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.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
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