Fri, Apr 18, 2014 page7

• World News Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  AUSTRALIA

  AC/DC lose guitarist, play on

  Pre-eminent hard rock band AC/DC announced yesterday they will carry on making music without ailing rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young. “After 40 years of life dedicated to AC/DC, guitarist and founding member Malcolm Young is taking a break from the band due to ill health,” the group said on their Web site, without disclosing the nature of his illness. “Malcolm would like to thank the group’s diehard legions of fans worldwide for their never-ending love and support.” The statement added: “The band will continue to make music.” Formed in Australia in 1973 by Malcolm and brother Angus Young, AC/DC is famed for rock anthems Let There Be Rock and Highway to Hell. Fairfax Media reported that Malcolm Young, aged 61, was unlikely to play again and that he could be moved to respite care. The band appealed for Young’s privacy to be respected and the Web site was full of comments and prayers for the guitarist and his family. “If you return we will be here waiting,” one message signed “xo” said.

  CHINA

  Railway worker arrested

  A passenger train derailment in China that injured 15 people and made national headlines was caused by a “disgruntled” worker, state-run media reported yesterday. Wu Zhenjin (吳振金), a worker at Harbin Railway Station Heilongjiang Province, was arrested in connection with Sunday’s incident, the Global Times said, citing a China Business Morning Post report. Wu, who led a railway maintenance team, allegedly disconnected 12m of the track, possibly out of anger at being passed over for a promotion, the newspaper said. Investigators believe the perpetrator would have needed professional tools to cut the track, the report said, adding that Wu had exhibited “abnormal behavior” after the incident. The derailment did not cause any fatalities.

  SRI LANKA

  President seeks macaw help

  Four macaws belonging to President Mahinda Rajapakse have escaped his tightly guarded official residence in Colombo, his office said on Wednesday as it appealed for help to trace the colorful long-tailed birds. “The president is very fond of these birds,” an official in his office said, adding that he also cared for other species at the colonial-era residence in the capital. The macaws went missing from their aviary during the traditional New Year holidays this week. Rajapakse’s office released photos of three of them on Wednesday and appealed for help to find them. Macaws — a species of parrot — are not indigenous to Sri Lanka, but several pet stores import them from South America.

  JAPAN

  Hologram, Gaga to perform

  Hatsune Miku, a computer-generated pop star who performs as a hologram, is to support some of Lady Gaga’s tour of North America next month, the US songstress has announced on Twitter. The pixel-perfect pop princess, whose voice is also the product of digital code, is to perform in 3D alongside a band made of real musicians at shows starting in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 6. “My favourite digital pop star Hatsune Miku is opening The ARTPOP Ball from May 6-June 3!” @ladygaga said on Twitter. The collaborative brainchild of software developers, a manga comic artist and a vast digital fan community, the virtual singer has become one of the hottest stars on the J-pop scene in the past few years. The programmers who created Miku are vague about her persona, but very specific about her stats — the teenage pop queen is 1.58m tall and weighs a dainty 42kg.

  ARGENTINA

  Girl saved from abuse hell

  A 15-year-old girl has been rescued in Buenos Aires after being nearly starved and beaten in a garage by her adoptive family for nine years, a court source said on Wednesday. Weighing just 20kg, the malnourished girl was hospitalized after she was found when her biological sister — who had lost track of the 15-year-old, but then found her — reported the suspected abuse to police. The girl said she was only fed bread and water, and got beaten if she ate leftover dog food or monkey kibble thrown to the animals inhabiting the same space where she was kept, the source said. Her adoptive parents have been arrested on charges of “reducing a person to slavery, inflicting severe injuries and illegal detention,” the source added. The girl said she had been out of the garage only twice in the past nine years. She was given to her alleged abusers by her biological family because they said they could not take care of her as they had seven more children. The couple took her in legally in 2001, had provisional parental rights and were awaiting final adoption. The source said the two practice San La Muerte, a folk cult in which people appeal for favors by making offerings. It was not immediately clear if the suspected abuse was linked to their practices.

  UNITED STATES

  Firetruck collision hurts 14

  At least five firefighters are among 14 people who were injured when two firetrucks collided in a Los Angeles suburb on Wednesday, sending one careening across a sidewalk and into a restaurant. Officials say one of the victims is in critical condition. The crash in Monterey Park left one truck embedded in the restaurant, with rubble scattered across the sidewalk. Monterey Park Fire Chief Jim Birrell said trucks from the city and neighboring Alhambra were responding to a house fire shortly after 3pm when they slammed into each other. One truck then plowed into the restaurant. Nine victims were taken to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, including the five firefighters and the critically injured victim. An investigation is underway to identify the cause of the crash.

  UNITED STATES

  Boy found in crane machine

  Authorities say a toddler has been reunited with his mother after employees found him playing inside a claw crane machine at a bowling alley in Lincoln, Nebraska. Local police say a 24-year-old woman called them on Monday afternoon because her three-year-old son was missing from her apartment. At the same time, employees at the bowling alley across the street from her residence called police to say a small boy was playing with stuffed animals inside the coin-operated machine. It was unclear how he got there. A representative from the vending machine company let him out and he was reunited with his mother a short time later. Police say the mother was not cited because she reported her son as missing promptly and there were no signs of neglect.

  MEXICO

  Troops free captive migrants

  Troops have freed 179 undocumented Central American migrants bound for the US, prosecutors said on Wednesday. Soldiers discovered the migrants in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas in April, the Tamaulipas State Prosecutor’s Office said. Five people handling the migrants, who were from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua, have been arrested, an official at the office told reporters. Migrants passing through Tamaulipas are often abducted by the Golfo drug cartel and robbed, subjected to extortion, rape and other abuses.
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