■ Floods kill 18 people
Flooding in central Vietnam killed at least 18 people this week, while rivers in the area have increased to an alarming level for the third time in a month, officials said yesterday. The official death toll rose from 13 on Friday, with most the victims perishing in strong currents of streams and rivers. The dead came from Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Ngai, Quang Nam, Quang Binh and Quang Tri provinces. Four people remained missing, a report from the national flood and storm control committee in Hanoi said. Soldiers have been mobilized in Thua Thien Hue Province to help restore damaged houses, schools and medical clinics, it said.
■ bangladesh
Mayor arrested for extortion
Police have arrested Khulna City Mayor Sheikh Tayebur Rahman on extortion charges after he allegedly demanded thousands of dollars from a staffer in return for a promotion, an official said yesterday. Dhaka police official Abdul Mottalib said Rahman was arrested after a suspended Khulna city official, M. Hafizur Rahman, filed a case against the mayor, claiming he took 250,000 takas (US$3,620) from him after threatening to prevent his promotion unless he handed over the money. Mottalib said investigators were questioning the mayor.
■ australia
Rescue dog recovering
An Australian sheepdog that saved its owner from a huge and deadly snake was expected to make a full recovery from a poisonous bite the serpent inflicted, a veterinarian said on Friday. Tess the kelpie was close to death after attacking the 2m eastern brown snake as it chased her owner Fay Palethorpe on her property on Queensland's Gold Coast last Sunday. Palethorpe, 68, and her two other dogs survived the incident unscathed, but Tess was bitten on the ear and was bleeding internally by the time she was taken to a veterinarian and given an urgent dose of antivenene. A spokeswoman for the Tugun Veterinary Surgery said the dog was expected to return home yesterday.
■ india
Ex-official faces drug probe
A former Indian foreign minister has been accused of illegal drug possession after he allegedly offered guests milk laced with opium, a traditional drink in the country's north, the lawyer who filed the complaint said. Jaswant Singh has denied the charges and will face a special court hearing to determine whether authorities will order an inquiry into the incident. The accusations were filed on Friday by Om Prakash Bishnoi, a resident of Jodhpur in the northern state of Rajasthan, said his lawyer, Malam Singh Choudhry. The incident took place on Wednesday when Singh welcomed a group of politicians to his ancestral village. Singh said the drink was made of tea and unrefined sugar and did not include opium.
■ india
Court approves divorce
A district court has granted a man permission to divorce his HIV-positive wife on the grounds that he could no longer enjoy sex with her, a report said on Friday. Judge Rajnish Bhatnagar ruled in favor of the unnamed husband, saying "marriage without sex is anathema," the Hindustan Times said. "The disease being sexually communicable, the petitioner cannot be reasonably expected to live with her and lead a happy married life," Bhatnagar was quoted as saying. The Delhi district court also held the petitioner's wife guilty of not disclosing her HIV-positive state before marriage.
■ Priest destroys painting
A French priest went on trial Friday for destroying a fresco in his village chapel on the grounds it depicted Saint Luke as an ox with testicles. The fresco, which is in Saint Etienne du Gres, depicted Mark as a lion, John as an eagle, Luke as an ox and Matthew as an angel. Parish priest Michel Cicculo took offense at painter Jacques Descordes' depiction of the bull's testicles, and of the angel as a woman with small, nude breasts, and in February last year he destroyed the entire work with a rock hammer. Cicculo faces two years in jail and a 30,000 euro (US$43,000) fine.
■ FRANCE
Illegal immigrants caught
Thirty illegal Indian immigrants traveling in "inhuman conditions" were stopped while crossing the French Alps in a small truck, border police said Friday. "They were packed together, standing up, in inhuman conditions in an area of less than six square meters," they said. The illegal immigrants -- aged between 16 and 30 -- were discovered on Wednesday near Mont Blanc during a routine check, they said. They were mostly from the northern Indian state of Punjab. Each of them paid about 10,000 euros (US$14,500) to be transported to Belgium from Rome, where they landed with fake visas.
■ DUBAI
Al-Qaeda claims new group
Al-Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri said a Libyan group had joined the militant organization and he urged mujahidin in North Africa to topple the leaders of Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. "Today, with grace from God, the Muslim nation witnesses a blessed step ... honorable members of the fighting Islamic group in Libya announce that they are joining the al-Qaeda group to continue the march of their brothers," said Zawahri in a recording posted on Saturday. "O nation of jihad, support your sons so that we defeat our enemies and rid our homeland of their slaves."
■ MOROCCO
Government recalls envoy
Morocco announced the indefinite recall of its ambassador from Spain on Friday after what it called a ``regrettable'' plan by the Spanish king and queen to visit two Spanish enclaves in North Africa that are claimed by Morocco. The visit next week by King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia will be their first to Ceuta and Melilla, enclaves on Morocco's northern coast. Spain insists the cities are as Spanish as Madrid or Barcelona. Morocco calls them ``occupied'' territory. They have been Spanish for more than 400 years. Morocco's claim to them is a consistent sore spot in bilateral relations.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Mother burns wrong body
A mother cremated a body she thought was that of her dead son, only for him to turn up alive later, police said on Friday. Gina Partington's 37-year-old son Thomas Dennison was reported missing last month and a body was found in Rusholme, Manchester, three days later. Partington, from Urmston, formally identified the body as that of her son and it was cremated on Oct. 30. But police had found Dennison living on the street in Nottingham four days earlier. Authorities are investigating why Partington was not told of her son's discovery in the days before she attended the cremation, and inquiries are continuing to establish the identity of the body.
■ Kids' invention foils bullies
Bully-proof underwear earned eight-year-old twin boys a spot on Friday on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Using rigged boxers and fabric fasteners to hold together some seams, Jared and Justin Serovich came up with the "Rip Away 1000," a pair of underwear that cannot be jerked up to give its wearer a painful "wedgie." "When the person tries to grab you -- like the bully or the person tries to give you a wedgie -- they just rip away," Justin explained on Thursday by phone from Los Angeles, where the TV segment was taped on Wednesday.
■ UNITED STATES
Two NY police arrested
Two New York City police officers were arrested on Friday on charges that they drove a 14-year-old boy who had been throwing eggs at cars on Halloween to a remote area on Staten Island and left him there. The officers, Richard Danese and Thomas Elliassen, said they saw the boy, Rayshawn Moreno, tossing the eggs about 8pm on Wednesday, the police said. But instead of writing the boy a summons, they drove him 3km away, made him take off his shirt and shoes and then drove off, the police said. Rayshawn walked to a shopping area, where he called his aunt.
■ UNITED STATES
Baby dies while left alone
A babysitter in North Plainfield, New Jersey, who the police say left a six-month-old boy unattended, which resulted in his death, was charged on Friday with endangering the welfare of a child. The babysitter, Demelin Castillo, 24, was arrested on Thursday. Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne Forrest said that the police answered a 911 call from Castillo's home on Thursday. The baby was found unresponsive, lying face down on a futon on the floor and wearing a jacket that would have constricted his movement. Castillo had left the baby unattended for an extended period of time, the authorities said.
■ UNITED STATES
Gunman gets life in prison
A gunman who told emergency dispatchers to "follow the screams" before wounding seven in a 2005 mall shooting rampage was sentenced to more than 160 years in prison. Dominick Maldonado, 22, was convicted on Oct. 2 of 15 charges, including attempted murder, assault and kidnapping. He was sentenced on Friday to just over 163 years in prison, prosecutor Phil Sorensen said. Four people were taken hostage during the Nov. 20, 2005, shooting spree that lasted for several hours at the Tacoma Mall in Tacoma, Washington. The most seriously wounded victim was left partially paralyzed. Maldonado said he owed victims and others at the mall that day an apology.
■ UNITED STATES
Baby snakes not allowed
A 21-year-old man who police say picked up a package of venomous baby timber rattlesnakes at the post office and took it home on a city bus is facing charges. Dustin Draper of Muncie, Indiana, faces preliminary charges of possession of an endangered species and transportation of a dangerous reptile without a permit. Postal inspectors told the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and county police about the shipment of rattlesnakes. Officials were waiting for Draper when he got off the bus near his apartment on Thursday. The DNR said Draper is a known broker of venomous snakes. He was arrested last year on charges of trying to sell an undercover conservation officer a rattlesnake.
HOLLYWOOD IN TURMOIL: Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton and Cary Elwes lost properties to the flames, while awards events planned for this week have been delayed Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events, while at least five people have died. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week’s Oscar nominations have been delayed, while tens of thousands of city residents had been displaced and were awaiting word on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city’s most famous denizens. More than 1,900 structures had been destroyed and the number was expected to increase. More than 130,000 people
Some things might go without saying, but just in case... Belgium’s food agency issued a public health warning as the festive season wrapped up on Tuesday: Do not eat your Christmas tree. The unusual message came after the city of Ghent, an environmentalist stronghold in the country’s East Flanders region, raised eyebrows by posting tips for recycling the conifers on the dinner table. Pointing with enthusiasm to examples from Scandinavia, the town Web site suggested needles could be stripped, blanched and dried — for use in making flavored butter, for instance. Asked what they thought of the idea, the reply
US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen on Monday met virtually with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) and raised concerns about “malicious cyber activity” carried out by Chinese state-sponsored actors, the US Department of the Treasury said in a statement. The department last month reported that an unspecified number of its computers had been compromised by Chinese hackers in what it called a “major incident” following a breach at contractor BeyondTrust, which provides cybersecurity services. US Congressional aides said no date had been set yet for a requested briefing on the breach, the latest in a serious of cyberattacks
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
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