■ CHINA
Landslide death toll rises
The confirmed death toll in a landslide has risen to at least 34 after one more body was pulled from the debris, Xinhua news agency said yesterday. Most of the dead in the landslide late last month in mountainous Badong County in Hubei Province were in a bus that was crushed by rocks and other debris, Xinhua said. The latest confirmed victim was believed to be a migrant worker, Li Qingzhong, who was clearing water from the road by the entrance to a tunnel with three co-workers when the landslide occurred. Only one survived.
■ CHINA
Bicycle theft targeted
Beijing, where 4 million bicycles are stolen a year, is clamping down on bike thieves and trying to end the vicious cycle of the second-hand market months before it hosts the Olympics, state media said yesterday. China is home to a world-record 470 million bicycles. Starting at the weekend, new bicycles must have identification numbers and buyers must register using their real names, the China Daily said. "The registration of names, ID and phone numbers will make it easier for police to trace stolen bicycles and return them to their rightful owners," the newspaper said. Around 4,000 people have been caught stealing bicycles this year in Beijing.
■ SOUTH KOREA
Teen jumps to his death
A teenager has jumped to his death after sneaking into a US base in Seoul, police said yesterday. US troops found the body on Sunday beneath a communications tower on the roof of a building inside the small US base on Mount Namsan near the city center, police and US officials said. "His family confirmed the body was their mentally ill son, a teenager who had been temporarily released from hospital for a family visit," a detective at Seoul's Jungbu police station said. "We have concluded that he committed suicide."
■ BANGLADESH
Extortion trial begins
Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina went on trial yesterday accused of extortion, her lawyer said. Hasina was brought to the court from a makeshift jail in the Parliament complex amid tight security, her lawyer Mahbube Alam said. After hours of debate, Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Azizul Hoque fixed Monday next week for the next hearing on the charge that she and two relatives received kickbacks to let a businessman build a power plant, Alam said. In June, businessman Azam Chowdhury, managing director of Eastcoast Trading, filed a case accusing Hasina, her sister and their cousin, of taking money in return for allowing his company to set up a power plant.
■ NEW ZEALAND
Minister pleads not guilty
A Cabinet minister who punched a political opponent in the face in the parliament building pleaded not guilty to assault charges yesterday. Environment Minister Trevor Mallard earlier apologized to parliament and to opposition National Party Legislator Tau Henare, whom he punched on the jaw on Oct. 24 after Henare made comments about Mallard's personal life. Henare called "Shut up, Sharon" while Mallard was speaking -- in a reference to a woman wrongly linked with the minister by gossip columns. Although Henare said he would not press charges, accountant Graham McCready launched a private prosecution. Judge Thomas Broadmore scheduled the hearing for Dec. 18.
■ UNITED STATES
Storm system hits northeast
A storm system slid across the northeastern US with snow, sleet and freezing rain, glazing roads and tying up air travel after blacking out thousands of customers in the Midwest. At least 11 deaths have been blamed on weather-related traffic accidents. Winter storm warnings were in effect into yesterday in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine and into today in parts of New York state. On the other side of the weather system, warnings were issued for parts of Michigan, where freezing rain and sleet were turning to snow on Sunday.
■ UNITED STATES
Wedding ring saves life
Police say a Mississippi man's wedding band deflected a bullet and probably saved his life. Two men walked into Donnie Register's shop in Jackson on Saturday and asked to see a coin collection, police Sergeant Jeffery Scott said. When Register retrieved the collection, one of the men pulled a gun and demanded money. A shot was fired as Register threw up his left hand, and his wedding ring deflected the bullet, police said. "The bullet managed to go through two of his fingers without severing the bone," said his wife, Darlene.
■ UNITED STATES
Weapons take center stage
The evidence included Buffalo Bill's Winchester rifle, a pair of Colt six-shooters owned by General George Custer and Geronimo's bow and arrows when three antique gun enthusiasts went on trial yesterday on charges of bilking millionaire collector Owsley Brown Frazier. The Kentucky, philanthropist spent millions acquiring the antique arms and displaying them in a museum that he opened in 2004. But federal authorities say Frazier grossly overpaid for the weapons, thanks to an alleged scam hatched by the man he entrusted to find the famous firearms and run the museum. Prosecutors estimate that Michael Salisbury and his wife, Karen Salisbury, turned a profit of at least US$1.75 million from 1997 to 2002 by giving Frazier false appraisals. The grand jury also named R.L. Wilson, an authority on antique firearms, who appraised the weapons at inflated prices, federal officials 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
‘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
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
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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