■ CHINA
Kids tossed out window
Police arrested a man suspected of throwing six children from the third story of a school building, killing one girl and injuring the others, state press said yesterday. The incident occurred on Thursday morning in Hongqiao, Hunan Province, with the suspect grabbing eight and nine-year-old boys and girls in a hallway and tossing them out a window, Beijing News reported. One of the boys was able to grab part of a tree as he fell, breaking his fall and reducing his injury. According to the paper, the suspect, identified as Kuang Xi, 28, had a history of mental illness.
■ INDIA
Pilgrims hit by train
At least 12 Hindu pilgrims died after being hit by a train, police said yesterday. The Kanwarias, or followers of the god Shiva, got off the train when it stopped on a bridge over a river near in Uttar Pradesh state, police officer J.K. Singh said. Another train arrived on an adjacent track and ploughed into a group of about 16 people, while others leapt off the bridge into the river below. "We have recovered 12 bodies. Some of them were badly cut by the train," Singh said.
■ CHINA
E-moon cakes risky
Internet users have been warned to be wary of downloading virus-infected mooncake greeting cards ahead of the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival after a wave of Internet worms hit hard-drives last year. Web sites offering electronic versions of moon cakes have become popular in recent years. "Always scan files over the Internet before you download them," yesterday's China Daily quoted an official with Guangdong's Internet supervision bureau as saying. "I was very attracted by the e-card on QQ [an online chat application], but after I opened it many harmful pages popped up on my computer," the paper quoted PricewaterhouseCoopers employee Pan Yanyan as saying.
■ AUSTRALIA
Police linked to crimes
Corrupt police officers were linked with a bloody gangland war which raged for years in Melbourne, police confirmed yesterday. Victoria state's deputy police commissioner, Simon Overland, who formerly headed an investigation into the city's gangland violence, said detectives recently uncovered evidence of police involvement in two separate gang-related matters. "We've got specific information now that says there is a direct link between police corruption and gangland murders," he said. Police also confirmed that a senior officer was suspended on Thursday. A link between police and gangland criminals had long been suspected, particularly after a police informer and his wife were murdered.
■ COLOMBIA
Warlords put in prison boats
Two top members of the country's underworld, including one on the FBI's most-wanted list, are being transferred to offshore floating prisons for security reasons, the government said. Diego Montoya, whose capture on Monday was hailed as the country's biggest drug war victory since the 1993 slaying of Pablo Escobar, and paramilitary warlord Carlos Jimenez were being moved from the Combita prison to separate "prison boats" on the Pacific Ocean and off the Caribbean coast. Colombian Interior Minister Carlos Holguin told Caracol radio that Jimenez was transferred on Thursday and Montoya was to be moved yesterday. Both are awaiting extradition to the US.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Same lab at fault again
The virus that sparked the latest case of foot-and-mouth disease in Surrey this week came from the same nearby Pirbright laboratory that triggered last month's outbreak, according to preliminary tests, officials confirmed on Thursday. The Environment Department said scientists were busy analyzing its genetic sequence to determine whether the virus escaped in the same lapse of biosecurity from drains last month or whether a separate leak occurred. The disease re-emerged just a few days after government officials had declared it eradicated. The news brought some relief to farmers, who are less likely to face long-term stringent restrictions and culls than if it had come from a different source.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Irishman resigns over jokes
An Irishman who edits a local magazine in Cornwall blasted "political correctness gone mad" on Thursday after he was forced to resign due to protests about Irish jokes in the publication. Denis Lusby, editor of the community magazine which sells about 500 copies in the Cornish villages of Blisland and Saint Breward, quit after a complaint from the head of Cornwall's equality and diversity service, Ginny Harrison-White. Harrison-White wrote to local schools calling on them to urge Luby to remove the jokes as they used racist language or ridicule as defined in British anti-racism laws.
■ EGYPT
Editors sentenced
Four outspoken newspaper editors have been sentenced to a year in prison and fined for defaming President Hosni Mubarak and his son Gamal, who is widely expected to succeed him. A Cairo court yesterday allowed Ibrahim Issa, Adel Hammouda, Wael el-Ebrashi and Abdel-Halim Qandil to pay bail of 10,000 Egyptian pounds (US$1,770) each to stay out of jail pending an appeal. The four editors had benefited from a relative liberalization of the press in recent years, publishing often sensational and highly opinionated tabloid articles.
■ MALI
Rebels shoot US plane
Suspected rebels hit a US military plane with machine-gun fire as it flew food to Malian troops pinned down in a remote desert village on the Algerian border, according to US and Malian officials. No one was wounded and the aircraft landed safely despite suffering minor damage. The attack occurred on Tuesday night over Tin-Zawatine, said US Major Pam Cook, a spokeswoman for the US military command in Stuttgart, Germany, on Thursday. The aircraft had responded to a rare, one-time request for help from the government.
■ MEXICO
Kidnapped cop's head found
A policeman was kidnapped on Wednesday and decapitated by his captors, while his severed head was recovered on Thursday, police said. The policeman, Ignacio Soria, was snatched during a police operation to halt a shootout between rival gangs, in which two gang members were killed. His severed head was found at a highway crossing near the tourist town of Taxco along with a menacing letter threatening that others would "die the same way." The brutal slaying, in the southern state of Guerrero, comes after a period last year that was marked by a spate of similar decapitations.
■ VENEZUELA
Name proposal withdrawn
Officials withdrew a proposal to bar parents from giving their children names like Edigaith, Mileidy or Superman, the state-run news agency reported on Thursday. The National Electoral Council had proposed banning "names that expose [children] to ridicule, are extravagant or difficult to pronounce" or raise doubts about whether a child is a girl or a boy. The council also proposed to draw up a list of traditional names for parents to use "as a reference" when registering their children. But the clause prohibiting odd monikers was axed after child protection officials warned it could violate "the right to liberty," Electoral Council member Sandra Oblitas said.
■ UNITED STATES
Navajos win royalties suit
A federal appeals court handed the country's largest Indian reservation a victory in a long legal battle over claims that the government and a coal company conspired to cheat the Navajo Nation out of millions of dollars in royalties. The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled on Thursday that the federal government failed to uphold its trust duties to the Navajos. "After 14 years of litigation, it's extremely gratifying that a distinguished court of appeals has embraced the position that the Navajo Nation has taken and has ensured that trust responsibility is not simply a catch phrase, but it has some real meaning," said Paul Frye, an Albuquerque, New Mexico, lawyer who represented the tribe in the case.
■ CANADA
Bomb suspect arrested
Authorities have arrested a fourth suspect in connection with an online threat against Austria and Germany, officials said on Thursday. The arrest was made in the Mauricie region of Quebec on Wednesday, Austrian Interior Ministry spokesman Rudolf Gollia said. Royal Canadian Police Corporal Sylvain L'Heureux said Said Namouh, 35, was charged with "conspiring for the purpose of delivering, placing, discharging or detonating an explosive in a place outside Canada." L'Heureux said police didn't know where Nomouh and the other suspects planned on detonating the explosive, but said there was no direct threat and that no explosives were found.
■ SUDAN
Government backs ceasefire
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said yesterday his government was willing to observe a ceasefire in Darfur from the start of peace talks next month. "We have given our government's willingness for a ceasefire from the start of the peace talks," he said, speaking through a translator at a joint news conference with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi. Peace talks are due to start on Oct. 27 in Libya between Khartoum and rebel groups to end more than four years of violence in Darfur.
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
CANCER: Jose Mujica earned the moniker ‘world’s poorest president’ for giving away much of his salary and living a simple life on his farm, with his wife and dog Tributes poured in on Tuesday from across Latin America following the death of former Uruguayan president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics. He was 89. Mujica, who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity, lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi wrote on X. “Pepe, eternal,” a cyclist shouted out minutes later,
Myanmar’s junta chief met Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for the first time since seizing power, state media reported yesterday, the highest-level meeting with a key ally for the internationally sanctioned military leader. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing led a military coup in 2021, overthrowing Myanmar’s brief experiment with democracy and plunging the nation into civil war. In the four years since, his armed forces have battled dozens of ethnic armed groups and rebel militias — some with close links to China — opposed to its rule. The conflict has seen Min Aung Hlaing draw condemnation from rights groups and pursued by the
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