HONG KONG
Canadians found dead
Two Canadian men were found dead in their room at a Kowloon hotel, with unidentified white powder discovered near the bodies, police said yesterday. Cleaning staff at the Metropark Hotel found the pair, aged 29 and 45, just after 3pm on Saturday afternoon, with one of the deceased in the washroom and another lying on a bed, a police spokeswoman said. Neither man has been identified and their cause of death will not be confirmed until autopsies are performed, she said.
MALDIVES
Opposition protest quashed
Police yesterday used tear gas and batons to break up a protest by opposition activists demanding President Mohammed Nasheed step down over the island nation’s worsening economic plight. Opposition spokesman Mohammed Shareef said dozens of people were injured at the early morning clashes that erupted after crowds gathered in the capital, Male, on Saturday. “The demonstration was crushed brutally,” Shareef said by telephone. “At least 30 of our supporters were arrested including a parliamentarian, and scores of women supporters.” Police spokesman Ahmed Shiyam said officers had used tear gas and batons in self--defence after coming under attack when trying to break up the protest, and that public property had been damaged.
MALAYSIA
‘Smooth’ thieves make haul
Police said yesterday they were investigating how “smooth criminals” walked off with more than 3 million ringgit (US$1 million) worth of diamond jewelry from a gem exhibition. District police chief Arjunaidi Mohamed said officers were probing the heist, which took place at the exhibition stand of famous local jeweler Habib at a suburban mall in Kuala Lampur on Friday night. Officials from the jewelry company said the robbers, three “foreign--looking men and a woman,” approached the stand at closing time when staff were busy packing the gems away for storage, according to the Star daily. “While some of the men distracted the staff by asking questions, their accomplice sneaked to the back and stole one bag filled with diamond-studded jewelry,” the official said.
CHINA
Slave drivers jailed
A court has jailed a couple for forcing a group of mentally challenged people to work like slaves at a factory in Xinjiang, Xinhua news agency said in a report seen yesterday. The Tuokexun County court sentenced Li Xinglin (李興林) to four-and-a-half years in prison on Saturday on charges of violating the labor law, Xinhua said. His wife, Li Yunhua (李雲華), was given a two-year jail sentence suspended for three years. The two were fined 50,000 yuan (US$7,690) each. The Lis were convicted of forcing 18 mentally handicapped people to work long hours without pay at their factory, which makes construction materials, since 2006, Xinhua said. The defendants restricted the workers’ freedom and beat them.
PHILIPPINES
Gunman kills mayor
A gunman has killed the mayor of a central city, as the victim and others bowed their heads in prayer before a public dance to celebrate an annual fiesta. President Benigno Aquino III said one other official was hit and wounded during the attack late on Saturday on Calbayog Mayor Reynaldo Uy in Samar Province’s Hinabangan Township. Aquino broke the news of the killing of Uy, his political ally, during a May Day speech before trade union leaders yesterday.
CUBA
World Tai Chi day marked
It was World Tai Chi day on Saturday, and in old Havana’s San Francisco Plaza, more than 200 Cubans of all ages, dressed in white, green, blue, red, yellow and black, showed off their skill in the ancient martial art-turned exercise. There are more than 5,000 Tai Chi practitioners nationwide, as well as a Cuban School of Wushu, established in 1995 in located in Havana’s Chinatown district, said the school’s director, Roberto Vargas Li. There are about 200 older Cubans who have reached a high level of Tai Chi mastery, and often act as instructors, he said.
RUSSIA
May Day celebrated
Pro-Kremlin parties and trade unions brought thousands of people onto the streets in May Day demonstrations yesterday. Crowds waving balloons and blue or red flags gathered in cities from the Pacific port of Vladivostok to Moscow in carefully choreographed rallies reminiscent of the Soviet era. Opposition parties of all hues have said they would hold their own rallies to protest against the policies of the Kremlin.
? ISRAEL
Tax transfers halted
Jerusalem has suspended tax transfers to the Palestinians in response to President Mahmoud Abbas’ bid to forge an alliance with rival Hamas Islamists opposed to peace talks, a newspaper said yesterday. Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz canceled the latest routine handover of 300 million shekels (US$88 million) in customs and other levies collected on behalf of the Palestinians, the Yedioth Ahronoth daily said. A spokeswoman for Steinitz said she could not immediately confirm the Yedioth report, which said Israeli officials would also cancel talks with the Abbas administration aimed at updating the tax transfer mechanism which provides it with US$1 billion to US$1.4 billion annually.
UNITED STATES
Funeral trumped wedding
Almost 23 million of the nation’s TV viewers tuned in to watch live coverage of Prince William’s marriage to Kate Middleton on Friday despite the wedding taking place before dawn in much of the country. However, Nielsen ratings data released on Saturday show the TV viewing interest in the British royal nuptials in London was far below that of Diana, Princess of Wales’ funeral in 1997. Nielsen said 22.7 million of the nation’s viewers watched live coverage of the royal wedding on 11 networks — out of a population of about 310 million people. In comparison, 33.2 million watch Diana’s funeral in London in September 1997. The Nielsen figures did not cover the millions more who watched on smaller networks or online.
MEXICO
Police find hidden arsenal
Federal police said on Saturday they discovered a basement arsenal hidden behind the mirrors of a home gym that included three anti-aircraft guns, dozens of grenades, a grenade launcher, AK-47s and other high-powered weapons. The neatly ordered stockpile found in an upscale neighborhood in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, also contained several makes of machine guns, rifles, a shotgun and more than 26,000 ammunition cartridges, according to Raul Avila Ibarra, the federal police commissioner in charge of the city. Police say they discovered the weapons on Friday while searching a house near the US border. Avila said the police acted on an anonymous tip that there were kidnapping victims in the house, but no one was found.
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
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
‘BODIES EVERYWHERE’: The incident occurred at a Filipino festival celebrating an anti-colonial leader, with the driver described as a ‘lone suspect’ known to police Canadian police arrested a man on Saturday after a car plowed into a street party in the western Canadian city of Vancouver, killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8pm in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election. A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police wrote on X. The driver was a “lone suspect” known to police, a police spokesperson told journalists at the
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition
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