AFGHANISTAN
Top policewoman killed
The top policewoman in Helmand Province died early yesterday after being shot by unknown attackers, months after her predecessor was also slain. Sub-Inspector Negar, who like many Afghans goes by one name, was buying grass for her lambs outside her home on Sunday when two gunmen drove up on a motorbike and fired at her, said Omar Zawak, a spokesman for the governor of Helmand Province. She suffered a bullet wound to the neck, and the attackers got away. Doctors tried to save her, but police spokesman Fareed Ahmad Obaidi said she died at 1am yesterday. Negar had taken over the duties of Islam Bibi, a well-known police officer who was shot dead in July by unknown gunmen.
CHINA
Appeal for virgins’ blood
A hospital’s request for blood from healthy female virgins for use in medical research has been condemned as insulting to women, state-run media reported yesterday. The Peking University Cancer Hospital said it needed the blood of 100 female virgins aged 18 to 24 for studies on the human papilloma virus (HPV), which is usually transmitted through sexual contact, the China Daily reported. Some Internet users condemned the request as promoting virginity worship and demeaning to women. The hospital defended the call for donors, saying virgins’ blood was less likely to be infected with HPV.
THAILAND
Former Malaysian rebel dies
Malaysia’s renowned former communist fighter Chin Peng, who led a guerrilla campaign against British colonial rule, died in exile in Bangkok yesterday, his military liaison said. The 89-year-old, who left Malaysia about five decades ago, had been hospitalized in Bangkok for several years. Born Ong Boon Hua in Malaysia’s north, Chin Peng was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire and won two medals for helping the British fight the Japanese in Malaya during World War II. He later led the communist party, backed by China, in a guerrilla campaign against the British colonial and Malaysian governments before and after independence in 1957. In 2009, Malaysia’s highest court rejected a bid for him to return.
NEW ZEALAND
Climbers fall to death
One Australian and one English climber have fallen to their deaths in the country, police confirmed yesterday. Police Inspector Dave Gaskin said the two incidents on consecutive days in the Aoraki-Mt Cook National Park were not related and were not due to bad weather. He said they come as a reminder that climbers need to use extreme caution. Duncan Rait, 36, died after slipping and falling about 60m from a ridge high on the Tasman Glacier on Friday. Englishman Robert Buckley, 31, fell about 700m on Saturday, while climbing to a small hut on Mount Sefton with three companions.
INDIA
Safe found in mountains
Workers clearing rubble in a flood-devastated town in the Himalayas have discovered 19 million rupees (US$303,000) in a safe that had been swept away by floodwaters, police said yesterday. The safe was found on Saturday near the ruins of a bank in the town of Kedarnath, which was flattened by flash floods in June, police Inspector General Ram Singh Meena said in Dehradun, capital of Uttarakhand State. He said the money belonged to the State Bank of India (SBI) and has been deposited in an SBI branch.
RWANDA
Parliamentary polls held
People were voting yesterday in parliamentary polls seen as a shoo-in for President Paul Kagame’s Rwandan Patriotic Front, the party that has held sway over the central African state since ending the genocide 20 years ago. About 6 million people are eligible to cast their ballots. Voting appeared calm yesterday.
GERMANY
Conservatives win in Bavaria
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative allies triumphed in Bavaria’s state election on Sunday, a week before the whole country votes, although a painful setback for her coalition partners added to uncertainty over the outcome of the national election. The Merkel-allied Christian Social Union won 47.7 percent of the vote. However, Merkel’s national governing partner, the Free Democrats, won only 3.3 percent of the vote on Sunday, losing more than its support and its seats in the legislature in Munich.
IRAQ
Bombs, shootings kill 36
A wave of car bombs and shootings across the country killed at least 36 people on Sunday, police sources said. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, which appeared coordinated. The deadliest attacks were in the city of Hilla, where two parked car bombs exploded simultaneously near a busy market and a third blew up near vehicle repair workshops, killing nine people.
SWITZERLAND
Murder suspect caught
A Swiss-French rapist suspected of killing his female therapist during a day release trip was on Sunday snared in Poland, after a four-day international manhunt in a case that rocked the country. Fabrice Anthamatten was arrested in the Polish-German border area, behind the wheel of the car in which he was believed to have fled the country on Thursday, the office said. Polish police spokesman Mariusz Sokolowski said the arrest was made by German officers in a cross-border pursuit near the northwestern Polish town of Police. Anthamatten is the prime suspect in the murder of prison therapist Adeline Morel. Her body was found near Geneva on Friday, a day after she and Anthamatten went missing during a trip to a horse-riding center that was part of therapy.
UNITED STATES
Police kill black crash victim
Police in Charlotte, North Carolina, shot dead an unarmed man who was running toward police officers and may have been just trying to get help after crashing his car, authorities said. A police officer has been charged with voluntary manslaughter for Saturday’s shooting, and an attorney for the victim’s family said on Sunday he believed race played a role in the death of Jonathan Ferrell, 24, who was black. Farrell, seeking help after the accident, knocked on a door in a predominantly white neighborhood, Chestnut said. A woman called the 911 emergency operator after Ferrell began knocking insistently on her front door.
UNITED STATES
New Miss America named
Nina Davuluri became the first contestant of Indian heritage and the second consecutive contestant from New York to win the Miss America pageant on Sunday night. Davuluri, 24, won the title as the nationally televised pageant returned home to Atlantic City. She succeeds another Miss New York, Mallory Hagan, whose tenure was cut short when the pageant moved back to Atlantic City after a six-year stint in Las Vegas.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
CONFLICTING REPORTS: Beijing said it was ‘not familiar with the matter’ when asked if Chinese jets were used in the conflict, after Pakistan’s foreign minister said they were The Pakistan Army yesterday said it shot down 25 Indian drones, a day after the worst violence between the nuclear-armed rivals in two decades. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to retaliate after India launched deadly missile strikes on Wednesday morning, escalating days of gunfire along their border. At least 45 deaths were reported from both sides following Wednesday’s violence, including children. Pakistan’s military said in a statement yesterday that it had “so far shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones” at multiple location across the country. “Last night, India showed another act of aggression by sending drones to multiple locations,” Pakistan military spokesman Ahmed
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