INDONESIA
Man dies in tiger attack
A rare Sumatran tiger attacked and killed a farmer in Aceh Province at the northern tip of the island of Sumatra, an official said on Tuesday. The big cat mauled the 25-year-old man in South Aceh district, local subdistrict chief Erwiandi said. “The victim, Martunis, was working at a chili plantation at Mount Serindit on Monday. He failed to return home that day,” Erwiandi said. “The bones of his body and arms were found this morning along with tiger’s body hair. The remaining parts are only the head, legs and feet.”
CAMBODIA
Landmine deaths continue
Landmines left over from decades of civil war are still killing people on a weekly basis, new figures showed on Tuesday. In the first eight months of this year, 45 people died because of landmines or other ordnance, according to CMVIS, a data collection body set up by the Cambodian Red Cross and Handicap International. Another 162 people were injured between January and August of this year, 37 of whom had to have limbs amputated. The figures are slightly higher compared with the same period last year, when 186 casualties were recorded overall. “Cambodia still has a big problem with ERW [explosive remnants of war],” CMVIS project manager Chhiv Lim said. The countryside is still littered with unexploded ordnance, which explains why most of the victims are farmers, Chhiv Lim said. The total number of mine/ERW casualties recorded from 1979 to August this year stands at 63,727, CMVIS said.
PHILIPPINES
No golf for police: chief
Philippine National Police Director General Raul Bacalzo yesterday blasted senior officers for skipping work to play golf, saying this only added to the already dismal reputation of the force. Bacalzo said he has banned police from the greens except on weekends as he tries to rebuild the force’s reputation after a bungled hostage rescue in August that left eight Hong Kong tourists dead. “I have observed that some [police] personnel take the liberty of leaving their respective offices at any time of the day to play golf, to the detriment of their duties and responsibilities,” he said in a statement. “This does not bode well [for] our effort towards genuine transformation and does not contribute to building a positive image.” Bacalzo said he acknowledged the benefits of golf as physical exercise for his officers, but warned it must not be at the expense of their responsibilities.
NEW ZEALAND
Jetstar clerk charged
An airport worker has been charged with assault for allegedly attacking a radio host after an argument at a check-in counter, police said yesterday. The 27-year-old man, who budget carrier Jetstar confirmed was working as a contractor for the airline, is due in court tomorrow on charges arising from the incident at Auckland airport last weekend, a police spokeswoman said. Disc jockey Iain Stables told the Dominion Post that he was three minutes late for a Jetstar flight to Wellington and asked check-in staff to exercise some discretion, prompting the clerk to swear at him. Stables said when he responded by telling the clerk “[you’re] a loser and you work for a loser airline,” the man punched him in the head, then vaulted the counter to continue the assault, kicking him repeatedly. Stables said he needed hospital treatment for concussion, cuts and bruises after the alleged attack and intended to file a civil suit against Jetstar. He denied claims he had thrown something at the clerk.
AUSTRALIA
Penis ‘purifier’ convicted
A woman was convicted of manslaughter in Sydney yesterday after burning her abusive husband to death during an attempt to set fire to his penis. Rajini Narayan, 46, said she set out to “purify” her husband’s genitals, but threw gasoline on his back and set it alight when he sneered at her plan and called her a “fat, dumb bitch.” “He was my hero, the man of my life, the love of my life,” she told the Adelaide court earlier. “I was going to purify his penis, leave a mark there and he would remain with me. He would be mine.” Narayan had told a neighbor she wanted to disfigure her husband’s penis so no other woman would want him, suspecting him of having an affair, prosecutors said. Her husband, Satish Narayan, 47, died with burns to 75 percent of his body several weeks after the incident in December 2008, which also set fire to the family home.
AUSTRIA
Patient loses wrong leg
Two doctors have been charged with bodily injury caused by negligence, after a 90-year-old woman had her wrong leg amputated over the summer, prosecutors in Innsbruck announced on Tuesday. The operating surgeon and a second doctor, who allegedly made the mistake when planning the operation, are expected to go on trial next month. The now 91-year-old woman, who suffered from vascular disease, had gone into hospital in the Tyrolean town of Sankt Johann on June 16 to have a leg amputated. After the procedure, however, the doctors realized they had removed the wrong limb. The hospital said human error as well as a breakdown in safety measures were to blame for the mistake, and the surgeon who handled the procedure was suspended after 25 years on the job. The woman finally had the correct limb amputated in a second operation a few days later.
MALAYSIA
Party slams Adam Lambert
US performer Adam Lambert is “morally unfit” to perform in the country and poses a threat to young people, the opposition Islamic party said yesterday, vowing to protest his performance. Lambert, who shot to fame in the American Idol contest, is openly gay and has created controversy with his performances, including at the American Music Awards, where he simulated a sex act on stage and kissed a male keyboard player. Local authorities have given the green light to Lambert’s show today in Kuala Lumpur, part of his Glam Nation tour, despite objections from the conservative Pan--Malaysia Islamic Party (PAS). “Lambert is morally unfit. His gay lifestyle will harm our society. He is of bad, bad character and poses a danger to young Malaysians,” PAS youth chief Nasrudin Hassan said.
UNITED STATES
Woman naturalized at 101
A Texas woman marked the 101st anniversary of her arrival in the US as a -Mexican-born infant by finally becoming a citizen of her adopted homeland. Eulalia Garcia-Maturey took the oath of allegiance on Tuesday from a federal magistrate in Brownsville during a special naturalization ceremony administered by US Citizenship and Immigration Services. The agency says Garcia-Maturey was born in Mexico on Feb. 12, 1909, and arrived in Brownsville with her parents on Oct. 12, 1909. She has lived there ever since, raising two children. Her family says part of the reason Garcia-Maturey waited so long to take the oath was her husband, who died in 1982, didn’t want her to.
‘EYE FOR AN EYE’: Two of the men were shot by a male relative of the victims, whose families turned down the opportunity to offer them amnesty, the Supreme Court said Four men were yesterday publicly executed in Afghanistan, the Supreme Court said, the highest number of executions to be carried out in one day since the Taliban’s return to power. The executions in three separate provinces brought to 10 the number of men publicly put to death since 2021, according to an Agence France-Presse tally. Public executions were common during the Taliban’s first rule from 1996 to 2001, with most of them carried out publicly in sports stadiums. Two men were shot around six or seven times by a male relative of the victims in front of spectators in Qala-i-Naw, the center
Incumbent Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa on Sunday claimed a runaway victory in the nation’s presidential election, after voters endorsed the young leader’s “iron fist” approach to rampant cartel violence. With more than 90 percent of the votes counted, the National Election Council said Noboa had an unassailable 12-point lead over his leftist rival Luisa Gonzalez. Official results showed Noboa with 56 percent of the vote, against Gonzalez’s 44 percent — a far bigger winning margin than expected after a virtual tie in the first round. Speaking to jubilant supporters in his hometown of Olon, the 37-year-old president claimed a “historic victory.” “A huge hug
Two Belgian teenagers on Tuesday were charged with wildlife piracy after they were found with thousands of ants packed in test tubes in what Kenyan authorities said was part of a trend in trafficking smaller and lesser-known species. Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, two 19-year-olds who were arrested on April 5 with 5,000 ants at a guest house, appeared distraught during their appearance before a magistrate in Nairobi and were comforted in the courtroom by relatives. They told the magistrate that they were collecting the ants for fun and did not know that it was illegal. In a separate criminal case, Kenyan Dennis
The US will help bolster the Philippines’ arsenal and step up joint military exercises, Manila’s defense chief said, as tensions between Washington and China escalate. The longtime US ally is expecting a sustained US$500 million in annual defense funding from Washington through 2029 to boost its military capabilities and deter China’s “aggression” in the region, Philippine Secretary of Defense Gilberto Teodoro said in an interview in Manila on Thursday. “It is a no-brainer for anybody, because of the aggressive behavior of China,” Teodoro said on close military ties with the US under President Donald Trump. “The efforts for deterrence, for joint resilience
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