NEPAL
Tibetan monk immolates
A Tibetan monk yesterday set himself on fire near the Boudhanath temple in Kathmandu in what is believed to be the latest protest against Chinese rule over Tibet. He was taken to the Tribhuwan University hospital in critical condition with much of his body burned, officials said.
CHINA
Heat foils death scam
A soft drinks vendor’s plan to fake his own death failed when he could not play dead long enough in scorching heat, Xinhua news agency reported on Monday. More than 10 men claimed the vendor had been beaten to death in Wuhan by chengguan, who are tasked with enforcing non-criminal regulations. A crowd of more than 300 people soon gathered, demanding tens of thousands of yuan in compensation while the vendor, surnamed Han, lay on a stretcher covered by a sheet, the report said. However, Han suddenly jumped up, took a drink from a bottle of water, and said: “It’s too hot. I can’t bear it anymore,” Xinhua reported. Han and two others have been detained for disturbing public order, it said.
SOUTH KOREA
Media baron arrested
Police have arrested the chairman of one of the nation’s major newspapers on charges of embezzling millions of dollars. Chang Jae-ku, owner of the Hankook Ilbo group, which includes several dailies, magazines and a cable channel, was arrested on Monday night. Chang, 65, is accused of embezzling company funds worth 13 billion won (US$11.6 million) for his personal use and causing the group a further financial loss of 30 billion won by offering business benefits to his creditors.
AUSTRALIA
Lawmaker apologizes
A Queensland state lawmaker accused of sending raunchy pictures of himself to a woman stepped down as the head of an ethics committee yesterday, apologizing to his family and dubbing the scandal indefensible. The allegations against Peter Dowling emerged after the Courier-Mail reported yesterday that a woman claiming to be Dowling’s mistress sent a letter detailing their two-and-a-half-year affair to the speaker of the state parliament. The newspaper said it had seen several explicit text messages between Dowling and the woman, including a picture of a penis resting in a glass of wine.
PHILIPPINES
Dutch activist ‘deported’
The government yesterday said it was deporting a Dutch activist who was photographed confronting a police officer during a rally last month denouncing the policies of President Benigno Aquino III. A deportation order was issued against Thomas van Beersum for violating conditions of his tourist visa, said Wilson Soluren, head of Manila airport’s immigration intelligence unit. Van Beersum was prevented from boarding a flight home yesterday morning because officials needed to verify if any court cases were pending against him, Soluren said. He was later booked on the next available flight. Rey Cortez, the activist’s lawyer, said officials just wanted to harass his client by requiring him to obtain a “clearance” to leave.
INDIA
Kashmir post attacked
Minister of Defence A.K. Antony yesterday said a militant attack on an army post in Kashmir killed five soldiers. “The ambush was carried out by approximately 20 heavily armed terrorists along with others dressed in Pakistani Army uniforms,” Antony said. Pakistan has denied involvement.
CANADA
Escaped python kills two
A python escaped from its enclosure at a pet store in Campbellton, New Brunswick, slithered through a ventilation system into an upstairs apartment and killed two young boys as they slept, police said on Monday. The brothers, aged five and seven, were visiting the apartment of a friend above Reptile Ocean, an exotic pet store, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Constable Julie Rogers-Marsh said. The snake was captured and is in the possession of police, Rogers-Marsh said.
SOMALIA
Puntland cuts central ties
The semi-autonomous Puntland region said on Monday it had cut all ties with the central government. Puntland accused the Mogadishu government of refusing to share power and foreign aid with the regions in line with the country’s federal structure, as well as taking its eye off the fight against al-Qaeda-linked Islamist militants. It said it would only resume normal relations with Mogadishu when the central government respected the country’s federal structure. There was no immediate response from the federal government.
PARAGUAY
Hundreds dig for gold
They appeared out of nowhere, making a mess, operating without a permit and disrupting the soccer season by luring gawkers, but who can resist 10 tonnes of buried gold? That is what a team of 20 men say they have been digging for since Friday in the middle of an Asuncion suburb. Alberto Diaz, the leader of the bunch, says he has historical references suggesting the alleged gold trove belonged to Francisco Solano Lopez — a military hero who died in a 19th century war against Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. However, the digging has started causing landslides and water is gushing at the dig site. The Environmental Protection Agency said on Monday the team was digging without a permit.
UNITED STATES
Gunman kills three at meet
A gunman opened fire at a small town meeting on Monday in Pennsylvania, killing at least three people, police said. Three others were wounded in the attack, and the gunman was also injured and receiving medical care, the local NBC affiliate reporter. The meeting of town supervisors in Ross Township, Monroe County, was scheduled to begin at 7pm. Just 23 minutes later, emergency calls started coming in, the broadcaster said. The Pocono Record local paper reported that an official had tackled the shooter and shot him with his own weapon.
FRANCE
Lloyd’s offers reward
Insurers Lloyd’s of London yesterday offered up to 1 million euros (US$1.3m) for information leading to the recovery of jewels stolen from a Cannes hotel last month worth an estimated 103 million euros. On July 28, an armed man pulled off a brazen heist in broad daylight at the luxury Carlton Hotel. Brandishing a semi-automatic pistol, the robber stole jewels that were part of an exhibition by a group owned by Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev.
BRAZIL
Rio police head fired
Colonel Erir da Costa Filho, head of the military police in Rio de Janeiro, has been forced from his job after he decreed an amnesty for police officers who committed undefined “administrative” infractions since 2011. Jose Beltrame, Rio’s top security official, fired Costa after publicly questioning his amnesty decree and demanding explanations for what infractions were forgiven.
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki yesterday erupted again with giant ash and smoke plumes after forcing evacuations of villages and flight cancelations, including to and from the resort island of Bali. Several eruptions sent ash up to 5km into the sky on Tuesday evening to yesterday afternoon. An eruption on Tuesday afternoon sent thick, gray clouds 10km into the sky that expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud visible as much as 150km kilometers away. The eruption alert was raised on Tuesday to the highest level and the danger zone where people are recommended to leave was expanded to 8km from the crater. Officers also
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image
ESPIONAGE: The British government’s decision on the proposed embassy hinges on the security of underground data cables, a former diplomat has said A US intervention over China’s proposed new embassy in London has thrown a potential resolution “up in the air,” campaigners have said, amid concerns over the site’s proximity to a sensitive hub of critical communication cables. The furor over a new “super-embassy” on the edge of London’s financial district was reignited last week when the White House said it was “deeply concerned” over potential Chinese access to “the sensitive communications of one of our closest allies.” The Dutch parliament has also raised concerns about Beijing’s ideal location of Royal Mint Court, on the edge of the City of London, which has so
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