■CHINA
Second collision in two days
A head-on collision between two buses killed 10 people and injured 43 early yesterday in the second major bus accident in two days. The buses, one carrying 55 people and the other carrying 28, collided on a highway in Hechi, Guangxi Province, Xinhua news agency reported. A head-on crash on Sunday between a truck and bus in Liaoning Province killed 32 people. The cause of the latest accident is under investigation.
■MALAYSIA
Cuffed man flees in cruiser
A report says a detained car theft suspect has fled by driving off in a police cruiser while still in handcuffs. The New Straits Times says the 33-year-old man sneaked into the police car and fled shortly after his arrest on Sunday, while police officers were distracted with questioning another man in northern Kelantan state. The car was found abandoned several hours later, but the suspect escaped. A police officer said the case was under investigation.
■AUSTRALIA
Micro-sized switch unveiled
Scientists at he University of New South Wales’ Centre for Quantum Computer Technology yesterday unveiled the world’s smallest electronic switch measuring just a few atoms, which will shrink microchips and revolutionize computing speeds. The seven-atom transistor, measuring four-billionths of a meter and embedded in a single silicone crystal, is the first step in a “quantum computer” which will make calculations millions of times faster than existing devices. Lead researcher Michelle Simmons said it has major implications for code breaking, financial transactions and weather forecasting, which involve testing enormous numbers of possible scenarios.
■HONG KONG
Official meets opposition
The Democratic Party has met with a Chinese official in the first formal contact between Beijing and the opposition party since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997. Beijing typically views the Democratic Party as a troublemaker because it is a harsh critic of the Chinese government’s authoritarian rule. The party wants full democracy in the territory, while Beijing prefers gradual electoral changes. Democratic Party Deputy Chairwoman Emily Lau (劉慧卿) told reporters that she, Chairman Albert Ho (何俊仁) and a fellow opposition legislator met yesterday with Li Gang (李剛), deputy director of Beijing’s liaison office in the territory.
■MYANMAR
Huge mall fire breaks out
A huge fire broke out in a commercial center housing 4,000 shops and stalls in the country’s biggest city yesterday, but no casualties were reported, firefighters and traders said. Mingalar Zay, a five-story market complex in Yangon, burst into flames around 9am and dozens of fire trucks were still battling to put out the blaze several hours later. “Fortunately, there were not many people inside the building when the first broke out, since the market had just opened,” the owner of a pharmacy at the market said. “Otherwise, there would definitely be a very high death toll.”
■PHILIPPINES
Pacman treated for ulcer
World welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao has been admitted to hospital to treat a mild stomach ulcer and allow him to rest after campaigning for the May 10 congressional elections. Pacquiao’s chief of staff, Jayke Joson, said yesterday that doctors discovered the 31-year-old boxer and politician had an ulcer during a routine checkup on Sunday and his family convinced him to stay on in a suburban Manila hospital for a few days. “Really, Manny can only rest if you confine him to a hospital,” Joson said, adding that Pacquiao was receiving intravenous dextrose drips.
■INDONESIA
Worker beats up dragon
A worker freed himself from an attacking Komodo dragon by punching the reptile’s snout until it released him and ran away, a national park official said yesterday. Agustinus Jenaru, 20, was working inside an unfinished wooden bungalow on Rinca island when the 2m lizard entered and bit onto his left hand on Saturday, Komodo National Park official Daniel Bolu Ngongo said. Jenaru hit the jaws of the giant lizard for several seconds until it freed him. Jenaru was taken to a clinic for treatment of lacerations and a puncture wound. Komodo dragons can be found in the wild only on the eastern islands of Komodo, Padar and Rinca. The lizards — thought to number fewer than 4,000 — can grow longer than 3m and weigh 70kg.
■MALAYSIA
Pygmy elephant calf rescued
Wildlife authorities said yesterday that they had rescued an endangered Borneo Pygmy elephant calf that had been separated from its mother for three days and found dying in a plantation in eastern Sabah state on Borneo. Chief veterinarian Sen Nathan said “a calf relies entirely on the mother and if it is not fed for that long, this would have normally killed the elephant.” An elephant is only capable of looking after itself after it turns three. The Pygmy elephant is unique to Borneo and forms a sub-species of the Asian elephant.
■IRAN
Leader’s brother hanged
The official news agency said authorities have hanged the brother of the leader of Jundallah, a Sunni militant group that has waged an insurgency in the southeastern region of the country bordering Pakistan. IRNA said Abdulhamid Rigi was executed yesterday in Zahedan, where he had “terrorized the citizens.” He was captured in Pakistan in 2008 and extradited back. His brother, Abdulmalik Rigi, was arrested in February and authorities have said he confessed to acting on orders from the US and other Western intelligence agencies to undermine the government. Tehran has long accused the US and Britain of aiding Jundallah, a charge they strenuously deny.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Fergie ‘regrets’ talking bribe
The Duchess of York, caught on camera apparently offering to sell access to her ex-husband, Prince Andrew, said on Sunday she was sorry for her “serious lapse in judgment.” According to footage on the News of the World newspaper’s Web site, Sarah Ferguson appears to ask for US$40,000 in cash and £500,000 (US$718,500) by wire transfer, claiming she could introduce the undercover reporter to the prince. Andrew, the second son of Queen Elizabeth and fourth in line to the throne, “categorically” denied any knowledge of the meeting that took place between the Duchess of York and the News of the World, Buckingham Palace said in a statement.
■CONGO
Indian peacekeeper killed
An Indian peacekeeper with the UN’s Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) was shot dead on Sunday when armed men attacked government troops in the troubled eastern Goma region, the MONUC force said. A UN source said a Congolese soldier and a civilian were also killed in the attack, while three troops and a second civilian were injured. The Indian was the 99th UN soldier to be killed since MONUC was deployed in 1999. The force is the UN’s largest with 18,700 soldiers and 700 military observers.
■RUSSIA
Dowager Empress dies
Grand Duchess Leonida Georgievna, one of the leading members of the Romanov dynasty ousted from the throne by the Bolsheviks, has died in Spain, a spokesman said yesterday. She was 95. Leonida, known to some of her supporters as the Dowager Empress of Russia, was the widow of Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich, who until his death in 1992 was head of the Romanov dynasty and pretender to the throne. Born in 1914 in Tbilisi in modern-day Georgia, Leonida was the last surviving representative of the Romanov family to have been born before the Russian Revolution on the territory of the Russian Empire, director of the Romanov dynasty’s office Alexander Zakatov said.
■IRAN
Opposition opposes sanctions
Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi said he is opposed to sanctions over the country’s nuclear program, but has accused the government of “adventurism,” his Web site reported yesterday. World powers led by the US are weighing fresh sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear program, which they fear masks a weapons drive. Tehran denies seeking weapons, but it has faced three rounds of UN Security Council sanctions since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to power in 2005.
■UNITED STATES
Tattooed burgler caught
Police say a suspect in a Colorado home invasion had the evidence written all over his face. A tattoo on the upper lip of 20-year-old Anthony Brandon Gonzales led to his arrest last week in the home invasion of an Elvis impersonator in Pueblo County. A witness told police that one of the invaders had “East Side” tattooed on his upper lip. Gonzales also has a “13”’ tattooed on his chin in the shape of a goatee. According to an affidavit, the tattoos were visible even though Gonzales was wearing a mask. Gonzales was already in jail on a separate drugs charge. Police have now also charged him with last month’s burglary. Sergeant Eric Bravo said his distinctive tattoo led to the charge, saying “it’s hard to miss him.”
■ECUADOR
Death penalty commuted
An Indian community that sentenced a young man to death by hanging for the murder of another man reduced his punishment on Sunday, ordering him to do five years of community service instead. Orlando Quishpe, 21, was also subjected to punishments that included carrying a heavy sack of dirt, an ice-water bath and a public whipping with a thorny plant while forced to beg for forgiveness. The attorney general had threatened legal action against the community after it ordered Quishpe’s execution last week, because the South American nation does not allow the death penalty. The Indians refused the government’s request that the suspect be handed over to the regular courts.
■BRAZIL
Nuclear sub plans unveiled
The first reactor for the nation’s nuclear submarine program will be finished in 2014, the navy’s nuclear propulsion program chief Andre Ferreira Marques said on Sunday in an interview with Agencia Brasil news agency. The reactor will be powered initially with 5 percent enriched uranium and eventually with 20 percent, he said. Brasilia will begin work on a building a nuclear submarine in 2016 with the project — an adaptation of the Scorpene bought from France — scheduled to be completed in 2021.
■VENEZUELA
Chavez plays traffic cop
President Hugo Chavez has a new pet peeve: speeding drivers who he says are creating mayhem on the highways. Chavez says he recently was tailgated in the slow lane by a young man in a truck who unknowingly honked at the president and then passed him on the shoulder. However, he didn’t let it go at that. He says he chased down the vehicle — probably with the presidential motorcade in tow — and scolded the remorseful motorist. Chavez, who is known to enjoy driving himself on road trips from time to time, said on Sunday on his weekly broadcast show that “there’s madness on the highways.” He urged police to crack down on speeding and spread the word that reckless driving won’t be tolerated.
■ARGENTINA
Falkland spat heats up
Buenos Aires has summoned the British ambassador over London’s refusal to hold new talks over the disputed Falkland Islands, where Britain earlier this year began exploring for oil. “The ambassador has been called to meet on Monday,” a foreign ministry source said, referring to British Ambassador Shan Morgan. The meeting follows Britain’s rejection of efforts to reopen talks on the status of the Falklands, located some 450km off the country’s coast. Buenos Aires fought and lost a 1982 war with Britain over the remote island.
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
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
RSS