■ CHINA
Yangtze at dangerous level
Wuhan is on high alert as water levels in the Yangtze river reach dangerous heights in the city, a state media reported yesterday. Xinhua news agency said officials in Wuhan, Hubei Province, have ordered stepped up patrols along dikes and sluice gates in the city of 9.1 million people. Sand bags have been prepared for possible breaches and drills on closing up breaches would be held yesterday and today, Xinhua said. Since the start of the annual rainy season in May, floods have hit nearly half of the country's regions and killed at least 400 people, Xinhua said.
■ MALAYSIA
Air Force trainees expelled
The Air Force has expelled 14 trainees at a flight college who allegedly took part in the torture of a recruit who claimed he was beaten with broomsticks, dunked in sewage and made to drink urine. The alleged abuse at an air force training college went public in February when the victim's father lodged a police complaint, supported by pictures of the alleged abuses taken on a mobile phone camera by the trainee's friend. Fourteen cadets were charged in court in March with allegedly causing hurt to Muhammad Hazim Azman, a 20-year-old student of aeronautical engineering.
■ VIETNAM
Four killed in mortar blast
A man and three children were killed when a Vietnam War-era mortar he was scavenging in the center of the country exploded, an official said yesterday. Lo Pho Thuong, 43, and his two sons, aged 14 and 12, were killed instantly on Tuesday when he was trying to remove the explosives from the mortar, said Lau Ba Chay, an official with Ky Son district, Nghe An Province. The blast also seriously injured Thuong's 15-year-old nephew, who died later on the same day in a hospital, Chay said. More than 38,000 people have been killed by ordnance discovered since the war ended in 1975.
■ MALAYSIA
Boy dies in washing machine
A boy who caught a horrific glimpse of his baby brother being spun around in the family's washing machine yanked him out and tried to revive him but his efforts were fruitless and the toddler died. "Without hesitation, I pulled out my brother and sat him on my lap on the nearby staircase," the Star newspaper quoted Abdillah Al-Hadi, 7, as saying. "I shook him and called out his name." But his 16-month old brother, Nasrul Hafiz, did not respond and was declared dead on arrival at hospital. The toddler had climbed a staircase beside the washing machine and fell into the machine.
■ PHILIPPINES
Electricity, water low
Authorities urged the public to preserve water and electricity yesterday as a prolonged dry spell in the traditional rainy season caused blackouts. The state-run National Power Corp said rains and typhoons, which historically hit the country by this month, have not started, causing low water levels in at least five major hydroelectric power dams. One power plant, at Caliraya Lake south of Manila, had to shut down, Science Undersecretary Graciano Yumul said. He said if the situation does not improve by next month, the state weather bureau may declare a drought in Manila, and elsewhere in northern Luzon.
■ ITALY
Da Vinci images found
A computer analyst claimed on Wednesday to have discovered new images in Leonardo Da Vinci's The Last Supper, one of the world's best-loved religious paintings. But some experts were skeptical, dismissing the claim as another spin-off of Dan Brown's best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code. Slavisa Pesci claims to have discovered new images in the 15th mural in the dining hall of Milan's Santa Maria delle Grazie church by superimposing a reverse image on the original image. When doing so, Pesci said he observed, for example, that the two figures on either end of the long table appear to become knights, and that another figure appears to be holding an infant.
■ RUSSIA
Security sweep launched
Authorities on Wednesday launched a massive security sweep in the volatile province of Ingushetia bordering Chechnya in response to increasingly frequent attacks against police and officials there, news reports said. Deputy Interior Minister Arkady Yedelev arrived in Ingushetia on Wednesday to take charge of the security sweep he said was necessary to uproot "bandits" roaming the region who came from Chechnya, the Interfax news agency reported. Large-scale battles in Chechnya ended years ago, but rebels continue to mount frequent raids and landmine explosions against federal forces and local authorities in Chechnya and neighboring regions. The sweep in Ingushetia comes a day after President Vladimir Putin boasted of the government's efforts to stabilize the restive Caucasus region.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Blair leaves gifts behind
An iPod from Arnold Schwarzenegger, coins from the emir of Kuwait and a tea set from the president of Sri Lanka are among the gifts former prime minister Tony Blair left behind when he resigned last month, government records released on Wednesday show. Blair received the presents between April last year and March. Other gifts include rugs from Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, glassware from Austria and wine from the government of Saudi Arabia, where alcohol is banned. Government ministers must declare any gift valued at more than ?140 (US$280), and either buy them or hand them over to their department for display.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Swimmer braves North Pole
A swimmer who braved freezing temperatures at the North Pole to highlight the impact of climate change said he wouldn't wish the experience on his worst enemy. Lewis Gordon Pugh dived into the icy waters on July 15, swimming 1km at a water temperature of minus 1.8oC -- all in an effort to draw attention to the effects of global warming. "I could barely breathe, fingers and toes absolutely burning," Pugh said on Wednesday.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Addicts to get vouchers
Drug addicts will be given shopping vouchers to help them give up drugs, according to measures announced on Wednesday by a government health body. The measure affects 36,000 Britons aged over 16, who will be given between ?70 to ?150 (US$145 to US$310) on the condition that they seek out treatment programs and stay clean, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) said. Those who abandon drug-taking may also receive financial incentives linked to consistent monitoring of their condition.
■ UNITED STATES
Commission saves taxi 666
Some call it the number of Satan, but San Francisco's taxi commission sees no reason to get rid of taxi medallion No. 666. Cab driver Michael Byrne asked the agency to retire the number that was assigned to him last year, saying it has brought him nothing but bad luck. Some other cabbies, however, brought a touch of levity to the debate on Tuesday as they argued against retirement. "How dare you take Lucifer's number away?" said Thomas George-Williams, president of the cab drivers union, who was sporting red horns. "This is a serious issue." The commission voted 5-1 on Tuesday to keep No. 666 on the streets.
■ UNITED STATES
Church thief arrested
A former altar boy was arrested in East Islip, New York, after he repeatedly broke into his old church's donation boxes and stole money that was supposed to help the poor, police said. Surveillance videos at St Mary's Roman Catholic Church showed Matthew Belcher, 37, using a screwdriver or other tool to break the locks on four poor boxes on May 19, May 20 and May 29, Suffolk County police said. The thefts occurred while the church was open. Police did not know how much money was stolen because the donations were made anonymously, but they estimated it was less than US$1,000.
■ HONDURAS
Lawmakers demand apology
Congress has demanded an apology from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for calling a Honduran cardinal an "imperialist clown." Chavez was responding to criticism from Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, who said in a recent interview cited by Venezuela's Bolivarian news agency that Chavez "thinks he's God and can trample upon other people." Juan Hernandez, a legislator with Honduras' opposition National Party, said on Wednesday that Congress voted overwhelmingly late on Tuesday to demand President Manuel Zelaya "ask for an apology from Mr Chavez for the offenses directed against the cardinal and the Honduran people."
■ UNITED STATES
Child put through to sex line
After an eight-year-old girl in Lake City, Florida, was connected to a sex chat line by mistake, Florida's attorney general's office removed the toll-free number for a sexual assault counseling center from its Web site. The North Central Florida Sexual Assault Center shut down months ago, and the company that runs the sex chat line bought the number. The girl's mother, Karen Carter, said her daughter called because she witnessed inappropriate behavior and was upset. Carter said it was nothing serious enough to involve authorities. "I convinced my daughter this phone call was going to help her," Carter told WCJB-TV. "But it made things immensely worse."
■ BRAZIL
Lula admits fear of flying
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Wednesday confessed he's always been scared of flying, after swearing in a new defense minister to mend Brazil's chaotic airways following last week's plane crash in Sao Paulo. "I'm scared of flying in an airplane. I confess this in public because it's not shameful to admit we're afraid," Lula said. He spoke after Nelson Jobim, 61, officially replaced Waldir Pires as defense minister. Lula sacked Pires in the political fallout from the worst crash in Brazil's history. "Every time the doors shut on an airplane, I surrender my fate to God because I'm in the hands of a pilot who is a human being," Lula said.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
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