■ PAKISTAN
Wife shot helping husband
A woman died of a bullet wound she received while shielding her husband during a gun attack by his brother in Pakistan’s eastern Raiwind district, a media report said yesterday. Forty-year-old Sakeena jumped in front of her spouse, Shaukat, as his brother drew a rifle on him in a fit of rage over an inheritance dispute on Thursday, the English-language Dawn newspaper reported. Both victims were only identified by their first names. The woman was hit by a single bullet and taken to a hospital, where she died. Dawn said Shaukat and six of his brothers had shared their inheritance, but the brother who fired the gun was angered because he had been left out. The family did not press criminal charges against the killer, saying the rifle went off accidentally.
■AUSTRALIA
Politicians may be tested
Politicians in the most populous state could be breath-tested for alcohol before voting on laws after a series of late-night incidents that have embarrassed the center-left government. New South Wales state lawmaker Andrew Fraser resigned from his conservative opposition frontbench role after shoving a female colleague in the wake of Christmas party celebrations.
■MALAYSIA
Pirates pillage barge
Ten pirates wielding machetes and knives robbed a coal barge in waters off Kuantan on Malaysia’s east coast, a news report said yesterday. The ship, which was traveling from Singapore to Thailand, was intercepted and boarded late on Monday by the pirates, who traveled in two speedboats, district police chief Johari Jahaya said. The pirates stole cash and mobile phones from the crew — who were mostly Indonesians — before vanishing without injuring anyone, Johari told the official Bernama news agency. Crew members lodged a police report on the incident on Wednesday. Johari said the pirates were believed to be Indonesians, based on their accents.
■MALAYSIA
Man killed at karaoke
A man died after being stabbed in the chest in a row that erupted after he was accused of hogging the microphone at a karaoke venue, state media reported. Police in Sandakan on Borneo island said that 23-year-old Abdul Sani Doli was believed to have angered other patrons by singing one tune after another, and refusing to hand over the microphone. A row broke out with three men at the next table, escalating into a fist fight outside the karaoke joint, Sandakan police chief Rosli Mohd Isa was quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency. Abdul Sani was stabbed in the chest and died, and two men have been arrested in connection with the murder, it said.
■HONG KONG
Drug haul sparks probe
A joint probe by customs officers in Hong Kong, India and Singapore has been launched after illegal drugs worth a record HK$41.3 million (US$5.3 million) were found at the city’s airport, a media report said yesterday. Ketamine disguised as sugar and methamphetamine made to look like milk powder were found hidden in a shipment of loudspeakers that arrived at the airport’s cargo terminal from India via Singapore, the South China Morning Post said. No arrests have been made but customs officers in the three countries are investigating the source of the drugs. The 307kg of ketamine and 10kg of methamphetamine, also known as “ice,” amounted to the biggest ever seizure by Hong Kong customs officers.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Garbageman can keep cash
Police say a trash collector can hold on to the mound of mutilated cash he found stuffed into a wastebasket in the English town of Lincoln earlier this year. But he’ll have to piece the notes back together if he wants to make any money from the find. Graham Hill found an estimated £10,000 in £10 and £20 notes inside a wastebasket in Lincoln’s town center. But the notes appear to have been sliced into small pieces using scissors. The central bank says Hill might be able to turn his chopped-up currency into cash if he can put the bills back together again.
■GAMBIA
Missionary couple jailed
A British missionary couple have been charged with distributing seditious reports, the BBC said yesterday. David Fulton, 60, and his wife Fiona, 46, appeared in court in the capital Banjul on Thursday after being held for five days, the BBC reported. Prosecutors accused the couple of attempting to “bring into hatred or contempt” and “to excite disaffection against the president of the republic and the government “ by writing to individuals and organizations overseas. President Yahya Jammeh has shown little tolerance for dissent since coming to power in a 1994 coup. Jammeh, who has said he can cure AIDS with an herbal mixture, recently ordered all homosexuals to leave or face beheading.
■YEMEN
Navy ship rescues ‘pirates’
A Danish navy vessel has rescued seven suspected pirates in the Gulf of Aden, the Royal Danish Navy said yesterday. The seven were found on Thursday in waters off Yemen on a vessel that had been drifting for several days at sea. Several weapons were seized and the seven were to be handed over to local authorities in Yemen, the statement said. International maritime laws oblige vessels to assist other vessels in emergencies. The Danish navy currently leads the Task Force 150 assigned to patrol international shipping lanes in the region.
■ZIMBABWE
RBZ dissolves bank board
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) on Thursday dissolved an entire board and its management of a commercial bank, accusing it of illegally trading in foreign currency. Announcing the dissolution of the CFX Bank to the media, RBZ governor Gideon Gono said: “None of them can serve again on a bank board, they have been declared unfit and improper to work in a bank or to sit on any financial institution for the next five years.” It was not immediately clear who would run the commercial bank. Gono said shareholders of the bank were free to appoint a new board and warned other “unscrupulous banks” that they would face the wrath of the law.
■GERMANY
Knut too big for cage
Knut the superstar polar bear turned two yesterday, no longer looking anything like the button-eyed ball of white fluff who captured hearts around the world. The star of the Berlin Zoo is a fully grown bear with yellowish fur who, at 200kg, has grown too big for his enclosure. Worried fans are lobbying for him to stay, but zoo officials say he will have to move if they do not build a new enclosure, which appears virtually impossible because of lack of space. Knut lives in a small section of the current enclosure, home to Knut’s parents, Tosca and Lars, and two older females. Bearkeeper Heiner Kloes said Knut, who will reach sexual maturity around the age of six, urgently needs enough space for both him and a fertile mate.
■UNITED STATES
Pervert pleads guilty
A man has pleaded guilty to answering an online advertisement for babysitting work and then using the client’s child to make a pornographic video. In a plea deal with federal prosecutors, Aaron Jay Lemon admitted on Wednesday to producing the video. The 23-year-old from Little Canada, Minnesota also admitted to coercing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct. The plea agreement says Lemon filmed the child in St. Paul after seeking the baby-sitting job through Craigslist. St Paul police say the victim was a two-year-old girl. The attorney’s office said Lemon faces a maximum of 30 years in prison.
■UNITED STATES
Estrada back on the streets
Erik Estrada has returned to Muncie, Indiana, to take part in overnight police patrols in the city where he starred in the short-lived reality series Armed & Famous. The former star of the 1970s motorcycle cop TV drama ChiPs is a reserve officer on the Muncie Police Department. The 60-year-old actor plans to work three nights this week, patrolling city streets from 11pm to 7am. He took target practice at the police gun range on Wednesday. Today, he plans to help officers at a charity event.
■UNITED STATES
Belch fee worries farmers
Belching and gaseous cows and hogs could start costing farmers money if a federal proposal to charge fees for air-polluting animals becomes law. Farmers so far are turning their noses up at the notion, which is one of several put forward by the Environmental Protection Agency after the US Supreme Court ruled last year that greenhouse gases emitted by belching and flatulence amounts to air pollution. “This is one of the most ridiculous things the federal government has tried to do,” said Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks, an outspoken opponent of the proposal. It would require farms or ranches with more than 25 dairy cows, 50 beef cattle or 200 hogs to pay an annual fee of about US$175 for each dairy cow, US$87.50 per head of beef cattle and US$20 for each hog. The executive vice president of the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation, Ken Hamilton, estimated the fee would cost owners of a modest-sized cattle ranch US$30,000 to US$40,000 a year. He said he has talked to a number of livestock owners about the proposals, and “all have said if the fees were carried out, it would bankrupt them.” Sparks said on Wednesday that he was worried the fee could be extended to chickens and cause more meat to be imported: “We’ll let other countries put food on our tables like they are putting gas in our cars.”
■CUBA
Castro would talk to Obama
Former president Fidel Castro said that his country could talk with US president-elect Barack Obama, as long as he drops the usual “carrot and stick” approach and respects the country’s sovereignty. “With Obama you can talk wherever he wants, since we’re not preachers for violence or war,” Castro said on Thursday on the Cubadebate Web site. However, “he must be reminded that the carrot-and-stick theory cannot be applied in our country.” In an article titled “Sailing against the tide,” Castro, 82, said “the empire [his word for the US] must know that our homeland might be turned into dust, but the sovereign rights of the Cuban people are non-negotiable.” During the US election campaign, Obama said he would talk with Cuban leaders despite a 47-year US economic embargo on the communist island and outgoing US President George W. Bush’s tough stance against Havana since 2001.
The Philippines yesterday said its coast guard would acquire 40 fast patrol craft from France, with plans to deploy some of them in disputed areas of the South China Sea. The deal is the “largest so far single purchase” in Manila’s ongoing effort to modernize its coast guard, with deliveries set to start in four years, Philippine Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan told a news conference. He declined to provide specifications for the vessels, which Manila said would cost 25.8 billion pesos (US$440 million), to be funded by development aid from the French government. He said some of the vessels would
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
US ELECTION: Polls show that the result is likely to be historically tight. However, a recent Iowa poll showed Harris winning the state that Trump won in 2016 and 2020 US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris courted voters angered by the Gaza war while former US President and Republican candidate Donald Trump doubled down on violent rhetoric with a comment about journalists being shot as the tense US election campaign entered its final hours. The Democratic vice president and the Republican former president frantically blitzed several swing states as they tried to win over the last holdouts with less than 36 hours left until polls open on election day today. Trump predicted a “landslide,” while Harris told a raucous rally in must-win Michigan that “we have momentum — it’s
CARGO PLANE VECTOR: Officials said they believe that attacks involving incendiary devices on planes was the work of Russia’s military intelligence agency the GRU Western security officials suspect Russian intelligence was behind a plot to put incendiary devices in packages on cargo planes headed to North America, including one that caught fire at a courier hub in Germany and another that ignited in a warehouse in England. Poland last month said that it had arrested four people suspected to be linked to a foreign intelligence operation that carried out sabotage and was searching for two others. Lithuania’s prosecutor general Nida Grunskiene on Tuesday said that there were an unspecified number of people detained in several countries, offering no elaboration. The events come as Western officials say
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