■CHINA
Sale sparks stampede
A sales promotion set off a stampede in Chongqing that left two people dead and 11 injured, Xinhua news agency said. Details of the Sunday sale were unclear, but Xinhua said the crowd was scrambling for giveaways during a promotion for a brand of Tibetan medicine. A spokeswoman for Chongqing’s Fuling District government said yesterday that said the company hosting the sale, Fuling Liaofeng Electronics Co, issued an apology.
■VIETNAM
Toddler escapes jaws
A mother narrowly rescued her year-old son from an attack by a crocodile that had escaped from a nearby farm, a police officer in the Mekong delta said yesterday. The woman was holding her son over a canal to relieve himself on Sunday when the 100kg crocodile leapt out of the water and snapped at the child’s foot. The mother managed to pull her son back and outrun the crocodile that pursued her onto land, the officer said. Four local men subdued the crocodile with ropes and sticks. “It is mating season, so the crocodile was more aggressive than usual,” the officer said.
■PHILIPPINES
Teen stabs six
Jonathan Tiplado, 17, was shot dead after stabbing six people inside a Manila police station, police said yesterday. He had been brought in for questioning over a stabbing late on Sunday. While being questioned he pulled out a knife that had been hidden in his underwear and began attacking people, police said. The injured included four teenagers, a community peace volunteer and a police officer.
■JAPAN
Activists appear in court
Two Greenpeace members appeared in court on charges of stealing whale meat, in what the environmental group said was a legitimate act to highlight corruption in Japan’s controversial whaling program. Junichi Sato, 32, and Toru Suzuki, 42, appeared in the district court in Aomori for a pre-trial hearing. They were arrested in June last year for allegedly stealing whale meat from a transport company in Aomori and held for 26 days. They face up to 10 years in jail if found guilty. Greenpeace says Sato and Suzuki took the meat to show it was being sold illegally and to highlight there is corruption in the Japanese whaling industry.
■AUSTRALIA
Whale rescue under way
Volunteers joined rescue workers yesterday in struggling to save the lives of 17 whales that survived a mass stranding on a beach in Hamelin Bay, south of Perth. Around 80 long-finned pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins were found beached. “When found this morning there were 25 whales alive, since then a further eight have died,” the Department of Environment and Conservation said in a statement.
About 100 people were working to stabilize the survivors while awaiting equipment to help return them to the sea.
■SOUTH KOREA
Ex-presidential aide arrested
A former aide to President Lee Myung-bak has been arrested in connection with a widening bribery investigation, an official said yesterday. Choo Boo-kil was taken into custody in Seoul for allegedly accepting up to 200 million won (US$140,000) in bribes from a businessman, a prosecution spokesman said. Choo, a former presidential secretary for public relations, is being investigated for purportedly using his connections with tax officials to help the businessman avoid an investigation.
■ITALY
Royal heir wins dance show
More than 60 years after Italy scrapped its royal family, the youngest heir to the defunct throne has been crowned king for a day after dancing the cha-cha-cha on the TV dance show, Strictly Come Dancing. Emanuele Filiberto, the grandson of the country’s last king, and Russian dancer Natalia Titova won the show’s final round on Saturday night with 75 percent of the phone-in vote. The 36-year-old said he entered the contest “with the aim of letting Italians get to know me,” and has hinted he may stand in European elections. Waving his enormous trophy on Saturday, Filiberto gave a speech worthy of the Oscars, saying: “The victory is above all for the Italians who discovered me.”
■ISRAEL
Prisoner swap talks not over
Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers both said on Sunday that talks aimed at freeing an Israeli soldier held nearly three years by Palestinian militants are not over, despite last week’s public breakdown of talks mediated by Egypt. Sergeant Gilad Schalit has been held by Hamas-linked militants since June 2006. Olmert spokesman Mark Regev said on Sunday the government was trying to reach a deal with Hamas. “The work is ongoing,” he said. He provided no further details. The head of Hamas’ government in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniyeh, also indicated a deal was still possible in an article in the Hamas newspaper al-Ray. “Our people are still trying to renew the Egyptian-sponsored negotiations in order to reach a respectable prisoner exchange,” he said.
■YEMEN
Spy sentenced to death
The state security court has issued a death sentence in the case of a Yemeni man found guilty of spying for Israel. Two other men received jail sentences of three and five years in the same case. Presiding judge Mouhssien Alwan said the court convicted the trio after it checked the evidence and found out that it was “clear enough to let the court have the degree of certainty to convict them.” The prosecution has charged the three young men with establishing contact with former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, offering to work as agents for the Mossad intelligence agency. The group’s leader, Bassam Abdullah al-Haidari, 26, received the death sentence.
■SOUTH AFRICA
Shark kills teenage surfer
A 16-year-old surfer died after being attacked by a shark, media reported yesterday. The youth was part of a group surfing in Port St Johns when the shark bit him in the leg and buttocks, the region’s newspaper, the Herald, reported. He managed to paddle to shore, where his instructor and a lifeguard pulled him to safety. He died later in the hospital from his injuries. The incident is the second of its kind along the Wild Coast in two months.
■ISRAEL
Second coalition deal struck
Prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu has reached a second coalition deal with the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, officials said yesterday. As part of the deal, the religious party will receive four portfolios in the new Cabinet, including interior, housing and religious affairs. The fourth minister from the party will be a minister without portfolio. The move brings Netanyahu, the leader of the Likud party, one step closer to forming a government following last week’s signing of a deal with the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Hundreds of people in rainbow colors gathered on Saturday in South Africa’s tourist magnet Cape Town to honor the world’s first openly gay imam, who was killed last month. Muhsin Hendricks, who ran a mosque for marginalized Muslims, was shot dead last month near the southern city of Gqeberha. “I was heartbroken. I think it’s sad especially how far we’ve come, considering how progressive South Africa has been,” attendee Keisha Jensen said. Led by motorcycle riders, the mostly young crowd walked through the streets of the coastal city, some waving placards emblazoned with Hendricks’s image and reading: “#JUSTICEFORMUHSIN.” No arrest
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