■ VIETNAN
Ducks infected with bird flu
Bird flu has infected three duck farms in central part of the country, the second infection detected in the region in less than a month, the government said yesterday. Tests found the H5 component of the H5N1 virus among the samples taken after a total of 1,298 ducks died in the farms in Nghe An Province on May 9, the Agriculture Ministry's Animal Health Department said in a report. The fowl had not been vaccinated against bird flu, it said.
■ CHINA
Man damages Mao portrait
A man damaged a portrait of Mao Zedong (毛澤東) that hangs over Tiananmen Square in central Beijing, prompting police to close the nearby imperial palace, a news report said yesterday. The man, identified as Gu Hai'ou, from Urumqi, threw a burning object at the portrait oon Saturday afternoon, Xinhua news agency said. It said the lower left corner had a small burn mark, and authorities planned to replace the painting. "Armed police are guarding the area and visitors are forbidden to enter the Forbidden City," Xinhua said.
■ MALAYSIA
Punishing parents mulled
Parents who report their children missing may face punishment for not keeping an eye on them as part of efforts to curb the problem of runaway kids, a report said yesterday. Deputy Internal Security Minister Johari Baharum was quoted by the Sunday Star as saying that some 1,900 children have been reported missing since 2004 and that parents should be held responsible. "We have numerous missing child cases. The public who sympathized with the parents failed to see the mistakes the parents made in the first place," he said in the report.
■ MYANMAR
PM flies back to Singapore
Prime Minister General Soe Win flew back to Singapore for medical treatment yesterday, 10 days after a brief return to his country, witnesses said. Military leader General Than Shwe and other senior army generals saw Soe Win off at the Yangon airport where he left on a commercial flight, they said. Soe Win, 58, earlier spent more than two months in a Singapore hospital receiving treatment for illnesses that may include leukemia.
■ CHINA
Cop sentenced to death
A policeman and a court official were sentenced to be executed after beating a man and throwing him to his death from the third story of a police station, state press said yesterday. A district court in Henan Province on Thursday sentenced six policemen and a court official to differing punishments for the September 2004 death of Li Shengli (李勝利), the Beijing News said. Policeman Li Litian (李立田) was sentenced to death, the report said, while court official Lu Liusheng (呂留生) was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, meaning he is likely to end up serving a life sentence. The former local precinct chief was given a life sentence while three other policemen were sentenced to differing jail terms, the report said.
■ MYANMAR
Hair thieves target women
Women not only have to watch out for pickpockets when they're commuting, shopping or walking down the street, but also hair thieves, a weekly journal reported yesterday. Long-haired women in crowded areas have fallen victim to surreptitious hair snippers who steal their hair to sell, the Burmese-language 24/7 news journal reported. "My long hair was cut while I was on my way back from the office. I found out only when I got back home," an unidentified female bus commuter was quoted as saying.
■ CHINA
Ship sinks, 16 feared dead
At least 16 sailors were missing and feared dead after a South Korean ship sank following a collision with a Chinese vessel in waters off Shandong Province, officials and state press said yesterday. The accident occurred when the South Korean vessel, the Golden Rose, collided with the Chinese container ship in Saturday's early morning darkness and fog off the port of Yantai, Xinhua news agency reported. Seven of the crew were South Koreans, while the remaining members were from Myanmar and Indonesia, South Korean officials said.
■ GERMANY
Sex toy maker loses case
Sex toy company Beate Uhse has been ordered to pay 50,000 euros (US$65,000) in damages to two German football stars after selling vibrators named for them during last year's World Cup. Football players Michael Ballack and Oliver Kahn reached an agreement with the company in their case before a court in Hamburg on Friday. The company sold special World Cup edition vibrators called "Michael B," referring to the Chelsea player and captain of the German national team, and "Olli K," in reference to the Bayern Munich and former Germany goalkeeper, in three shops.
■ ITALY
Man asked to be jailed
A 24-year-old Sicilian man under house arrest called for police to bring him to jail because he could no longer put up with arguments with his mother and stepfather, a news agency reported on Saturday. Marcello Lazzara, under house arrest in connection with counterfeit CD sales, preferred going outside the house to be arrested for escape rather than remain with his family in Palermo, Ansa agency said. "I am lucky to meet you," the man told police when they arrived to arrest him in the street outside his home.
■ ITALY
Thousands protest bill
With grandparents and children in tow, tens of thousands of families gathered in a Rome piazza to voice their opposition to a government bill that would give many legal rights to unmarried couples, including gay ones. The "Family Day" rally on Saturday, drawing hundreds of thousands of demonstrators in total, was organized by lay Catholic groups and family associations. While the demonstration has been endorsed by Italian bishops, neither the Vatican nor the Italian bishops' conference is formally behind it. People from across Italy began pouring into the massive St. John Lateran piazza in the morning. The demonstrators were entertained by singers, speakers and even a brief video featuring the late pope John Paul II.
■ RUSSIA
Veto possible for resolution
The government may veto a draft UN Security Council resolution providing for effective independence for Kosovo, Russia's ambassador to the UN said on Saturday. "Such a scenario is becoming more and more likely," Vitaly Churkin told the television channel Vesti 24. Churkin was responding to a question about whether the country would use its right as a permanent Security Council member to veto the resolution. The draft resolution, circulated earlier by the US and EU countries, endorses a plan drawn up by UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari. Under the plan, the Serbian province, which has been under UN administration for almost eight years, would be independent under EU supervision.
■ SYRIA
Activists sentenced to jail
Prominent opposition activists Michel Kilo and Mahmud Issa were sentenced to three years in prison yesterday for "weakening national sentiment," according to a Syrian human-rights group. They are the latest dissidents to be jailed in recent weeks in a crackdown by the regime that has been condemned by the US. The two were arrested in May last year along with eight other democracy campaigners after they signed a declaration calling for radical reform of relations between Syria and neighboring Lebanon.
■ BRAZIL
Police raid kills 14
A police raid on a drug-ridden slum of Rio de Janeiro launched earlier this month has resulted in the deaths of 14 people, including some police, state media reported on Saturday. Around 40 people were also wounded, most of them by stray bullets, in the raid which began 11 days ago on the northern outskirts of the city and aims to oust rival drug trafficking gangs, the official Agencia Brasil news agency said. The report said the dead included some alleged drug offenders as well as passers-by and police, but gave no further details.
■ ICELAND
Government retains majority
The country's pro-business government coalition held onto its majority by a single seat yesterday with 99 percent of votes counted in a cliff-hanger election that pitted economic against environmental interests. Some 1,000 votes were still to be counted. "It's going to be really exciting to see the last results," said University of Iceland political science professor Olafur Hardarson, adding that even that small number of voters had a slim chance of altering the balance of power. Prime Minister Geir Haarde's Independence Party had 24 seats, a gain of two seats.
■ UNITED STATES
Jail counselor abused kid
A 62-year-old woman was sentenced to three years in prison for locking her grandson inside a dog kennel every night for three years while she went to work as a jail counselor. Under a plea bargain, June Candelario was also sentenced on Friday to one year of probation. Candelario, a former state trooper, put the boy in a 1.2m by 1m kennel each day at 4pm and let him out hours later when she returned from work, authorities said. She pleaded guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to commit child abuse that resulted in bodily harm and a misdemeanor count of child abuse. The boy was 10 when the abuse began.
■ UNITED STATES
Measure affects landlords
Voters in a Dallas, Texas, suburb overwhelmingly approved a measure banning landlords from renting to most illegal immigrants, in the first public vote on any of the more than 90 measures local governments around the country have proposed to crack down on illegal immigration. The measure requires apartment managers to verify that renters are US citizens or legal immigrants, with some exceptions. The measure includes exemptions for minors, seniors and some families with a mix of legal and illegal residents. Opponents of the regulation gathered enough signatures to force the city to put the measure on the municipal election ballot. Opponents plan to fight the measure in court.
■ MEXICO
Ransom money out of reach
About 50 friends, neighbors and relatives of a 20-year-old man kidnapped in southern Mexico lined a highway with tin cans and posters on Saturday, asking passing motorists for donations to help raise the ransom demanded by his captors.
Said Bolivar Calderon was kidnapped from his father's farm in Atoyac, about 70km west of Acapulco in Guerrero state, by armed men on Tuesday. The kidnappers left a cousin tied to a tree, and told him they wanted 1 million pesos (US$92,500) in ransom for Said. The victim's family and friends -- some holding signs reading "Help us Ransom Said" -- had raised only few hundred pesos by Saturday.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
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