BANGLADESH
Zia to serve extra two years
A court yesterday sentenced former prime minister and opposition leader Khaleda Zia to seven years in prison for corruption, lawyers said, after she was jailed for five years in a separate case in February. The terms are to run concurrently, meaning she will spend an extra two years in jail. The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has been in disarray ahead of general elections set for December after Khaleda was jailed in February for stealing funds for an orphanage. Khaleda, 72, and three aides were yesterday convicted of misappropriation of 31.5 million takas (US$371,550) for a trust when she was last prime minister, from 2001 to 2006, state prosecutors said. Her party says the charges are part of a plot to keep her and her family out of politics.
GABON
Bongo in hospital for fatigue
President Ali Bongo Ondimba has been hospitalized in Saudi Arabia because of “severe fatigue” caused by a hectic work schedule, a spokesman said. Bongo, 59, has ruled OPEC’s second-smallest oil producer since winning disputed elections in 2009 that were held months after his father, Omar Bongo, died in office. Omar Bongo was the world’s longest-serving president at the time of his death. Ali Bongo fell ill last week during a visit to Riyadh, where he was attending the Future Investment Initiative Forum and was sent to the hospital on Wednesday last week, presidential spokesman Ike Ngouoni Aila Oyouomi said on Sunday. “Doctors have ordered the president to rest,” Ngouoni said in a video sent to reporters in the capital, Libreville. “He’s feeling better.” Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman visited Bongo in the hospital on Thursday to inquire about his health. The Gabonese presidency first declined to comment when Bongo failed to attend the forum, which led to rumors about his condition and whereabouts.
CHINA
Mining accident kills 21
Twenty-one miners have been confirmed dead in east China following a mining accident earlier this month that trapped 22 people, state media reported yesterday. The tunnel where the miners were working was blocked at both ends by coal after pressure caused rocks to fracture and break on Oct. 20, Xinhua news agency said. Only one miner has been rescued. Rescuers working to clear the tunnel recovered six bodies on Sunday and another two yesterday. The accident took place at a mine owned by Longyun Coal Mining Co in Yuncheng County, Shandong Province.
ALBANIA
Animals saved from ‘hell’
Police on Sunday broke open cages at a private zoo and removed 11 animals, including three lions and a bear, being kept in “hellish” conditions, animal welfare workers said. After the owner of the zoo at Fier, about 100km south of the capital, Tirana, allegedly refused to cooperate, officers forcibly entered areas where the animals were kept to allow vets access, an Agence France-Presse correspondent at the scene reported. The animals were then tranquillized to allow them to be safely transferred to Tirana zoo. “Living conditions for the animals in this zoo are absolutely horrible, it’s a hellish way of keeping animals,” Ioana Gabriela Dungler of Four Paws said. Owner Petrit Osmani, who has been running the zoo for about 15 years, strongly opposed the raid. “You don’t have the right! These animals are my children, you are taking away my children,” he protested, adding that he would lodge a complaint for violation of private property.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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