as well." Morales said Iran has offered technological support to the Andean country's efforts to industrialize its agricultural sector. "I'm dreaming that Bolivia could have a plant to build its own tractors," Morales said. "In contacts [with Iran], which are difficult sometimes because of the language issue, they've told us that they are very interested in investment. We'll see where that goes."
■ United States
Prized dog's puppies stolen
Thieves broke into an apartment and stole four English bulldog puppies sired by last year's best of breed winner at the Westminster Dog Show, police said. Henry Valer said he found his apartment door kicked in on Thursday when he returned home from work and the five-week-old puppies valued at a total of US$10,000 were gone. Valer, 33, a breeder registered with the American Kennel Club, said the three males and a female are the offspring of his male dog, Cherokee Legend Rock.
■ United States
Drugs found in traffic stop
Police seized more than 90kg of cocaine with an estimated street value of US$20 million during a traffic stop in a Philadelphia suburb, officials said. Police said on Saturday they pulled over a minivan in Uwchlan Township for an unspecified traffic violation on Friday morning. The driver of the minivan stepped out of the van at the request of a Pennsylvania trooper, but then ran away, according to a statement from the Bowmansville state police barracks. Police searched the minivan, which was reported stolen on Thursday, and found the drugs inside, authorities said.
■ Mexico
Bus crash kills 11
A passenger bus flipped over in Oaxaca early on Saturday, killing 11 passengers and injuring 39, including the driver, authorities said. Regional state police commander Lazaro Rendon said the bus, with 50 people on board, was speeding when it veered out of control and rolled over near the town of Ojitlan, 350km from the state capital of Oaxaca City. The bus was traveling from Jalapa de Diaz, near the border with the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, to Mexico City. The driver was taken into custody and was being questioned, but had not been charged with a crime pending further investigation, Rendon said. The condition of the injured was not immediately clear.
■ Chile
Fidel's on the mend: son
The elder son of Cuban President Fidel Castro said on Saturday that his father was on the mend and remained in good spirits. "He is recovering, I see him recovering," Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, 54, told reporters in the Chilean city of Valdivia, 800km south of Santiago. "He is in good spirits and optimistic," Castro Diaz-Balart said. He did not elaborate. The Cuban president has not appeared in public since undergoing emergency intestinal surgery in July. He temporarily ceded power to his younger brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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