Sat, Jun 19, 2010 page4

• World News Quick Take

  • AGENCIES
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  ■AUSTRALIA

  Second teen charged

  A second Australian teenager was charged yesterday over the murder of Indian student Nitin Garg, the most serious in a wave of violent crimes that have strained ties with New Delhi. Garg, 21, was attacked as he walked through a parkland on his way to work at a Melbourne burger restaurant on Jan. 2. He managed to stagger to his workplace before collapsing and dying of stab wounds. Police said a 16-year-old boy had been charged with accessory to the killing, a day after another teenager aged 15 appeared in court charged with Garg’s murder. “A 16-year-old male from Yarraville has been charged with accessory to murder and has been bailed to appear at a Children’s Court at a date to be set,” police said. Garg’s murder came after a string of attacks on Indian nationals, who have arrived in increasing numbers, attracted by Australia’s burgeoning overseas education sector and the prospect of gaining a permanent visa. Australia and India both condemned Garg’s killing, with New Delhi describing it as a “heinous crime on humanity” and “an uncivilized brutal attack on innocent Indians”.

  ■AUSTRALIA

  Bubble gum blower jailed

  A man was jailed for 30 days for blowing a bubble in court, reports said yesterday. Mirza Zukanovic, 20, was facing an ­assault-related charge when he blew his gum into a bubble and popped it as he looked at Magistrate Rodney Crisp, News Limited newspapers said. Instead of demanding an apology or fine, an incensed Crisp issued a jail term and sent Zukanovic down to the cells for scandalizing the court and challenging its authority. He was later freed by Melbourne’s Supreme Court pending an appeal against the sentence, which his lawyer described as too harsh.

  ■INDONESIA

  Japanese couple murdered

  A retired Japanese teacher and his wife were allegedly stabbed to death in their home in Ciputat, southern Jakarta, by a disgruntled former domestic worker, police said yesterday. Yasuwo Hara, 69, was stabbed in the chest and his wife, Mizue, 67, in the neck and stomach around 9pm on Thursday, police said. Police arrested the couple’s recently sacked gardener, 22-year-old Asep, a spokesman said. Another suspect was also believed to have been arrested but this has not been confirmed. The killer reportedly snuck into the couple’s house through the garage and attacked them as they were eating dinner.

  ■MALAYSIA

  Anwar suffers trial setback

  Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim suffered another setback yesterday in his sodomy trial after the judge rejected his bid to obtain medical evidence he said was crucial to prove his innocence. The defense was seeking clinical notes, reports and specimens collected by three government doctors who examined Saiful Bukhari Azlan, a male former aid whose sodomy accusations have been dismissed by Anwar as a government plot to thwart his opposition movement. High Court Judge Mohamad Zabidin Mohamad Diah ruled there was no legal basis for the evidence, collected two days after the alleged act in June 2008, to be supplied to the defense, according to defense lawyer Sankara Nair.

  ■BANGLADESH

  Ruling party loses mayoralty

  A candidate backed by the main opposition party was elected mayor of the the port city of Chittagong yesterday, the first big setback for the ruling Awami League since it took power last year. Thursday’s voting was peaceful, but clashes erupted between supporters of the Awami League and the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) as votes were counted. At least 30 people were injured as the two sides accused each other of fraud and rigging. The Awami League, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and the BNP headed by former prime minister Khaleda Zia, are bitterly opposed to each other. National political parties do not usually take an active part in municipal elections, but both the Awami League and the BNP campaigned in the Chittagong election.

  ■JAPAN

  Asteroid pod in lab

  A space capsule thought to contain asteroid dust ended a multibillion-kilometer journey into deep space and back when it arrived yesterday at a research center outside Tokyo. The Hayabusa capsule — which parachuted into the Australian Outback on Sunday after a seven-year space odyssey — arrived at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Sagamihara Campus in Kanagawa, west of Tokyo, JAXA said. Scientists hope any dust samples from the ancient asteroid in the capsule could help reveal secrets about the origins of the solar system. They will however have to wait several weeks as the probe will remain sealed as it undergoes a battery of tests.

  
  

  ■VIETNAM

  Firing squads outlawed

  Lawmakers voted to end firing squad executions and instead use lethal injections. State media reported yesterday the change will take effect next year after Thursday’s vote by the National Assembly. Vietnam has numerous crimes that are punishable by death, ranging from economic fraud to drug trafficking. About 100 people are executed each year in Vietnam, many for drug-related crimes. A paper issued by the assembly’s standing committee said it was necessary to find a more humane method of carrying out executions. “Injection of poison to people being executed causes less pain and their bodies stay intact. It costs less and reduces psychological pressure on executors,” it said.

  
  

  ■SOUTH KOREA

  Jet crash kills pilots

  A jet fighter crashed into the sea during a training flight yesterday and its two pilots were killed, an air force spokesman said. The F-5 jet went down off the eastern coastal city of Gangneung as it was returning to base there following a training mission, the spokesman said. “The bodies of the pilots were recovered from the sea,” he said.

  ■UNITED STATES

  Singer hits lowest note

  It’s official: southern Illinois resident Roger Menees is the lowest of the low. The former gospel singer from Anna, Illinois, received a certificate this week from Guinness World Records saying he had sung the lowest note ever produced by a human voice, the Southern Illinoisan reported. Menees managed the feat on Feb. 11 at his Carbondale recording studio. He hit 0.393 hertz — a very low F sharp. The previous record was 0.797 hertz. But Menees said he could have done better and will probably make another attempt if his new record is bested anytime soon.

  ■UNITED STATES

  Gator captured barehanded

  Witnesses said a reptile wrangler used his bare hands to capture a 1.2m alligator that an alert dog noticed outside an Ohio business. Employee Jeff Colucy was in the parking lot of a Columbus company that makes office fixtures when the dog alerted him to on the alligator hunkered down in a puddle on Wednesday morning, the Columbus Dispatch reported. Police brought in reptile wrangler Chris Law, who captured the gator by grabbing its tail with his bare hands. He said he didn’t have his usual reptile rescue gear because he was about to leave on vacation. Law said people often buy alligators as pets, then dump them when they get too big.

  ■UNITED STATES

  Man ‘smuggles’ cash in can

  A California man charged in a US$100 million mortgage fraud is accused of trying to ship US$20,000 inside a Pringles potato chip canister. A federal grand jury in Sacramento on Thursday indicted 30-year-old Remy Heng of suburban Elk Grove for bulk cash smuggling. The US attorney said Heng was trying to send the money to Garret Gililland, a central figure in the investigation who fled to Spain in 2008. Authorities intercepted the can and Gililland was extradited to Sacramento in September, where he pleaded not guilty. Heng was one of eight associates indicted on Thursday. Reached by telephone, he said he knew nothing about the indictment.

  ■UNITED STATES

  Toddler dies in hot car

  Police said a one-year-old girl died after being left in a hot car in southern Texas for about 45 minutes. Kingsville Police Chief Ricardo Torres said the child’s mother had just returned home from picking up her children when she mistakenly left the toddler in the family car on Wednesday afternoon, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times reported. No charges have been filed, but the case has been turned over to prosecutors. The Times reported that the temperature at 5pm on Wednesday, when police were called, was 32.78ºC.

  ■UNITED STATES

  Tornadoes kill at least two

  Tornadoes ripped across Minnesota on Thursday, killing at least two people and injuring dozens more as homes were flattened, trees toppled and a gas station destroyed. Some of the hardest-hit areas were in the northwest part of the state, where both deaths were reported. Otter Tail County Emergency spokesman David Hauser said an elderly woman was killed when a tornado destroyed her home in Almora, a small town of about 20 people. At least three people were injured, he said. Brittney Schulke of Almora. In Mentor, a man was killed when a twister destroyed the Cenex gas station, the Polk County sheriff’s office said. Heavy damage was also reported in Wadena, a town of about 4,300, where a tornado was confirmed about 5pm, the National Weather Service said.

   
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