■ PHILIPPINES
Grenade blast injures three
Three workers were injured in a grenade attack on the office of a US-funded project in Mindanao, police said yesterday. Three men were seen throwing at least two grenades at the office of the Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) late on Tuesday, regional police chief Superintendent Frederico Dulay said. Three people were injured. GEM is a project funded by US assistance to boost the economy of the southern island, which is plagued by both Muslim and communist insurgencies. Regional Governor Emmanuel Pinol said the attack was triggered by GEM's refusal to pay "protection money" to suspects who have been demanding payments through cellphone text messages.
■ NEW ZEALAND
Hillary recovering from fall
Mountaineering legend Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to scale Mount Everest, is recovering well in a hospital after a fall, a family member said yesterday. Hillary, 87, reportedly had a fall during the weekend and was admitted to Auckland Hospital. His family and doctors have not disclosed where the fall occurred. Hillary has been walking with the aid of a cane for several years. His wife, Lady June Hillary, said in a statement on Tuesday that Hillary was admitted to the hospital after the couple returned on Sunday from a visit to Kathmandu.
■ HONG KONG
Dead cop convicted
A constable was ruled guilty yesterday of gunning down two fellow policemen and a security guard in a string of grisly shootings that shocked the city. After nearly 10 hours of deliberations at the end of a two-month coroner's inquest, jurors unanimously found 35-year old constable Tsui Po-ko (徐步高), who was killed in a shootout last year, was responsible for the deaths. In a case that had Hong Kong gossiping about the trial's details of gambling, sex and murder, more than 100 witnesses revealed lurid details of the cop-killer whose brutal attacks confounded those who knew him as an intelligent and ambitious man who had earned top honors in police training school. Tsui's grieving mother, Cheung Wai-mei (張維美), 62, said she respected the decision, but believed her son was innocent.
■ SINGAPORE
Infections on the rise
Authorities have sent letters alerting childcare centers and schools to an unusual rise in the number of hand, foot and mouth disease infections, health officials said. The viral illness, which causes sores, rashes and fever, is mildly contagious and rarely fatal. It mainly strikes children below age 10 and is unrelated to the cattle illness known as foot-and-mouth disease. The country recorded 688 cases of hand, foot and mouth disease infections in the week ending April 21 -- 73 percent more than the same period a year earlier -- and the highest rate so far for this year, the Ministry of Health said in a report on Tuesday.
■ MALAYSIA
Ex-convict to marry guard
A convicted armed robber released last year after becoming the nation's longest-serving prisoner will once again be under a guard's care, the New Straits Times reported yesterday. Salleh Talib, 57, plans to wed Ani, a security guard in her 50s, later this year, even though the couple have only known each other a couple of months and have never met in person, it said. Salleh was sentenced to life in prison for armed robbery in 1976. He spent 30 years, 11 months and nine days behind bars before being pardoned last October.
■ GERMANY
Horse joins ATM queue
An early-morning bank customer had a bit of a shock when he found a horse already in line at an automatic teller machine (ATM). The horse's owner, identified only as Wolfgang H., apparently had a bit too much to drink the night before and decided to sleep it off inside the bank's heated foyer, police said on Tuesday. The 40-year-old machinist told Bild newspaper he had had "a few beers" with a friend in Wiesenburg, southwest of Berlin, and decided to sleep in the bank on his way home. He brought his six-year-old horse named Sammy in along with him. No charges were filed, but there might be some cleanup needed: Apparently Sammy made his own after-hours deposit on the carpet.
■ FRANCE
EU commuters panned
The monthly commute by EU parliamentarians from Brussels to Strasbourg produces over 20,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, a study commissioned by the EU Greens said yesterday. Members of the European Parliament and their staff are based in a huge complex of buildings in Brussels, but commute 450km to Strasbourg for four-day plenary sessions once a month. The commute costs European taxpayers US$280 million each year and produces the same amount of carbon dioxide as generated by 4,000 London households, the study showed.
■ JORDAN
Student convicted
A court on Tuesday sentenced a university student to death for the murder of a male friend who had allegedly made sexual advances toward him. A court official speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to speak to the media said the student was charged with stabbing his friend to death in a deserted valley close to the city of Irbid, 80km north of Amman, in late 2005. The court did not release the names of the defendant or his victim.
■ SOMALIA
Fighting continues
Shelling and tank fire rattled Mogadishu yesterday as fighting between the government-backed Ethiopian forces and Islamist guerrillas entered its second week, with hundreds already killed. After a relatively quiet night, residents said Ethiopian tanks rumbled through northern Mogadishu, firing shells in a bid to wipe out determined Islamist and clan fighters who have frustrated the transitional government's efforts to exert its control. The insurgents, often shifting their defense positions, responded with machinegun fire and mortar shells. "Heavy fighting has resumed," said Hussein Bashir, a resident of Jamhuriha in northern Mogadishu.
■ GERMANY
Cow on the loose dies
A pregnant cow has died two days after causing extensive damage as she went on the rampage through a German city for more than three hours, reports said yesterday. The Charolais cow, named Beate, escaped from a farm on Monday and charged through the city of Hanover, resisting the increasingly desperate efforts of police and local residents to capture her. TV crews and police cars joined the pursuit as Beate trampled on gardens and charged at cars, causing damage estimated at 25,000 euros (US$34,000). The cow, which had been due to give birth this week, was brought under control with tranquilizer darts. She died suddenly on Tuesday.
■ CANADA
Man arrested with swastika
A man has been arrested after he was found walking around naked with a swastika taped to his body to mark Adolf Hitler's birthday, police said on Friday. Police in Nanaimo, British Columbia, on Canada's Pacific coast, said they were called to the scene by concerned residents, and the man told them he was "honoring Hitler's birthday." He was detained and will undergo a psychiatric assessment. Hitler was born on April 20, 1889. "Although the swastika symbol causes some concern and is usually associated with hate and the Nazi regime, in this instance this male posed no threat to the community," police said.
■ PARAGUAY
Kidnapped Japanese go home
Two Japanese citizens kidnapped and later freed flew to their native country to rest and visit family, a prosecutor in the case said on Tuesday. Businessman Hirokazu Ota, 62, was released along with a local police officer and his girlfriend last Friday after a US$138,000 ransom was paid, according to authorities. His secretary, Sawako Takayama, who was also seized in the April 1 kidnapping on a remote highway had been freed earlier. "Both flew to Tokyo to rest and recover with the support of their family," prosecutor Rogelio Ortuzar said.
■ MEXICO
Condor chick hatches
A California condor chick has hatched in Mexico for the first time in at least 60 years, scientists at the Zoological Society of San Diego said. The bird was found in an abandoned eagle nest on a cliff in the Sierra San Pedro de Martir National Park, located in the arid interior of the Baja California peninsula more than 160km south of the US-Mexico border. Its parents were bred in US zoos and released in Mexico in 2002. Mike Wallace, a field scientist for the zoological society, visited the nest Sunday to check up on an egg. He was "exhilarated and surprised" to be greeted by an angry condor defending its newly hatched offspring.
■ UNITED STATES
Storms kill six
Six people were killed when severe storms spawned a tornado that struck a small community near the Mexican border on Tuesday, officials said. Three more people died in Mexico as the storms tore through. The six US deaths were reportedly in one home, said Eagle Pass Fire Chief Roy Delacruz. The tornado struck unincorporated areas of Maverick County known as Loma Linda and Chula Vista, he said. In Piedras Negras, Mexico, at least three people were killed and 40 were injured in the severe weather, authorities said. The violent storm ripped roofs from homes, toppled power poles and damaged dozens of cars and homes, said Oscar Murillo, the city's civil protection director.
■ UNITED STATES
Century-old fungi found
Scientists have identified the Godzilla of fungi, a giant, prehistoric fossil that has evaded classification for more than a century, US researchers said on Monday. A chemical analysis has shown that the 6m organism with a tree-like trunk was a fungus that became extinct more than 350 million years ago, according to a study appearing in the May issue of the journal Geology. Known as Prototaxites, the giant fungus originally was thought to be a conifer. Then some believed it was a lichen, or various types of algae. Some suspected it was a fungus. Francis Hueber of the National Museum of Natural History first suggested the fungus possibility based on an analysis of the fossil's internal structure, but had no proof.
Through the noise of rushing papers and whirring belts at a print factory in Kyoto, two creators watch their photo essay come to life in broadsheet form — part of an effort to win new audiences in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the decline of the publishing industry, self-publication and handmade “zine” magazines are growing in popularity in Japan, reflecting the nation’s enduring love of paper in the digital era. While speaking to Agence France-Presse at the plant, his hands black with ink, one of the creators, Kazuma Obara, said: “I think [paper] is a medium that engages all five
‘ABSURD MISTAKE’: The election commission said that there had been a failure to anticipate turnout after 14 polling stations ran short of ballot papers South Korean riot police yesterday cleared protesters from a Seoul polling station after a 35-hour blockade sparked by a shortage of ballot papers during local elections earlier this week. Wednesday’s election was the first nationwide vote since South Korean President Lee Jae-myung took office following the ouster of Yoon Suk-yeol over his short-lived martial law declaration. Lee’s ruling Democratic Party swept most races, but failed to flip the crucial Seoul mayoral seat. The South Korean National Election Commission apologized, blaming a failure to anticipate turnout after 14 polling stations in Seoul ran short of ballot papers. Some polling stations stayed open until 10pm to
France experienced its hottest spring on record, the French weather service said on Tuesday, after an exceptional early heat wave that also broke highs for the season in England and Wales. Meteo-France said the average nationwide temperature over March to May was 13.8°C — about 1.7°C above the norm, and surpassing records set in 2011 and 2020. “The warmest spring since records began in 1900,” it said in a bulletin. All three months were warmer than average, but the onset of an “unprecedented heatwave” late last month pushed the mercury to highs typically seen at the height of the summer. “Our country had never
A Sherpa guide was found crawling to base camp on Mount Everest a week after he went missing and was reunited with his family, who had given up hope he would return. Dawa Sherpa was last seen on Friday last week descending the mountain, but he did not reach base camp even though his client did. The pair were among the last climbers on the mountain as the climbing season came to an end and the route was dismantled. Dawa was located by a cleaning crew on Thursday morning as he was crawling down the snowy slopes around the Khumbu Icefall, just above
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