■ New Zealand
Chinese murder trial set
Two Chinese nationals charged with the murder of a Chinese student whose body was found in a suitcase floating on Auckland's main harbor in mid-April are to face trial later this year. The Auckland District Court, during a depositions hearing yesterday, ordered Li Zheng, 21, and Yin Lianda, 21, to stand trial over the kidnap and murder of Wan Biao after their lawyers agreed there was enough evidence for a trial. They were remanded in police custody to reappear in the High Court in Auckland on Oct. 25. A depositions hearing for two other accused, Cui Xiangxin, 21, and Wang Yuxi, 21, was expected to conclude today. Cui and Wang are charged with kidnap and being accessories to Wan's murder.
■ Malaysia
Boy taken by crocodile
A crocodile snatched an 11-year-old boy as he swam in a river on Borneo, and a search party of 200 people later failed to find any sign of him, a newspaper report and an official said yesterday. Mohamad Azwan Hatta took a break on Sunday afternoon from studying for a school exam and went swimming with a friend in the Sarawak River near Bako Ulu village -- in the interior of eastern Sarawak state -- when he was grabbed by the crocodile, the New Straits Times reported. "It was as fast as lightning," the friend, Sulaiman Sakini, 15, was quoted as saying. "The crocodile, as big as a boat that carries 30 people, just snatched Mohamad Azwan and pushed me aside." A police spokesman in the state capital, Kuching, said that search parties comprising villagers, firefighters and police officers continued to comb the river and its banks.
■ Thailand
Insurgency toll tops 1,700
The death toll from a two-year Muslim insurgency in the south has risen to over 1,700, with bomb attacks steadily increasing over the past few months, a professor who tracks the violence said yesterday. At least 1,730 people have been killed since violence flared in January 2004, and 2,510 injured, said Srisomphop Chitpiromsri, a political science professor at Prince of Songkhla University in the southern province of Pattani, who heads a research team that tallies the attacks. Until now, the death toll had been cited at more than 1,500, with most of the fatalities in Thailand's three Muslim-dominated provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani.
■ South Korea
Fountain of youth funded
The government is funding the search for the fountain of youth. The Science and Technology Ministry will provide 20 billion won (US$20.9 million) to scientists over the next nine years for research to develop technologies to help people avoid the effects of aging. The main areas for the work will be how to improve cardiovascular fitness, prevent diabetes and other aging-related diseases and prevent oxidation-reduction reaction in cells, the main cause of aging, a ministry official in charge of the project said yesterday. "This project is aimed at helping people live long, healthy lives," the official said on condition of anonymity, citing policy.
■ South Korea
Talks held over island row
South Korea and Japan held talks yesterday to take the steam out of a simmering dispute over desolate islands claimed by both countries. Tensions have flared in the past year and a half over the islands, called Tokto in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan, which lie about the same distance from the two Asian neighbors. Plans by Japan to conduct a maritime survey near the islands in April led South Korea to dispatch about 20 coastguard vessels to head off the survey ship. The two-day talks in Seoul will address claims for economic exclusion zones around the islands, sitting among rich fishing grounds and above what South Korea says could be billions of dollars' worth of gas hydrate deposits, officials said.
■ Malaysia
Troops may help stem crime
Malaysia may deploy reserve troops to help police turn back a wave of violent street crime, a newspaper said yesterday, quoting a government minister. Crime has raced to the top of the political agenda as thieves on motorcycles terrorize streets in the capital and other cities, grabbing pedestrians' bags as they speed past, and pulling victims to the ground so hard that some are killed. Deputy Home Affairs Minister Tan Chai Ho is considering deploying the volunteer Territorial Army to help police patrol the streets, the Star said.
■ India
Seminary warns on song
A top Islamic seminary in India urged Muslim parents not to send their children to school on Thursday, the centenary of the adoption of the country's national song, which exhorts people to bow to the motherland -- an act forbidden by Islam. Officials at the Dar-ul Uloom seminary in the northern Indian town of Deoband said Sunday they were not handing down any fatwa, or order, because the issue has already created a controversy, pitting Hindu and Muslim groups against each other. The controversy erupted after the federal government ordered that the first two verses of Vande Mataram be sung at all schools.
■ United Kingdom
New words enter lexicon
Bird flu, blogosphere, Islamaphobe and MP3 player have made it into the latest Chambers Dictionary, the august work of record used by crossword fans and Scrabble players the world over. At 1,800 pages of dictionary text -- 1,872 with supplements -- and about 270,000 definitions of approximately 150,000 words, the new edition out next month updates its predecessor from 2003. But billing the 500 or so words as new is something of a misnomer: they have all been more or less common currency for the last three years or more. For example, "Sex up" -- "to make more interesting or attractive" -- emerged from Britain's exaggerated claims about former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's supposed weapons capability to justify military action in 2003.
■ Germany
War wounds still hurt
Speaker of parliament Norbert Lammert has sent a letter to Marek Jurek, his Polish counterpart, to protest Warsaw's response to a controversial exhibition in Berlin, the top-selling tabloid Bild reported yesterday. The exhibition on the fate of displaced peoples in Europe, with an emphasis on 12.5 million Germans who were expelled from eastern Europe after World War II, has become a source of tension between the two countries. Many Poles argue the exhibition is an attempt by Germans to rewrite history and portray themselves as victims of a war they started. Some Polish organizations that lent items for the exhibition have demanded them back.
■ Germany
Anti-terror moves debated
Top state and federal security officials met in Berlin yesterday to try and hammer out details of new anti-terrorism measures. There is wide agreement on the need for a new anti-terrorism database to give investigators a tool to better hunt terrorism suspects, but there is division over what the database should contain. Proposals range from an "index" version in which authorities can see which agencies have information on a suspect -- but not the material itself until it is requested -- to a "full text" version. Conservative politicians want to include details like a suspect's religion and job history, but others have argued such details might violate privacy rights.
■ Algeria
Amnesty may be extended
Interior Minister Nouredine Yazid Zerhouni said on Sunday that the Peace and Reconciliation Charter has not been effective enough, and suggested that an amnesty for militants could be informally extended. The results of the charter "are positive, but not enough," Zerhouni told parliament as it opened its fall session. Between 250 to 300 terrorists had turned themselves in as part of the six-month amnesty, which ended last week. Zerhouni said there were no official plans to extend the amnesty, but added: "It would not be logical to refuse the repentance of a terrorist wanting to turn himself in even after the deadline."
■ United Kingdom
Man charged in murders
A man has been charged with the murder of his wife and three children in Greater Manchester after he was extradited from Thailand last week. Rahan Arshad triggered an international police hunt after the bodies of Uzma Rahan and her sons, Adam, 11, Abbas, 8, and daughter Henna, 6, were discovered two weeks ago.
■ United States
Burning Man flames again
Thousands of celebrants danced, hugged and cheered as the annual Burning Man counterculture festival climaxed with the traditional torching of its namesake object in the northern Nevada desert. Accompanied by a spectacular fireworks show, the 12m-tall wooden figure known as "The Man" went up in flames on Saturday night and tumbled to the ground in the Black Rock Desert, 180km north of Reno. The eclectic art festival was to end its weeklong run yesterday after the burning of more artwork on Sunday night, including the "Belgian Waffle," the "Temple of Lights" and the "Temple of Hope."
■ Canada
Troops won't go to Pakistan
There are no plans to deploy Canadian troops to Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, Defense Minister Gordon O'Connor said, denying reports that he had suggested such a deployment. However, he added in a statement late on Saturday, cooperation between Canadian and Pakistani troops fighting al-Qaeda and Taliban forces along the border could involve placing a few Canadian liaison officers with Pakistan's military. "At no time did I advocate, suggest or imply I favored stand-alone Canadian troop deployment in Pakistan," O'Connor said in response to media reports after his visit to Islamabad.
■ Venezuela
Chavez: Castro `recovering'
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday his ally, Cuban President Fidel Castro, was recovering quickly after intestinal surgery that forced him to turn power over to his brother a month ago. "Fidel is recovering well. The rapidity of his recovery surprised me," said Chavez, who capped off a tour of four countries on Thursday by making his third visit to the communist-led island in three weeks. "He sits up, writes, has a telephone and gives orders, instructions," added Chavez, speaking during his weekly television and radio program Hello President.
■ Russia
Trial was a `violation'
The trial of two former detainees of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp who were handed lengthy prison sentences in May on terrorism charges was flawed, Human Rights Watch said on Sunday. "The Russian government's prosecution of two former Guantanamo detainees for an explosion on a gas pipeline has been riddled with procedural irregularities and allegations of mistreatment," the group said in a statement. The supreme court in Russia's mostly Muslim Tartarstan Province found the men guilty of attacking a gas pipeline with explosives there on Jan. 8 last year.
■ Guatemala
Poppy sweep begins
Hundreds of police have fanned out across western Guatemala in a major sweep to destroy poppy plants used to make heroin, but law enforcement officials doubt the long-term success of the anti-drug drive. Eight hundred agents supported by 200 soldiers are carrying out a two-week operation to eradicate poppy fields and arrest middlemen in the region's drug trade. To support the effort, Guatemalan President Oscar Berger Perdomo signed an order applying to five towns in the far western region of San Marcos that bars residents from carrying arms or holding meetings without a permit and expands officials' rights to conduct searches. The area has become a major drug shipping point because of its long coastline near cocaine-producing Colombia.
‘SHARP COMPETITION’: Australia is to partner with US-based Lockheed Martin to make guided multiple launch rocket systems, an Australian defense official said Australia is to ramp up missile manufacturing under a plan unveiled yesterday by a top defense official, who said bolstering weapons stockpiles would help keep would-be foes at bay. Australian Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy said the nation would establish a homegrown industry to produce long-range guided missiles and other much-needed munitions. “Why do we need more missiles? Strategic competition between the United States and China is a primary feature of Australia’s security environment,” Conroy said in a speech. “That competition is at its sharpest in our region, the Indo-Pacific.” Australia is to partner with US-based weapons giant Lockheed Martin to make
BEYOND WASHINGTON: Although historically the US has been the partner of choice for military exercises, Jakarta has been trying to diversify its partners, an analyst said Indonesia’s first joint military drills with Russia this week signal that new Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto would seek a bigger role for Jakarta on the world stage as part of a significant foreign policy shift, analysts said. Indonesia has long maintained a neutral foreign policy and refuses to take sides in the Russia-Ukraine conflict or US-China rivalry, but Prabowo has called for stronger ties with Moscow despite Western pressure on Jakarta. “It is part of a broader agenda to elevate ties with whomever it may be, regardless of their geopolitical bloc, as long as there is a benefit for Indonesia,” said Pieter
TIGHT CAMPAIGN: Although Harris got a boost from an Iowa poll, neither candidate had a margin greater than three points in any of the US’ seven battleground states US Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live (SNL) in the final days before the election, as she and former US president and Republican presidential nominees make a frantic last push to win over voters in a historically close campaign. The first lines Harris spoke as she sat across from Maya Rudolph, their outfits identical, was drowned out by cheers from the audience. “It is nice to see you Kamala,” Harris told Rudolph with a broad grin she kept throughout the sketch. “And I’m just here to remind you, you got this.” In sync, the two said supporters
Pets are not forgotten during Mexico’s Day of the Dead celebrations, when even Fido and Tiger get a place at the altars Mexican families set up to honor their deceased loved ones, complete with flowers, candles and photographs. Although the human dead usually get their favorite food or drink placed on altars, the nature of pet food can make things a little different. The holiday has roots in Mexican pre-Hispanic customs, as does the reverence for animals. The small, hairless dogs that Mexicans kept before the Spanish conquest were believed to help guide their owners to the afterlife, and were sometimes given
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