■SOUTH KOREA
Workers rally against laws
Thousands of workers rallied yesterday for a second day, demanding the government scrap plans to enforce contentious laws they say are aimed at weakening labor unions. The government plans to implement labor laws next year allowing multiple unions for each workplace and banning companies from paying wages to full-time union representatives. The laws were passed in 1997 but have never been implemented because of opposition from labor unions. About 4,600 workers staged a rally criticizing the government’s plan in a plaza near the National Assembly yesterday, police said. Tens of thousands rallied on Saturday at the same site. About 14,000 police officers were mobilized to maintain order, and the rally was peaceful. Labor unions have said they would launch a large-scale strike if the government doesn’t cancel its plans to enforce the laws.
■AUSTRALIA
Shark mauls fisherman
A man spearfishing in South Australia was mauled in a shark attack yesterday, officials said as a report warned of several sightings of the deadly predators in the area. The 24-year-old was among a group in the water at Second Valley south of Adelaide when he was bitten, a spokeswoman for the South Australian Ambulance Service said. “This guy was bitten rather savagely on the foot and also on the arm,” a witness told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. A number of sharks have been sighted in the area in the past three weeks, including one measuring nearly 6m, it said. The shark responsible for the latest attack, which is not believed to be life-threatening, was 2m long, it said.
■INDONESIA
Protesters support watchdog
Hundreds gathered in the capital Jakarta yesterday to protest perceived moves to cripple the country’s once-powerful corruption watchdog. Musicians sang songs and supporters made speeches demanding President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono move to protect the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) after the release of wiretap recordings of police and prosecutors exposed an alleged high-level official conspiracy against it. “The president must be more tough in protecting the KPK so it can do its job in fighting corruption,” rally spokesman Illian Deta Arta Sari said. The top detective and the country’s deputy chief prosecutor quit last Thursday after wiretap phone recordings implicated them in an alleged plot to falsely imprison two KPK investigators.
■INDIA
Judge warns against sex
A New Delhi judge told Indian women to beware of men who promise marriage after a prospective bride accused her lover of rape because he failed to propose, a newspaper said yesterday. The unnamed woman said she had effectively been raped because she only agreed to sleep with Arif Iqbal, 22, on the understanding that they would soon be man and wife, the Hindustan Times reported. However Justice Kailash Gambhir said the woman, 23, had to accept the consequences after Iqbal went back on his vow to wed her. “Mere promise of marriage should not have prompted [the woman] to establish a physical relationship with the accused,” Gambhir said. “It is the prime responsibility of the woman to protect her modesty. A woman should not throw herself to a man and indulge in promiscuity.” The judge’s statement was likely to anger women’s rights groups after other recent court verdicts backed the charge that a false promise of marriage did amount to rape.
■RUSSIA
Troops kill four militants
Security forces killed four suspected militants during security sweeps in Chechnya and Dagestan on Saturday, officials said. Police acting on a tip tracked the two suspects down in the eastern Chechen village of Belgatoi, regional Interior Ministry spokesman Magomed Deniyev said. The suspects refused to surrender and were killed in fighting, he said. Chechnya’s regional President Ramzan Kadyrov personally led the operation, he said. No details were released about the Dagestan deaths.
■KENYA
Officials could face ICC
Senior government officials suspected of committing crimes against humanity during last year’s election violence could be indicted in The Hague next year, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said on Saturday. Luis Moreno-Ocampo said two or three cases could be presented for trial by next July. The main suspects include powerful Cabinet ministers on both sides of the coalition government. A report by the state-funded Kenyan National Commission on Human Rights alleged that Kalenjin and Kikuyu Cabinet ministers and lawmakers incited, organized and funded militia groups — charges the politicians deny.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Suspect updates mugshot
A British man on the run from South Wales police sent a picture of himself to his local paper because he disliked the mugshot they had printed as part of a public appeal to track him down. Matthew Maynard is wanted in connection with a burglary. When the police photo appeared in the South Wales Evening Post, the 23-year-old sent the paper a replacement photo of himself standing in front of a police van. The paper printed it on the front page.
■CANADA
War crimes charges filed
Police have charged a Rwandan immigrant living in Windsor, Ontario, with war crimes related to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Jacques Mungwarere, 37, is alleged to have committed an act of genocide in the area of Kibuye. He made a brief court appearance on Saturday in Ottawa, where he was remanded to custody. He is only the second person to have been charged under a new law allowing Canadian residents to be tried for war crimes committed abroad.
■MEXICO
Opium paste cache seized
The army said on Saturday it seized 203kg of opium in Guadalupe y Calvo township in Chihuahua state. It was one of the largest such seizures in the country. The opium paste was found on Thursday hidden in nine plastic containers, along with seven rifles, three pistols and nearly 10,000 rounds of ammunition.
■GUYANA
US helps track suspect
The US is helping the government track down a suspected mastermind in a series of domestic terrorist attacks on government buildings in the South American country. “The request for information is with the Department of Justice and they’re are processing it,” US acting Charge d’Affaires Carol Horning said on Saturday. Police are still looking for at least two of eight men who during pre-dawn raid last Monday attempted to burn down two government buildings, including the High Court, and opened fire on two police stations, injuring two policemen. The government asked Washington for help in tracking telephone calls the suspects made to the US.
■UNITED STATES
Former fugitive ends chemo
A Minnesota teen who fled the state to avoid chemotherapy has finished his cancer treatment. Daniel Hauser of Sleepy Eye underwent his final radiation session on Friday, and his family says the 13-year-old is cancer-free. Daniel gained national attention when he stopped treatment after one session in February and fled, citing his religious beliefs. After he returned, he underwent court-ordered chemo to treat Hodgkin’s lymphoma, then started radiation therapy. A Brown County judge has asked for reports from Brown County Family Services and Daniel’s doctor. If everything looks good, the case will likely be closed.
■UNITED STATES
Files tossed with confetti
New York City office workers who got carried away during the Yankees victory parade on Friday apparently began tossing files and documents out the window when they couldn’t get their hands on confetti. Auditor Damian Salo attended the Manhattan parade honoring the baseball World Series championships. He told the New York Post he found all sorts of personal financial documents in the mountains of shredded paper tossed from skyscrapers as the team rode up Broadway. They included pay stubs, banking data, law firm memos and even some court files. The founder of one financial firm, Alan Sarroff, says his company reprimanded one “overzealous” employee for throwing records out the window that should have been shredded.
■SPAIN
Hikers found frozen
Two women hikers who got lost in the Pyrenees Mountains were found frozen to death after rescuers reached them, officials said yesterday. Authorities in the city of Gerona said three others in the group had survived and were taken to hospital suffering from hypothermia.
A beauty queen who pulled out of the Miss South Africa competition when her nationality was questioned has said she wants to relocate to Nigeria, after coming second in the Miss Universe pageant while representing the West African country. Chidimma Adetshina, whose father is Nigerian, was crowned Miss Universe Africa and Oceania and was runner-up to Denmark’s Victoria Kjar Theilvig in Mexico on Saturday night. The 23-year-old law student withdrew from the Miss South Africa competition in August, saying that she needed to protect herself and her family after the government alleged that her mother had stolen the identity of a South
BELT-TIGHTENING: Chinese investments in Cambodia are projected to drop to US$35 million in 2026 from more than US$420 million in 2021 At a ceremony in August, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet knelt to receive blessings from saffron-robed monks as fireworks and balloons heralded the breaking of ground for a canal he hoped would transform his country’s economic fortunes. Addressing hundreds of people waving the Cambodian flag, Hun Manet said China would contribute 49 percent to the funding of the Funan Techo Canal that would link the Mekong River to the Gulf of Thailand and reduce Cambodia’s shipping reliance on Vietnam. Cambodia’s government estimates the strategic, if contentious, infrastructure project would cost US$1.7 billion, nearly 4 percent of the nation’s annual GDP. However, months later,
Texas’ education board on Friday voted to allow Bible-infused teachings in elementary schools, joining other Republican-led US states that pushed this year to give religion a larger presence in public classrooms. The curriculum adopted by the Texas State Board of Education, which is controlled by elected Republicans, is optional for schools to adopt, but they would receive additional funding if they do so. The materials could appear in classrooms as early as next school year. Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott has voiced support for the lesson plans, which were provided by the state’s education agency that oversees the more than
Ireland, the UK and France faced travel chaos on Saturday and one person died as a winter storm battered northwest Europe with strong winds, heavy rain, snow and ice. Hampshire Police in southern England said a man died after a tree fell onto a car on a major road near Winchester early in the day. Police in West Yorkshire said they were probing whether a second death from a traffic incident was linked to the storm. It is understood the road was not icy at the time of the incident. Storm Bert left at least 60,000 properties in Ireland without power, and closed
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