■ Australia
PM writes to jailed Corby
Australian Prime Minister John Howard has taken the unusual step of writing to convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby in an Indonesian prison to convince her that the government is taking an interest in her case. In a three-page letter dated July 9, Howard said while the government would endeavor to help Corby clear her name it could not force witnesses to give evidence on her behalf. Corby, 28, was sentenced to 20 years in jail in late May after being found with some 4.1kg of marijuana in her luggage. Bali's High Court has since agreed to reopen the case to hear new evidence from witnesses who could support Corby's claim that the drugs found in her possession were placed there by someone else. "I feel for you and your family at this very difficult time," Howard wrote. "Let me assure you that the Australian government will continue to provide every assistance it can under our legal system, consistent with our approach to date. Howard was responding to a note from Corby sent last week in which she asked him to aid her "in meeting any needs requested by my lawyers."
■ Kyrgystan
Voters back Bakiyev
Interim leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev has won a landslide 88 percent victory in Kyrgyzstan's presidential election, according to official preliminary results yesterday in a race where he was pitted against five relative unknowns. Bakiyev, 55, secured the huge win with some 98 percent of ballots counted. His widely expected victory allows him formally to replace Askar Akayev, who was ousted as the country's president earlier this year in a popular revolt. Turnout reached 74.6 percent, well above the required 50 percent.
■ Japan
Doctor hammers a gangster
A Tokyo doctor was arrested yesterday for allegedly cutting off the tip of a patient's finger in response to a gangster's request. According to Jiji Press, Kitae Shin, 50, at Kita-Shinjuku Medical Clinic in Tokyo, cut off the tip of Yasutomo Hayata's left pinkie with a hammer and a chisel after his gangster boss asked the doctor to do so. Hayata's gangster boss, Keishi Kakutani, apparently asked the doctor to cut off Hayata's finger as a token of apology after Hayata failed in his business in which the boss invested some of his money.
■ China
Skater jumps Great Wall
Californian skateboarder Danny Way jumped over a 18.6m gap in the Great Wall of China on Saturday, becoming the first person to clear the wall without motorized aid, his sponsor said. Way then jumped the wall three more times, taking off from a specially built ramp at the Ju Yong Guan Gate and adding 360-degree spins as spectators looked on. "I was aware of the dangers and my heart was pumping in my chest the whole time, but I managed to pull it off with the help of my team, and I'm honored to have my visions embraced by the people of China," Way said.
■ China
Mine blast kills 22
A gas explosion ripped through a mine in the Xinjiang region early yesterday, killing at least 22 workers and leaving some 60 missing, the government said. The blast occurred at 2:30am in the Shenlong Coal Mine, when about 87 miners were underground. Five people were rescued and three bodies have been recovered. An official from the provincial work safety bureau said, "The number of dead will definitely rise." China's coal mines are the world's deadliest, with explosions, floods and fires killing thousands of workers each year.
■ Hong Kong
Oldest priest breaks record
The world's oldest priest is about to gain a second world record after undergoing an operation to regain his sight, a media report said yesterday. Father Nicolaus Kao Se Tseien, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest Catholic priest, will be recognized shortly as the oldest man to have a cataract operation. Since regaining his sight after the operation in May, sprightly 108-year old Father Kao gleeful told the South China Morning Post: "My legs have not got enough strength to walk, but I can see clearly now. I can read the Bible and all the good books now. It is great." He told the female reporter interviewing him: "You are beautiful." Born in Fuzhou, on China's east coast on January 15, 1897, Father Kao said his tips for a long life were "don't smoke, eat less and exercise more."
■ New Zealand
`Deserters' honored at last
Five New Zealand soldiers who were pardoned five years ago after being executed for mutiny and desertion in the First World War are to get the posthumous medals due to them, the government announced yesterday. The five men of the First New Zealand Expeditionary Force were pardoned by an Act of Parliament in 2000 designed "to remove so far as practicable, the dishonor" that their execution brought to them and their families. Research had shown that they would have been eligible for the British War Medal, the Victory Medal and the New Zealand Certificate of Honor, Prime Minister Helen Clark announced. Descendants of the soldiers -- four executed and buried in France and one in Belgium -- will be presented with their medals later in the year.
■ Iraq
Iranian-American released
An aspiring Iranian-American filmmaker who was detained by the US military for nearly two months without being charged has been released, but won't be able to leave Iraq immediately because US officials told him his passport was destroyed in the course of testing its authenticity. Cyrus Kar, 44, of Los Angeles, was detained May 17 near Balad when potential bomb parts were found in a taxi in which he was riding. His family had filed a lawsuit accusing the federal government of violating his civil rights. In Los Angeles, family members said Kar told them the government destroyed his laptop computer, film equipment along with 20 hours of footage and his passport.
■ Netherlands
Van Gogh trial opens
The trial of Mohammed Bouyeri, a Moroccan Dutch national accused of the murder of controversial Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, opened yesterday before a high security court in Amsterdam. Bouyeri, whom prosecutors describe as a radical Islamist, is in court but his lawyer has said he does not want to be defended. The trial is expected to last two days.
■ France
Bus company sues carpool
A group of French cleaning ladies who organized a car-sharing scheme to get to work are being taken to court by a bus company which accuses them of "an act of unfair and parasitical competition." The women, who live in Moselle and work five days a week at EU offices in Luxembourg, are being taken to court by Transports Schiocchet Excursions (TSE), which wants the women to be fined and their cars confiscated. TSE is claiming their action has cost it 2 million euros (US$2.4 million). "Using our cars is quicker and at least twice as cheap. And on the bus we didn't have the right to eat or even to speak," said Martine Bourguignon. TSE is also suing the women's employer.
■ United Kingdom
Pygmies make best fathers
A man's nipples are perfectly suited to soothing a crying baby until it can be fed, according to a published report on fatherhood. The report in the Times names the Aka Pygmies, a hunter-gatherer tribe from the northern Congo, as the best fathers. When the mother is not available, the father calms his baby by giving him or her a nipple to suck. Aka Pygmy men do more in the way of childcare than fathers in any other society. Aka fathers may hold their baby close to their bodies for a couple of hours at a time. On average, Aka fathers hold or are within reach of their infants 47 percent of the time. They beat Swedish fathers, who are number one in the developed world, and who, on average, do 45 percent of parental childcare.
■ Namibia
War device counts elephants
Listening devices developed over three decades ago by the US to monitor enemy troop movements through Vietnam's jungle are being deployed to count elephants in Namibia's Etosha National Park. Researchers from Stanford University set up a test device called a geophone near a game path leading to a watering hole. The geophone is capable of tracking not only elephants, but also other large mammals, including giraffes and lions. Humans can also be monitored, conceivably helping to track poachers. The researchers achieved 82 percent accuracy in monitoring and counting elephants passing the geophone.
When Shanghai-based designer Guo Qingshan posted a vacation photo on Valentine’s Day and captioned it “Puppy Mountain,” it became a sensation in China and even created a tourist destination. Guo had gone on a hike while visiting his hometown of Yichang in central China’s Hubei Province late last month. When reviewing the photographs, he saw something he had not noticed before: A mountain shaped like a dog’s head rested on the ground next to the Yangtze River, its snout perched at the water’s edge. “It was so magical and cute. I was so excited and happy when I discovered it,” Guo said.
Chinese authorities said they began live-fire exercises in the Gulf of Tonkin on Monday, only days after Vietnam announced a new line marking what it considers its territory in the body of water between the nations. The Chinese Maritime Safety Administration said the exercises would be focused on the Beibu Gulf area, closer to the Chinese side of the Gulf of Tonkin, and would run until tomorrow evening. It gave no further details, but the drills follow an announcement last week by Vietnam establishing a baseline used to calculate the width of its territorial waters in the Gulf of Tonkin. State-run Vietnam News
TURNAROUND: The Liberal Party had trailed the Conservatives by a wide margin, but that was before Trump threatened to make Canada the US’ 51st state Canada’s ruling Liberals, who a few weeks ago looked certain to lose an election this year, are mounting a major comeback amid the threat of US tariffs and are tied with their rival Conservatives, according to three new polls. An Ipsos survey released late on Tuesday showed that the left-leaning Liberals have 38 percent public support and the official opposition center-right Conservatives have 36 percent. The Liberals have overturned a 26-point deficit in six weeks, and run advertisements comparing the Conservative leader to Trump. The Conservative strategy had long been to attack unpopular Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but last month he
Four decades after they were forced apart, US-raised Adamary Garcia and her birth mother on Saturday fell into each other’s arms at the airport in Santiago, Chile. Without speaking, they embraced tearfully: A rare reunification for one the thousands of Chileans taken from their mothers as babies and given up for adoption abroad. “The worst is over,” Edita Bizama, 64, said as she beheld her daughter for the first time since her birth 41 years ago. Garcia had flown to Santiago with four other women born in Chile and adopted in the US. Reports have estimated there were 20,000 such cases from 1950 to
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