■ Homecoming marred
Celebrations marking the homecoming yesterday of the nation's first astronaut have been postponed because of the sudden death of his brother, officials and reports said. An official welcoming ceremony for Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, who has just completed an 11-day mission in space, will be postponed so he can attend his brother's funeral, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak was quoted by the Sunday Star as saying. Sheikh Mustapha, 32, died on Saturday without regaining consciousness from a coma six days after slipping and falling into a pillar in a restaurant, the newspaper said. Sheikh Muszaphar will be taken straight from the airport yesterday to southern Negeri Sembilan state for his brother's burial, Najib said in the report.
■ PHILIPPINES
Clan violence fuels conflict
Clan violence has aggravated the conflict between government forces and Islamic separatists in the south, making the decade-long search for peace there even harder, a new study says. The study by the Asia Foundation, released on Wednesday, said the peace process in Mindanao would have a better chance of succeeding if clan violence were addressed. The project's researchers, who included Islamic scholars and anthropologists, found that in Mindanao from the 1930s to 2005, there had been 1,266 cases of clan violence -- rido -- in which 5,500 people were killed and thousands were displaced. The government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front have been negotiating for peace since 1997. The study said half of the documented rido occurred between 2000 and 2004, when ceasefire between the government and the Islamic front was broken many times by rido.
■ SOUTH KOREA
Energy talks open today
The six nations involved in North Korean disarmament talks will this week resume negotiations on energy aid for Pyongyang in return for its promised nuclear shutdown, officials said yesterday. "We will discuss details to provide energy aid including heavy fuel oil and other materials and equipment to the North," a foreign ministry official said. The meeting is due to take place on today and tomorrow at Panmunjom.
■ AUSTRALIA
Military defends troops
An Australian Defense Force (ADF) spokesman said yesterday that its soldiers did not fight in a Dutch-led assault on Taliban fighters in Afghanistan in June because of concerns about rules of engagement. Some 52 civilians were reported to have died in the Chora Valley battle, prompting Afghan President Hamid Karzai to condemn the "indiscriminate and unprecise operations" of the foreign forces. "As the situation in the Chora Valley deteriorated ... ADF personnel ... became aware that Dutch procedures for this operation differed from Australian targeting procedures and expressed their concerns, including at senior levels," Brigadier Andrew Nikolic said.
■ CAMBODIA
Car with a history for sale
Car collectors with macabre tastes and at least US$71,800 have a chance to own a car reportedly used by Pol Pot, the late Khmer Rouge chief. "For sale -- one classic 1973 Mercedes Benz stretch limousine ... previously used by one infamous owner Pol Pot," reads a listing on the online auction site eBay. The car was reportedly bought by its current owner in 2001, who used it "for Sunday drives around Phnom Penh and the outskirts."
■ Royal target of blackmail
Police have arrested two men over an attempt to blackmail a member of the royal family with an alleged sex tape, a newspaper reported. The Sunday Times said the pair had approached the unnamed family member and demanded US$100,000 not to publicize a video allegedly showing the royal engaged in a sex act. The blackmailers also claimed to have evidence suggesting the royal had supplied an aide with cocaine, the newspaper said. It said it could not identify the royal for legal reasons.
■ DR CONGO
Leader calls for surrender
A senior militia leader called on Saturday on renegade general Laurent Nkunda to lay down his arms and give up his battle against the government. Kibamba Kaserka, leader of the local Mai Mai militia in the troubled eastern province of Nord-Kivu, gave himself up to the UN early on Saturday. In a press conference -- surrounded by around 20 of his own officers -- Kaserka called on the rebel Tutsi leader to follow his example and end his guerrilla war. "If he is truly Congolese, then he will quit the shrubland and obey the orders of the DRC armed forces," he said.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Brains worry ministry
The government is conducting a survey of its soldiers to determine if those exposed to powerful explosions in Iraq and Afghanistan have suffered mild brain injuries, the Ministry of Defense said on Saturday. The ministry said it has begun distributing questionnaires to troops to see if they have symptoms such as memory loss, depression and anxiety. The survey followed concerns within the US Army that up to 20 percent of returning soldiers were suffering from these conditions. The condition has been designated by the Pentagon as one of four "signature injuries" of the Iraq War, caused by roadside bombs.
■ SWITZERLAND
Activists turn to Sweden
Around 25 activists from the "Black Sheep" group invaded the garden of the Swedish ambassador in Bern on Friday, demanding political asylum in the wake of the victory by the far-right Swiss People's Party (SVP), the Swiss news agency ATS reported. The group's name refers to a controversial campaign poster used by the SVP during the election depicting three white sheep on a Swiss flag booting out a black sheep. The activists had a discussion with Swedish Ambassador Per Thoresson before leaving peacefully. The group said SVP opponents were being victimized, Thoresson said. But he said the ambassador only has power to grant political asylum during war.
■ ALGERIA
Fifteen militants killed
Government forces, stepping up attacks on al-Qaeda-aligned armed groups, killed 15 militants and captured seven in the past two days near the Tunisian border, newspapers reported on Saturday. They seized large quantities of ammunition and destroyed several hideouts in the operation in Tebessa Province, the government-owned El Moudjahid said, citing a security source. One army officer was killed in the offensive, which was launched by the army, police and municipal guards, the independent newspaper Liberte said. The rebel group may have had links to a failed assassination attempt on President Abdelaziz Bouteflika last month, the daily El Watan said.
■ Ford's Theater to get facelift
Officials at Ford's Theater plan to transform the site of president Abraham Lincoln's assassination into a six-building complex that will include multimedia educational displays designed to immerse visitors in 1860s Washington and the legacy of the 16th US president. Work on the renovations began in August, and the renovated performance space is scheduled to open in time for the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth on Feb. 12, 2009. The new education center will open later. A US$40 million fundraising campaign also will allow for more mundane improvements.
■ UNITED STATES
Schools to be disinfected
A Kentucky school district with one confirmed case of antibiotic-resistant staph infection plans to shut down all 23 of its schools today, affecting about 10,300 students, to disinfect the facilities. The project will involve disinfecting classrooms, restrooms, cafeterias, hallways, locker rooms, buses and even external areas such as playgrounds and sports fields, said Roger Wagner, superintendent of Pike County schools. "We're not closing schools because there's been a large number of breakouts, but as a preventive measure," Wagner said.
■ UNITED STATES
Obama and Cheney related
Vice President Dick Cheney on Friday played down the surprise revelation that he and "Cousin Barack" -- Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama -- share a family tree. Cheney told CNBC television that he had not discussed that bizarre political twist, first revealed earlier this month by the vice president's wife Lynne, with distant cousin Obama. "Apparently we do have a common ancestor about eight or nine generations back," Cheney said. Lynne Cheney had dropped the bombshell revelation two weeks ago, saying she had made the surprise discover while researching her new book, a memoir of growing up in Wyoming. Obama's spokesman Bill Burton had offered a tongue in cheek reply. "Every family has its black sheep," he said.
■ UNITED STATES
Army finds ruling unfair
Black soldiers court-martialed 63 years ago in the rioting death of an Italian prisoner of war at Fort Lawton were unfairly denied access to their attorneys and investigative records and should have their convictions overturned, the Army said. The ruling on Friday by the Army's Board of Corrections of Military Records applies to four soldiers who petitioned military investigators with the help of two congressmen, but could eventually cover two-dozen more soldiers found guilty of rioting over alleged resentment of Italian prisoners' living conditions on the post. Samuel Snow, 83, one of the petitioners who served a year in prison, said he was "elated" by the decision. The other petitioners are deceased.
■ YEMEN
Bomber's term commuted
Authorities have commuted to house arrest the prison term of a mastermind of al-Qaeda's 2000 bombing of a US Navy vessel after he surrendered to Yemeni authorities, his relatives said on Friday. Relatives said they were allowed to visit Jamal Badawi at his home in the southern port city of Aden while under police surveillance. Details of the decision to release Badawi from prison were not known. But a government official who asked not to be identified said the militant remained "under close scrutiny and control of the security forces."
Romania’s electoral commission on Saturday excluded a second far-right hopeful, Diana Sosoaca, from May’s presidential election, amid rising tension in the run-up to the May rerun of the poll. Earlier this month, Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau barred Calin Georgescu, an independent who was polling at about 40 percent ahead of the rerun election. Georgescu, a fierce EU and NATO critic, shot to prominence in November last year when he unexpectedly topped a first round of presidential voting. However, Romania’s constitutional court annulled the election after claims of Russian interference and a “massive” social media promotion in his favor. On Saturday, an electoral commission statement
Chinese authorities increased pressure on CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd over its plan to sell its Panama ports stake by sharing a second newspaper commentary attacking the deal. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office on Saturday reposted a commentary originally published in Ta Kung Pao, saying the planned sale of the ports by the Hong Kong company had triggered deep concerns among Chinese people and questioned whether the deal was harming China and aiding evil. “Why were so many important ports transferred to ill-intentioned US forces so easily? What kind of political calculations are hidden in the so-called commercial behavior on the
‘DOWNSIZE’: The Trump administration has initiated sweeping cuts to US government-funded media outlets in a move critics said could undermine the US’ global influence US President Donald Trump’s administration on Saturday began making deep cuts to Voice of America (VOA) and other government-run, pro-democracy programming, with the organization’s director saying all VOA employees have been put on leave. On Friday night, shortly after the US Congress passed its latest funding bill, Trump directed his administration to reduce the functions of several agencies to the minimum required by law. That included the US Agency for Global Media, which houses Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Asia and Radio Marti, which beams Spanish-language news into Cuba. On Saturday morning, Kari Lake, a former Arizona gubernatorial and US
Indonesia’s parliament yesterday amended a law to allow members of the military to hold more government roles, despite criticisms that it would expand the armed forces’ role in civilian affairs. The revision to the armed forces law, pushed mainly by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s coalition, was aimed at expanding the military’s role beyond defense in a country long influenced by its armed forces. The amendment has sparked fears of a return to the era of former Indonesian president Suharto, who ex-general Prabowo once served and who used military figures to crack down on dissent. “Now it’s the time for us to ask the
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