PHILIPPINES
Eighth hostage killed
An eighth person from the Philippines has been confirmed killed in last week’s siege by Islamic militants of a remote natural gas plant in Algeria, the government said yesterday. The eighth fatality is male, foreign department spokesman Raul Hernandez said, without naming the victim. “His body was positively identified by our team in Algeria. We still have one unaccounted for,” Hernandez said. The government has said 12 other workers survived the 72-hour hostage drama in the north African desert, including four still recovering from their wounds at an Algiers hospital.
CHINA
More sex-tryst officials fired
A scandal involving city officials having sex with women hired by developers who secretly videotaped the trysts to extort construction deals has expanded, with state media saying 10 more officials were fired. The first high-profile case broke in November last year when video clips of a 50-something official in the southwestern city of Chongqing in the throes of passion went viral online. Images of Lei Zhengfu’s (雷政富) jowly, pop-eyed face became a target of derision and disgust over government corruption. Lei was fired from his position as Communist Party head of a district in Chongqing after the video was released by a former journalist. State media said yesterday that 10 more district and county-level officials in Chongqing’s government, Communist Party departments and state-owned enterprises have been fired as a result of the investigation.
AUSTRALIA
Man survives raft crossing
A Polish man was lucky to be alive yesterday after sailing from Papua New Guinea to a north Australian island on a raft made of twigs and sticks, through crocodile and shark-infested waters and during a cyclone. The man was found washed up in mangroves on Saibai Island in the Torres Strait, a treacherous stretch of water that lies between the two countries. What made his survival even more miraculous was that he attempted the trip in the aftermath of Cyclone Oswald, with 1.5m swells and high winds, rescue authorities said. “It is the first time I have heard of someone trying to cross the Torres Strait in a raft in the middle of a cyclone,” Australian Maritime Safety Authority spokeswoman Jo Meehan said, adding that the flimsy raft was held together with string. “It is not something we would recommend. Navigation in the area is challenging for normal vessels, it is quite treacherous with reefs and rocks, and he did it in high winds and high seas. He is very lucky to have made it.” Australian immigration authorities said they were waiting to interview the man and it was not clear whether he was carrying a passport.
UNITED STATES
Hacker spokesman charged
Criminal charges continue to mount against a Texas man who has described himself as a spokesman for the hacker-activist group Anonymous. A two-count federal indictment returned yesterday in Dallas charges Barrett Brown with concealing evidence by hiding two laptop computers from authorities. The 31-year-old defendant was a de facto spokesman for Anonymous, willing to speak for a movement that prides itself on anonymity. The latest indictment alleges that he concealed the laptops from authorities at the home of an associate identified only as “KM.” The indictment does not detail what was on the laptops. He already is accused of stealing data from the Austin-based private intelligence firm Stratfor and threatening an FBI agent on the Internet. A message to Brown’s attorney, Doug Morris, was not returned.
UNITED STATES
‘Star Wars’ picks director
Sci-fi and action filmmaker J.J. Abrams has been tapped to direct a seventh Star Wars movie expected to be released by Disney in 2015, Variety magazine reported on Thursday. After purchasing Star Wars creator George Lucas’ Lucasfilm for US$4 billion in October, Disney announced it was planning a new trilogy in the wildly popular sci-fi saga, which has raked in an estimated US$4.4 billion since 1977. Variety said Disney was close to finalizing the deal with the 46-year-old Abrams, the co-creator of the popular television series Lost, who is currently finishing work on Star Trek Into Darkness. Abrams, who also writes and produces, directed Mission: Impossible III (2006), Star Trek (2009) and Super 8 (2011). Lucas — who created the saga and directed four of the six films to date — will serve as a creative consultant for the three new films, which are expected to come out every two to three years.
RUSSIA
Equipment failure blamed
Investigators say equipment failure caused a Russian plane to crash in Moscow last month, killing five people. The Russian-made Tupolev Tu-204 belonging to Red Wings airline careered off the runway at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport, rolled across a snowy field and slammed into the slope of a nearby highway, breaking into pieces and catching fire. The crash killed five of the eight crew members aboard the jet, which was returning to Moscow from the Czech Republic with no passengers on board. The Moscow-based Interstate Aviation Committee said on Thursday that the crash occurred because thrust reversers on the plane’s engines failed, even though the crew repeatedly tried to activate them. Panels on the plane’s wings designed to rise while landing and slow the aircraft down also failed to work.
AFGHANISTAN
Car bomb kills four
A suicide car bomber attacked a NATO convoy in Kapisa Province yesterday, killing at least four civilians, officials said. “There was an insurgent attack on an ISAF convoy in Tagab District with a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device,” a spokesman for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force said. “Current reporting is that there were no ISAF fatalities or injuries. However, several Afghan civilians were killed.” Kapisa Provincial Governor General Mehrabuddin Safi said “four civilians are dead and several others are wounded.” A spokesman for Taliban insurgents Zabihullah Mujahid said in a text message to Agence France-Presse that 12 US troops had been killed and wounded. The Taliban regularly exaggerate their battlefield actions.
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
CANCER: Jose Mujica earned the moniker ‘world’s poorest president’ for giving away much of his salary and living a simple life on his farm, with his wife and dog Tributes poured in on Tuesday from across Latin America following the death of former Uruguayan president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics. He was 89. Mujica, who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity, lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi wrote on X. “Pepe, eternal,” a cyclist shouted out minutes later,
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