■ Indonesia
Jet crash was pilot error
The Garuda Airways Boeing 737 that crash landed in Yogyakarta last month killing 21 people approached the runway at nearly double the normal speed, a report leaked to the Sydney Morning Herald said yesterday. The Australian newspaper published excerpts of the as-yet unpublished preliminary report of Indonesia's Transport Safety Committee. The findings point to pilot error and could lead to charges against Captain Marwoto Komar and his co-pilot, Gagam Rohman, who initially claimed that a gust of wind downed their craft.
■ Japan
Cargo boat sinks
A small cargo boat sank off the Pacific coast after colliding with a freighter yesterday morning, leaving one crewman missing, the Coast Guard said. The two boats collided 3.6km off Cape Esu on the Kii peninsula, a Coast Guard spokesman said. The cargo boat sank with a crew of four and its 65-year-old chief engineer, Hideo Okamoto, was missing, the spokesman said. The Cambodian-flagged freighter with a crew of 10 Chinese, sustained damage to its port side but could sail on its own power.
■ China
Blood donor racket busted
Police busted a gang that organized sales of blood by jobless and homeless people, the China Daily reported yesterday, after a similar practice caused a huge AIDS crisis in the central province of Henan. Gangs in a rural area of wealthy Guangdong Province had arranged for hundreds of people to give blood, some up to 15 or 16 times a month, it said. It was then sold in several cities across the province. After a local newspaper exposed the scandal, police captured a gang leader and five "donors" last week in a nighttime raid.
■ Phlippines
Marines kill three gunmen
Three unidentified gunmen were killed in a clash at sea with marines off a southern island, a military spokesman said yesterday. The clash occurred on Thursday off Baldatal Island, part of Tawi-Tawi Province, Lieutenant Colonel Ariel Caculitan said. Caculitan said the marines encountered the suspects, who were aboard a motorboat, while on sea patrol. There were no casualties on the military side. Troops recovered M-14 and M-16 rifles from the gunmen. Caculitan said authorities were still determining the identities of the suspects and whether they were affiliated with armed groups in the area.
■ Myanmar
UN in talks with junta
The military government has met with a top UN humanitarian official in their new administrative capital Naypyidaw to discuss cooperation with the world body, official media said yesterday. The UN's deputy chief for humanitarian affairs Margareta Wahlstrom met with Lieutenant General Thien Sein, the junta's fifth-most powerful man, as well as the health minister and other officials, the state-run New Light of Myanmar said. The government mouthpiece newspaper gave no details of the meeting, which came amid increased pressure on aid groups from the military.
■ Indonesia
Train derails into field
A crowded passenger train jumped its tracks and skidded into a rice field yesterday, killing a baby and injuring nearly two dozen other people, a railway official said. One of the victims was pinned beneath the train and in critical condition. The train, carrying 400 people, was heading to the Central Java city of Semarang when it derailed near Tegal. An eight-month-old child died and at least 23 other people were hurt, the official said. The country has been hit by a string of deadly transportation disasters in recent months that together have killed more than 500 people.
■ Afghanistan
Taliban kidnap aid workers
Two French aid workers who went missing this week have been kidnapped by Taliban militants in southwest Afghanistan and taken to volatile Helmand Province, a provincial governor said yesterday. "According to intelligence service reports, they were kidnapped on the highway in Khash Rod District [in Nimroz Province] and taken to neighboring Helmand," Nimroz Governor Ghulam Dastgir Azad said by telephone. He is the first official to confirm that the French nationals, who went missing on Tuesday, were kidnapped.
■ Malaysia
Man saves 100 from hole
A man saved about 100 people from being swallowed by a sinkhole when he felt the earth move while walking to an open-air toilet in the dark, a news report said yesterday. Renjis Empati immediately ran back to the village where he screamed to alert the others living in a traditional indigenous "longhouse" in Sarawak State on Borneo island, the New Straits Times said. "I could feel the earth trembling, and I saw the longhouse collapse into the sinkhole," the paper quoted Renjis as saying. The incident happened just after midnight Friday, the paper said. "If not for him, most of us would be dead by now," villager Lada Rentap said, according to the Times. Several said they lost all their possessions, including ancestral items passed down to them. A number of indigenous tribes live in longhouses, where an entire community lives under a single structure.
■ Turkey
`Coup plot' probed
Prosecutors have started looking into accusations that two former military commanders plotted to stage a coup in 2004 against the ruling center-right government, media reports said on Friday. Human rights group Mazlum-Der, in a petition to prosecutors, accused former navy commander Ozden Ornek and former gendarmerie commander Sener Eruygur of planning to "use force to overthrow the existing constitutional order." The state-run Anatolian news agency said prosecutors were now processing the petition. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has called on the judiciary to investigate the claim.
■ Yemen
Worshippers set alight
Attackers poured fuel over worshippers at a mosque in northern Yemen, locked the doors and set fire to it, wounding 30 people, the official Saba news agency reported. The attack took place on Friday in the northern province of Amran, south of Saada, where troops are battling Shiite Muslim rebels who the government says want to install clerical rule in the Sunni-dominated country. It was not immediately clear if the mosque was used by Sunni or Shiite worshippers. "Security authorities are investigating to identify the assailants and the motives of this criminal act," Saba quoted Amran Governor Taha Hajar as saying.
■ France
Tent city shuts down
A tent city for the homeless on the banks of a Paris canal has been shut down, said the "The Children of Don Quixote" campaigning group that helped set it up. Only a handful of tents were left along the Canal Saint-Martin, which during the winter had housed several hundred tents and had led politicians to step forward with promises to do more for France's street dwellers. "The Children of Don Quixote, after three months of struggle at the Canal Saint-Martin, is withdrawing," the group said in a statement, adding that while many people were still forced to sleep in the streets, the camp had improved the lot of the homeless.
■ Israel
Airstrike kills militant
An Israeli helicopter launched an airstrike along the Gaza Strip's border with Israel early yesterday, killing a Palestinian militant and wounding two others, officials said. The army said it carried out the airstrike after spotting the militants trying to plant a bomb. It said militants had been spotted planting explosives in the same area two days earlier. The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small militant group, said the militants were "on a holy mission" when they were hit by the Israeli force.
■ Netherlands
Borders to open to workers
The government plans to open its borders in May to workers from countries that joined the EU in 2004, a minister announced on Friday, saying the move would help fill job vacancies that are at an all-time high. "Further delay is damaging for Dutch business and could hurt relations with the countries involved," Social Affairs and Employment Minister Piet Hein Donner wrote in a letter to the Dutch Parliament. He said that agreements are in place to ensure workers from the new EU members get "equal pay for equal work." Many Dutch homeowners currently employ eastern European craftsmen such as carpenters and plasterers as a cheap alternative to Dutch laborers during home renovations.
■ United States
Anti-missile test successful
The military shot down a Scud-type missile off a Hawaiian island in a missile defense test, the Missile Defense Agency said. It was the second successful test this year of technology the Pentagon is developing to defend larger areas than ones that can be protected by Patriot missile defenses already deployed in South Korea, Japan and other places. A ship fired the target missile on Thursday night. Three minutes later, soldiers with the Army's 6th Air Defense Artillery Brigade launched an interceptor missile that destroyed the target over the Pacific Ocean.
■ Brazil
Police foil jail break
A group of around 20 gunmen tried to bust an Italian held for drug trafficking out of a prison hospital on Friday, but police foiled the movies-like escape attempt. Globo news network quoted Rio state penitentiary department officials as saying the criminals, who were heavily armed and clad in black, exchanged intense fire with police before fleeing in several cars and abandoning Alessandro Castiglioni. Castiglioni had been trying to climb over the hospital wall with two other inmates, but they were discovered by guards at the hospital in downtown Rio de Janeiro. Castiglioni was arrested in 2003 and charged with international drug trafficking.
■ United States
Arson database touted
A California congresswoman wants convicted arsonists to be forced to register on a national database similar to one used for sex offenders. Representative Mary Bono said the idea followed the deaths last fall of firefighters battling an arson wildfire. The man charged in that blaze is also accused of setting nearly two dozen other fires. States including California, Montana and Illinois already have arson databases, but a national database would help alert authorities when out-of-state arsonists move in. "Tracking criminals of this nature that have high recidivism rates will allow our officers to more efficiently investigate new offenses," Bono said on Thursday.
■ United States
Activists stage bomb hunt
Peace activists said on Friday they plan to stage an Easter "cluster-bomb" hunt outside the White House to demand that Washington implement a ban on the deadly munitions. "We are inviting families to search for replicas of these cluster bombs hidden in the park. It's a way to draw attention to these bombs which mutilate and kill children," said Radia Dawissi of the peace movement Vineeta. "This year, thousands of outstanding youth won't be able to join US President [George W.] Bush as special guests at the White House Easter Egg Hunt," Vineeta said on its Web site. "Because these children had their lives blown apart."
■ United States
Puppy abuser confesses
A man who brought a puppy with broken ribs to an animal shelter and told workers that his hands hurt from hitting her has pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges. Isaak Gowhari, 34, was sentenced on Thursday to 45 days in county jail. The judge also barred Gowhari from owning an animal for three years. Photos seized by investigators showed the puppy's snout taped shut. Authorities said Gowhari came under investigation after he gave Gracie, the seven-month-old Doberman puppy, to an animal shelter. Gracie has recovered and been adopted.
An endangered baby pygmy hippopotamus that shot to social media stardom in Thailand has become a lucrative source of income for her home zoo, quadrupling its ticket sales, the institution said Thursday. Moo Deng, whose name in Thai means “bouncy pork,” has drawn tens of thousands of visitors to Khao Kheow Open Zoo this month. The two-month-old pygmy hippo went viral on TikTok and Instagram for her cheeky antics, inspiring merchandise, memes and even craft tutorials on how to make crocheted or cake-based Moo Dengs at home. A zoo spokesperson said that ticket sales from the start of September to Wednesday reached almost
TIGHTENING: Zhu Hengpeng, who worked for an influential think tank, has reportedly not been seen in public since making disparaging remarks on WeChat A leading Chinese economist at a government think tank has reportedly disappeared after being disciplined for criticizing Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in a private chat group. Zhu Hengpeng (朱恆鵬), 55, is believed to have made disparaging remarks about China’s economy, and potentially about the Chinese leader specifically, in a private WeChat group. Zhu was subsequently detained in April and put under investigation, the Wall Street Journal reported. Zhu worked for the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) for more than 20 years, most recently as the Institute of Economics deputy director and director of the Public Policy Research Center. He
CHINESE ICBM: The missile landed near the EEZ of French Polynesia, much to the surprise and concern of the president, who sent a letter of protest to Beijing Fijian President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere called for “respect for our region” and a stop to missile tests in the Pacific Ocean, after China launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In a speech to the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday, Katonivere recalled the Pacific Ocean’s history as a nuclear weapons testing ground, and noted Wednesday’s rare launch by China of an ICBM. “There was a unilateral test firing of a ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean. We urge respect for our region and call for cessation of such action,” he said. The ICBM, carrying a dummy warhead, was launched by the
As violence between Israel and Hezbollah escalates, Iran is walking a tightrope by supporting Hezbollah without being dragged into a full-blown conflict and playing into its enemy’s hands. With a focus on easing its isolation and reviving its battered economy, Iran is aware that war could complicate efforts to secure relief from crippling sanctions. Cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah, sparked by Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7 last year, has intensified, especially after last week’s sabotage on Hezbollah’s communications that killed 39 people. Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon followed, killing hundreds. Hezbollah retaliated with rocket barrages. Despite the surge in
RSS