■PHILIPPINES
General says militant alive
An Islamist militant accused of being behind the deadly 2002 Bali bombings is alive and hiding in the southern Philippines despite earlier reports of his death, a senior military official said yesterday. Dulmatin, leader of the regional militant group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), was not killed in a clash in 2008 as the military initially believed, said Major General Juancho Sabban, the head of the Philippine Marines. “I believe, from what my sources say, he is still in Sulu,” Sabban told reporters, referring to the southern chain of islands in the south including Jolo, a hotbed of Islamist militants. Sabban also said that another JI militant, Umar Patek, is also believed to be hiding in the Sulu islands and is being sheltered by the Abu Sayyaf, a local Muslim extremist group.
■INDIA
Amnesty criticizes mine
Amnesty International warned yesterday that a British owner’s proposed mine would harm the Dongria Kondh indigenous people in eastern India who already suffer from polluted water and air because of the company’s nearby refinery. The Vedanta Resources projects in the Lanjigarh area of the state of Orissa have drawn increasing criticism. Last week, two Church of England funding bodies sold their shares in the company because of objections to its Lanjigarh operations. Vedanta said the proposed bauxite mine had the required environmental clearances and denied allegations of groundwater pollution from its alumina refinery. It said the Amnesty report was based on outdated information. Earlier this week tribal rights group Survival International called on Avatar director James Cameron to help the Dongria Kondh, comparing their plight to that of the Na’avi fighting to protect the forest moon of Pandora in his blockbuster film.
■UZBEKISTAN
Award winner goes on trial
An award-winning photographer went on trial for slander yesterday after her work documenting the daily struggles of ordinary people in the Central Asian state landed her in hot water. Umida Akhmedova, 54, stands accused of portraying people in the ex-Soviet nation as backward and impoverished in a collection of her photographs and a documentary film. The charges of general slander and using the mass media to cause insult or slander carry a maximum sentence of two years in jail in Uzbekistan, which activists say uses its courts to silence critical voices. Tashkent denies the accusations and defends its tough policing policies as necessary to combat Islamist groups seeking to overthrow the country’s secular government. Akhmedova pleaded not guilty to all charges. The trial sets a chilling precedent for artists, said Surat Ikramov, head of the Initiative Group of Independent Human Rights Defenders of Uzbekistan. “If things keep going like this, what will happen tomorrow to painters and composers?” he asked. “It is absurd.”
■AFGHANISTAN
Avalanche kills 28
An avalanche following heavy snowfalls in the north of the country killed at least 28 people and left another 70 injured, defense ministry officials said yesterday. Snow buried cars in Salang, a mountain pass connecting Kabul to the north of the country, said a statement from the ministry. “Since Monday afternoon until now around 1,500 people who were stranded by the avalanches have been rescued,” the statement said. “Around 70 people are injured, and 28 others have been martyred,” it said.
■ITALY
‘Paranormal’ scaring kids
Low-budget US horror movie Paranormal Activity, a box office hit, kicked up a storm among politicians and associations on Monday because it is terrifying teenagers and children across the country. The nation’s emergency response service reported dozens of calls, especially from Naples, where “several panic attacks lasting more than half an hour took place on Saturday,” an employee told the ANSA news agency. “The most serious case is that of a 14-year-old girl who was brought to the hospital in a state of paralysis,” he said. “I don’t think we can ban Paranormal Activity now, but surely we need to study how to warn parents of the risks their children are incurring,” said Alessandra Mussolini, head of a parliamentary committee on children. The Italian parents’ association noted that admission to the movie is restricted in the US, Britain, Germany and the Netherlands and asked for an age limit of 18 in Italy.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Brangelina sues tabloid
Hollywood couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are suing News of the World tabloid over allegations it published about their relationship, their London lawyers said on Monday. In a story published on Jan. 24, the weekly newspaper reported that the couple planned imminently to separate and had agreed on how they would divide their assets and custody of their children. Pitt, 46, and Jolie, 34, have six children and joint assets estimated by the News of the World at £205 million (US$319.4 million). Schillings law firm described the allegations as “false” and has taken its case to the High Court in London. Sorrell Trope of Trope and Trope, identified by some media reports as the Los Angeles divorce lawyer representing the couple, has confirmed to Schillings that the company had no involvement with Pitt and Jolie.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Brown gobbles bananas
With election fever mounting, Prime Minister Gordon Brown is preparing himself for the campaign trail by eating up to nine bananas a day, a report said on Monday. Brown is convinced fruit can bring “radiance,” a spokesman said, while declining to confirm the Sun newspaper report that Brown was scoffing the fruit as an alternative to his favorite KitKat chocolate bars. Brown is gearing up for an uphill battle to hold power against the main opposition Conservatives, in elections due before June but expected on May 6. “The prime minister has always taken the view that a balanced diet is very important,” Brown’s official spokesman told reporters on Monday, neither denying nor confirming the banana story. Questioned about the amount of fruit Brown was eating, he said that any numbers were pure “speculation.”
■AUSTRALIA
Reality show fined
Animal rights activists yesterday welcomed a cruelty fine for British broadcaster ITV, after contestants killed and ate a rat on hit reality show I’m A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here! The RSPCA took ITV and contestants Stuart Manning and Gino D’Acampo to court over last year’s stunt, in which a rat was stabbed to death, cooked and eaten. Series winner D’Acampo captured the rat for residents of the so-called “exile camp,” explaining in a video diary that he, Manning and the others needed “some kind of protein ... some kind of flavor” to supplement their diet of rice and beans. ITV pleaded guilty in a Sydney court on Monday to committing an aggravated act of cruelty on an animal, and admitted that production staff had given permission for the rat to be killed.
■BRAZIL
Alligator kills girl
An alligator that killed an 11-year-old girl bathing in a creek was shot dead by searchers with the victim still in its jaws, reports said on Monday. The 5m long animal grabbed the girl, identified as Gigliane do Nascimento Bira, when she was swimming with several people in the waterway near the town of Guajara Mirim on Sunday, during hot summer weather, the local newspaper Correio Popular de Rondonia said. The girl’s 16-year-old brother watched helplessly as she was dragged underwater by the 350kg reptile. The animal was found and shot seven hours later, with the girl’s body still in its mouth.
■UNITED STATES
Gambling link discovered
People are afraid to lose money, and an unusual study released on Monday explains why — the brain’s fear center controls the response to a gamble. The study of two women with brain lesions that made them unafraid to lose on a gamble showed the amygdala, the brain’s fear center, activates at the very thought of losing money. The finding, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, offers insight into economic behavior and suggests that humans evolved to be cautious about the prospects of losing food or other valued possessions. Benedetto De Martinoa of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and University College of London and colleagues were studying why people will turn down gambles that are likely to lead to gain. Volunteers were asked to make gambles in which there was an equal probability they would win US$20 or lose US$5 (a risk most people will take) — or would win or lose US$20 (one most people will reject). The two patients with damaged amygdalas fearlessly risked a US$50 pot.
■UNITED STATES
Coleman pleads guilty
Former child television star Gary Coleman, 42, pleaded guilty on Monday to a misdemeanor criminal mischief charge related to a domestic violence incident last April. In a deal with the prosecutor, Coleman entered the plea in Santaquin Justice Court on his 42nd birthday. Court clerk Jane Swan says the original charge of domestic violence assault was dropped. No details of the April 18 incident are detailed in court documents, but defense attorney Randy Kester said the star of Diff’rent Strokes and his wife, Shannon Price, had an argument which got out of hand.
■UNITED STATES
Beer is good for you: study
Beer drinkers now have a good excuse to order another round — the brew may help keep bones strong, a study has found. Researchers from the Department of Food Science & Technology at the University of California, have found beer is a rich source of silicon and may help prevent osteoporosis, as dietary silicon is a key ingredient for increasing bone mineral density. These were the findings after researchers tested 100 commercial beers for silicon content and categorized the data according to beer style and source.
The study, published in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, found the beers’ silicon content ranged from 6.4mg per liter to 56.5mg per liter. The average person’s silicon intake each day is between 20mg and 50mg. “Beers containing high levels of malted barley and hops are richest in silicon,” researcher Charles Bamforth said. They found pale ales showed the highest silicon content.
CHAGOS ISLANDS: Recently elected Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam told lawmakers that the contents of negotiations are ‘unknown’ to the government Mauritius’ new prime minister ordered an independent review of a deal with the UK involving a strategically important US-UK military base in the Indian Ocean, placing the agreement under fresh scrutiny. Under a pact signed last month, the UK ceded sovereignty of the Chagos archipelago to Mauritius, while retaining control of Diego Garcia — the island where the base is situated. The deal was signed by then-Mauritian prime minister Pravind Jugnauth and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Oct. 3 — a month before elections in Mauritius in which Navin Ramgoolam became premier. “I have asked for an independent review of the
France on Friday showed off to the world the gleaming restored interior of Notre-Dame cathedral, a week before the 850-year-old medieval edifice reopens following painstaking restoration after the devastating 2019 fire. French President Emmanuel Macron conducted an inspection of the restoration, broadcast live on television, saying workers had done the “impossible” by healing a “national wound” after the fire on April 19, 2019. While every effort has been made to remain faithful to the original look of the cathedral, an international team of designers and architects have created a luminous space that has an immediate impact on the visitor. The floor shimmers and
THIRD IN A ROW? An expert said if the report of a probe into the defense official is true, people would naturally ask if it would erode morale in the military Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun (董軍) has been placed under investigation for corruption, a report said yesterday, the latest official implicated in a crackdown on graft in the country’s military. Citing current and former US officials familiar with the situation, British newspaper the Financial Times said that the investigation into Dong was part of a broader probe into military corruption. Neither the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the Chinese embassy in Washington replied to a request for confirmation yesterday. If confirmed, Dong would be the third Chinese defense minister in a row to fall under investigation for corruption. A former navy
‘VIOLATIONS OF DISCIPLINE’: Miao Hua has come up through the political department in the military and he was already fairly senior before Xi Jinping came to power in 2012 A member of China’s powerful Central Military Commission has been suspended and put under investigation, the Chinese Ministry of National Defense said on Thursday. Miao Hua (苗華) was director of the political work department on the commission, which oversees the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the world’s largest standing military. He was one of five members of the commission in addition to its leader, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Ministry spokesman Colonel Wu Qian (吳謙) said Miao is under investigation for “serious violations of discipline,” which usually alludes to corruption. It is the third recent major shakeup for China’s defense establishment. China in June
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