Reporters jailed for flying drone
Yangon (Myanmar): A court in Myanmar sentenced two foreign journalists to two months in prison Friday for illegally flying a drone over parliament. Lau Hon Meng, a Singaporean, and Mok Choy Lin, a Malaysian, were on assignment for Turkish Radio and Television when they were detained October 27 in the capital, Naypyidaw. Their local interpreter, Aung Naing Soe, and their driver, Hla Tin, were also sentenced to two months in jail for the incident. All four face separate charges for allegedly importing the drone. Another hearing is set for November 16. Authorities allege the journalists tried to fly a drone over parliament without permission. A lawyer for the interpreter and the driver said they should have been freed because they did not own or operate the drone. A state-run newspaper had previously reported the journalists intended to take photos of parliament buildings and pagodas in Naypyidaw when security guards spotted them. The detainees had not been allowed to see family members since their arrest last month.
Duterte once ‘stabbed a person to death’
Danang (Vietnam): Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has said he stabbed a person to death as a teenager, in a defiant speech to promote his drug war ahead of a summit of world leaders in Manila. Speaking to the local Filipino community in the Vietnamese city of Danang Thursday, Duterte also threatened to slap a UN rights rapporteur if he met her, and used obscene language to hit back at critics of his deadly drugs crackdown. “When I was a teenager, I would go in and out of jail. I’d have rumbles here, rumbles there,” said Duterte, who is in Danang for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. “At the age of 16, I already killed someone. A real person, a rumble, a stabbing. I was just 16 years old. It was just over a look. How much more now that I am president?” Duterte won last year’s presidential elections after promising to eradicate illegal drugs with an unprecedented crackdown that would see up to 100,000 people killed. His latest comments come ahead of him hosting US President Donald Trump and other leaders for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit.
Ex-French minister named Unesco head
Paris: UNESCO member states Friday overwhelmingly approved the nomination of France’s former culture minister Audrey Azoulay to head the embattled cultural agency. They confirmed the nomination by the agency’s board last month of Azoulay, 45, who becomes UNESCO’s second woman director general. Azoulay, who was culture minister under former president Francois Hollande, succeeds Irina Bokova, who was UNESCO’s first woman director and whose second term expires this month. Azoulay narrowly defeated Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al-Kawari of Qatar, also a former culture minister, in last month’s politically charged election. Al-Kawari failed to pick up support from other Gulf states which are part of a Saudi-led coalition blockading Qatar. The campaign was also overshadowed by Washington’s announcement that it planned to withdraw from the Paris-based body after years of tensions over decisions seen as critical of Israel.
Stray cat suspect in Japan attempted murder
Tokyo: A Japanese police probe into the attempted murder of an elderly bedridden woman has reportedly led to an unlikely suspect: a stray cat. Mayuko Matsumoto’s daughter found her bleeding profusely from about 20 cuts to her face Monday at her home in a mountainous region of southern Japan. Police launched an attempted murder investigation after seeing the wounds, some of them relatively severe, according to local broadcaster RKK. “When we found her, blood covered everything above her chin. Her face was soaked in blood. I didn’t know what had happened,” Matsumoto’s daughter told RKK. Matsumoto, who is 82 years old and reportedly unable to speak, had to receive emergency care, Kyodo News said. Investigators found no sign of people entering or leaving the house at the time of the suspected attack, the private network NTV said. They then realised that Matsumoto’s wounds looked like cat scratches, it added. Police turned their attention to the stray cats loitering around Matsumoto’s house, and found traces of what may be human blood on one of them, the Nishinippon Shimbun newspaper said Friday.
Pravat Tripathy’s suspension revoked
Bhubaneswar: BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Friday revoked suspension on Pravat Tripathy, the legislator from Banki. Tripathy was suspended from the party after he was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in October 2014 for alleged links with chit fund firm Artha Tatwa Group chief Pradeep Sethi. Tripathy, who spent a few months in jail, was released on bail by the Orissa High Court March 3, 2015. The Supreme Court on November 6 upheld bail order of the HC while rejecting a petition filed by the CBI challenging the bail granted to Tripathy.
Kulbhushan Jadhav’s wife could meet him
Islamabad: Pakistan Friday announced that the wife of alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, who has been sentenced to death by a military court there, can meet him “purely on humanitarian grounds”. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said a Note Verbale to this effect was sent to the Indian High Commission here Friday. “The government of Pakistan has decided to arrange a meeting of Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav with his wife, in Pakistan, purely on humanitarian grounds,” a two-para statement from the ministry said. Islamabad has said that Jadhav, allegedly an officer with the Indian Navy and attached to the Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), was arrested on March 3, 2016 after he crossed illegally into Pakistan.
‘Sudakshya’ launched for skilling girls
Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Friday launched ‘Sudakshya’, a skill development and technical education scheme for girls. According to CMO officials, the scheme will be implemented for two financial years — 2017-18 and 2018-19 — in which the government will ensure enrolment of at least 5,000 girls in 48 government Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) each year and provide them technical training. Women who have passed Class X will be allowed to take admission to the institutes. The objective of the scheme is to enhance enrolment of girl students in ITIs from 7 per cent to 30 per cent over the next two years.
Work on Bomikhal RoB resumes
Bhubaneswar: Construction work on the railway over bridge at Bomikhal here, a section of which collapsed two months ago killing one, resumed Friday. Panda Infra Projects Private Limited (PIPPL), the impugned contractor, is to complete the remaining work, works department sources said. The department wants the project completed on schedule; the blacklisted firm has been allowed to complete the work under provisions of OPWD Contractor’s Registration Rules 1967.
VP arrives in city
Bhubaneswar: Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu arrived here Friday on a two-day official tour. Governor SC Jamir, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Bhubaneswar Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena, Development Commissioner R Balakrishnan and police DG RP Sharma received him at the airport. Saturday, he will review a Guard of Honour at the Raj Bhawan and also attend the annual convocation of a private university. He will return to Delhi later in the day.
