■MYANMAR
Officials sentenced to death
Two officials have been sentenced to death for leaking information in a case reportedly involving secret contact between the ruling junta and North Korea, official sources said yesterday. “Two officials got the death sentence and another one was jailed for 15 years for leaking information. They were sentenced at the special court in Insein Prison on Thursday,” one source said on condition of anonymity. The two men sentenced to death were Win Naing Kyaw and Thura Kyaw, while the jailed man was Pyan Sein, the sources said, without giving further details.
■AUSTRALIA
Uluru climbing to continue
Tourists can carry on climbing Uluru, the massive rock in the heart of Australia’s central red desert, after the Australian government yesterday ruled out banning the popular ascent, for now. Every year about 350,000 people, half from overseas, visit Uluru — previously known as Ayers Rock — with 100,000 choosing to climb the 348m rock, which is sacred to the local Aboriginal people. However, the board of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park last year called for a ban on climbing the world heritage-listed rock out of respect for the indigenous owners. They also voiced safety fears and concerns about visitors littering and using the monolith as a toilet. The proposed ban caused an uproar in the tourism sector. A new management plan prepared by the board and approved by Environment Minister Peter Garrett yesterday ruled out banning the climb for now, but left it open to be closed at a later date.
■AUSTRALIA
Indian cartoon sparks anger
The government and police yestreday angrily criticized a cartoon in an Indian newspaper that depicted police as racist Ku Klux Klan members following the fatal stabbing of an Indian student. A cartoon in the Delhi Mail Today portrayed a person in a white Ku Klux Klan hood and wearing a Victoria state police badge against a black background and the words: “We are yet to ascertain the nature of the crime.” Accounting graduate Nitin Garg, 21, originally from the state of Punjab in northern India, was stabbed to death last Saturday night on his way to a job at a fast food outlet in Melbourne. “To say that our detectives are going slow on this, or for some reason trying to protect somebody, is incredibly offensive and wrong,” said Greg Davies, secretary of the Victoria Police Association, the police officers’ union. Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the police were doing an outstanding job investigating Garg’s murder and a series of attacks on Indian students in Melbourne and Sydney.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Quadriplegic sails solo
A disabled Briton became the first quadriplegic man to sail across the Atlantic without sailing help on Thursday, arriving in the Caribbean after a grueling 28-day journey, his spokeswoman said. Geoff Holt, 42, made the 4,300km journey in a specially designed boat without help with sailing although he did have a cameraman and personal assistant on board. “The arrival has been everything I expected and more,” Holt said as he sailed into Tortola. “The welcoming committee has been amazing, I am surrounded by the flotilla of boats and yachts that have all come out to meet me. It’s emotional and I have a tear in my eye as I near the finish line.”
■SPAIN
Activist blasts Copenhagen
The head of Greenpeace Spain, freed from 20 days in Danish custody along with three others, on Thursday accused authorities in Copenhagen of making them “pay” for the failure of the climate summit. Juan Lopez de Uralde and Norwegian Nora Christiansen fooled security staff at the Danish parliament in Copenhagen by arriving at a Dec. 17 gala dinner in a limousine and evening attire. There, they unfurled banners reading “Politicians Talk, Leaders Act” at the entrance. Lopez de Uralde denounced their treatment in prison, telling Spanish National Radio: “We did not expect to get off scot-free ... We were taking a risk. What was completely disproportionate was the 20 days in isolation in prison, without knowing the extent of the charges against us, without speaking to anyone.”
■MOROCCO
Jihad plotters jailed
Fourteen members of an Islamist radical group seeking to spread jihad to Spain’s Andalusia region were jailed on Thursday for plotting attacks against Moroccan targets, state news agency MAP said. A criminal court in Sale, the twin city of Rabat, sentenced Rachid Zerbani, the leader of the Fath al Andalus (Andalusia Conquest) group to 15 years in prison, the agency said, quoting a court statement. The 13 other members received sentences of between four and 10 years for charges that included stockpiling explosives for attacks on state targets, collecting money to buy weapons and undermining state security and public order.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Temperatures fall further
Parts of the UK were colder than European ski resorts on Wednesday night as temperatures matched their lowest levels so far this winter. While temperatures in Benson, Oxfordshire, and Woodford, Greater Manchester, reached minus 18ºC, the popular ski destinations of Davos in Switzerland and St Anton in Austria saw temperatures of minus 12ºC and minus 8ºC respectively. A low of minus 18ºC was recorded earlier this winter — in Braemar, Aberdeenshire, on Dec. 29. MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said it could get even colder, with the temperature in parts of Scotland expected to fall below minus 20ºC last night.
■IRAN
Banned Web sites listed
Local judicial authorities have published a long list of banned Internet Web sites in a new crackdown on online networks, including those deemed immoral, the press reported on Thursday. They said the list, drawn up by a “committee of experts,” bans any site that contains pornography, prostitution, sexual deviation or anything considered to be “contrary to the morals of society” or “hostile to government officials and institutions.” Violators could be jailed for several years, newspapers said.
■CANADA
Judge throws out lawsuit
A paternity suit launched by a woman seeking millions of dollars from Keanu Reeves was thrown out of court on Thursday. Karen Sala claimed she had a sexual relationship with Reeves during and after her marriage and that they lived together. Reeves vehemently denies ever having met the woman. Sala was seeking C$3 million (US$2.8 million) a month in spousal support, retroactive to November 2006. She also wanted C$150,000 a month in child support, going back to June 1988. A judge in Ontario dismissed the case, however, saying Sala’s allegations were “so incredible” that no reasonable judge would accept them. She said Reeves grew up down the street from her and she had known him since she was four or five. She did not connect him to the actor until much later because she knew him by the name Marty Spencer, she said.
■UNITED STATES
Arrest in toxic cocktail case
A western New York woman is accused of mixing up a batch of antifreeze-laced margaritas for her live-in boyfriend, who died four days after drinking the toxic cocktail. State police arrested 51-year-old Cynthia Galens of Farmington on Wednesday and charged her with second-degree murder in the death of 47-year-old Thomas Stack. On Oct. 3, medics summoned to the couple’s home took an unresponsive Stack to hospital, where he died. An autopsy listed the cause of death as “complications of ethylene glycol intoxication,” referring to the active ingredient in automotive antifreeze. Troopers said they were tipped off this week that Galens was involved.
■CANADA
Ministry probes allegations
Authorities are investigating the possible abuse of five Canadians detained in Mexico since Dec. 31 for unknown reasons, an official at Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday. “The government of Canada takes all allegations of mistreatment of its citizen very seriously,” Nathalie Sarafian, spokeswoman for Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon, said in an email. Canadian embassy officials in Mexico have visited the five men on two occasions, she said. The detainees’ identity and the reason for their arrest have not been released because of privacy laws, Sarafian said.
■UNITED STATES
Unruly passenger arrested
Authorities arrested an unruly passenger minutes before takeoff on an airplane bound from Miami to Detroit, after the man shouted that he wanted to “kill all the Jews,” police said on Thursday. Mansor Mohammed Asad, 43, was removed from the Northwest Airlines flight late on Wednesday at the Miami International Airport and charged with disorderly conduct and other offenses, police said. “He is in jail in Miami and facing several charges for threats, disorderly conduct and resisting his arrest without violence. He will be prosecuted,” Miami-Dade police spokeswoman Veronica Ferguson said.
■MEXICO
Gay marriage law appeal
Christian groups on Thursday said they had asked Mexico’s attorney general to overturn a newly-passed Mexico City law allowing gay marriage and the possibility of adoption because it was “unconstitutional.” The capital’s legislature approved gay marriage on Dec. 21 in the first such law passed anywhere in Latin America. The Contraternice group of Evangelical churches and the College of Catholic Lawyers believe the new law is unconstitutional, a statement said.
Eleven people, including a former minister, were arrested in Serbia on Friday over a train station disaster in which 16 people died. The concrete canopy of the newly renovated station in the northern city of Novi Sad collapsed on Nov. 1, 2024 in a disaster widely blamed on corruption and poor oversight. It sparked a wave of student-led protests and led to the resignation of then-Serbian prime minister Milos Vucevic and the fall of his government. The public prosecutor’s office in Novi Sad opened an investigation into the accident and deaths. In February, the public prosecutor’s office for organized crime opened another probe into
RISING RACISM: A Japanese group called on China to assure safety in the country, while the Chinese embassy in Tokyo urged action against a ‘surge in xenophobia’ A Japanese woman living in China was attacked and injured by a man in a subway station in Suzhou, China, Japanese media said, hours after two Chinese men were seriously injured in violence in Tokyo. The attacks on Thursday raised concern about xenophobic sentiment in China and Japan that have been blamed for assaults in both countries. It was the third attack involving Japanese living in China since last year. In the two previous cases in China, Chinese authorities have insisted they were isolated incidents. Japanese broadcaster NHK did not identify the woman injured in Suzhou by name, but, citing the Japanese
YELLOW SHIRTS: Many protesters were associated with pro-royalist groups that had previously supported the ouster of Paetongtarn’s father, Thaksin, in 2006 Protesters rallied on Saturday in the Thai capital to demand the resignation of court-suspended Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and in support of the armed forces following a violent border dispute with Cambodia that killed more than three dozen people and displaced more than 260,000. Gathered at Bangkok’s Victory Monument despite soaring temperatures, many sang patriotic songs and listened to speeches denouncing Paetongtarn and her father, former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and voiced their backing of the country’s army, which has always retained substantial power in the Southeast Asian country. Police said there were about 2,000 protesters by mid-afternoon, although
MOGAMI-CLASS FRIGATES: The deal is a ‘big step toward elevating national security cooperation with Australia, which is our special strategic partner,’ a Japanese official said Australia is to upgrade its navy with 11 Mogami-class frigates built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles said yesterday. Billed as Japan’s biggest defense export deal since World War II, Australia is to pay US$6 billion over the next 10 years to acquire the fleet of stealth frigates. Australia is in the midst of a major military restructure, bolstering its navy with long-range firepower in an effort to deter China. It is striving to expand its fleet of major warships from 11 to 26 over the next decade. “This is clearly the biggest defense-industry agreement that has ever
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