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news without borders
Protest in Tibetan area
of China, police targeted
BEIJING: A police car and a fire truck
were hit with explosive devices yes-
terday following a protest in a Tibetan
area of western China, state media
reported. The protest on Sunday in
Tibetan-populated Golog prefecture of
Qinghai province involved dozens of
people and was triggered by anger after
police stopped a local timber truck for
an identity check, Xinhua news agency
said.
Small, unsophisticated explosive
devices damaged the police car and
fire truck early yesterday morning,
Lin Yasong, Golog’s Communist Party
chief said, according to Xinhua.
There were no fatalities, Xinhua
said. Golog is officially a Tibetan
autonomous prefecture, and a vast
majority of its population is Tibetan.
However, Xinhua did not identify
the protesters as Tibetans and local
officials could not immediately be
reached for comment.
The incident came amid high ten-
sions in Tibet and Tibetan-populated
areas of western China, such as Golog,
ahead of today’s 50th anniversary of a
failed uprising against Chinese rule.
The revolt led to Tibet’s spiritual
leader, the Dalai Lama, fleeing into
exile soon afterwards.
China has locked down Tibet in
a bid to prevent protests after violent
unrest on last year’s anniversary
embarrassed the country before the
Olympics in Beijing.
Officials have said in recent days
that the extra security was aimed at
thwarting attempts by loyalists of the
Dalai Lama to foment unrest.
Residents of the Tibetan capital,
Lhasa said yesterday that armed secu-
rity forces were patrolling the city and
locals were being subjected to identity
checks when they ventured out. De-
spite the security, protests have flared.
One monk in Aba, in southwestern
China’s Sichuan province, set himself
alight in a protest over Chinese rule
last month. – AFP
theSun
briefs
Candian rapist
demands sex change
OTTAWA: A criminally insane man
jailed for sexually assaulting two
women is demanding a sex change
and wants Canada’s publicly funded
health care to pay for it, said a local
paper on Sunday. Shauna Taylor, 52,
was in court this week asking for a
C$15,000 (RM43,000) assessment
to qualify for the sex change.
Taylor, formerly known as Vance
Egglestone before a legal name-
change, began transitioning into
a woman in 2000 with hormone
therapy, nose surgery and perma-
nent hair removal, said the daily
Toronto Sun. Now Taylor wants an
orchidectomy to surgically remove
the testes, the newspapers said.
In 1976, Egglestone was found
not guilty of a brutal rape by reason
of a mental disorder. He pleaded
guilty to a second sexual assault
in 1985. Taylor now blames this
criminal behaviour on a gender
identity disorder. – AFP
Obama lifts Bush
restrictions on stem
cell research
WASHINGTON: President Barack
Obama lifted some restrictions on
federal funding of human embry-
onic stem cell research yesterday,
angering many abortion oppo-
nents but cheering those who
believe the study could produce
treatments for many diseases.
“The full promise of stem
cell research remains unknown,
and it should not be overstated,”
Obama said. “But scientists be-
lieve these tiny cells may have
the potential to help us under-
stand, and possibly cure, some
of our most devastating diseases
and conditions.” – Reuters
Gynaecological
causes related to
back pain in women
MUNICH: Persistent or recurring
back pain in women may have
gynaecological causes, according
to the Munich-based German As-
sociation of Gynaecologists (BVF).
This is particularly true, it said, in
cases of lower-back pain around
the lumbar vertebrae and sacrum.
The pain sometimes extends to
the groin and anterior abdominal
wall. Women experiencing such
symptoms should see a gynaecolo-
gist, the BVF advised.
If the source of the pain lies
in the reproductive organs, other
problems often occur as well, in-
cluding a sensation of pressure on
the bladder, urinary urgency, and
pain during urination, defecation or
sexual intercourse, BVF said.
Abdominal and back pain that
occurs regularly or on the days
preceding menstruation could be
due to benign proliferations of tis-
sue in the uterus. – dpa
‘Swiss Gigolo’ jailed
for blackmailing
BMW heiress
MUNICH: A smooth-talking con
man known as the “Swiss Gigolo”
was jailed for six years yesterday
for cheating and blackmailing a
string of super-rich lovers, including
Germany’s wealthiest woman.
Helg Sgarbi, 44, admitted as
his trial opened in Munich “the
essence” of the charges against
him, which included trying to
hoodwink BMW heiress Susanne
Klatten out of more than US$430
| TUESDAY MARCH 10 2009
million (RM1.6 billion).
“I would like to apologise
publicly to my victims,” the
dark-haired, inconspicuous-
looking Sgarbi told the court.
He was accused of trying
to defraud Klatten with sob
stories, promises of a new life
together and finally threats to
release compromising video
footage of their affair. – AFP
Tsvangirai rules out
foul play in car crash
HARARE: Zimbabwean Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai yes-
terday ruled out foul play as the
cause of a car crash that injured
him and killed his wife.
“In such incidents there is
always speculation, but in this case
I want to assure you that if there
was any foul play it would probably
be one in 1,000,” he told mourners
for his wife after returning home
from treatment in Botswana.
“It was an accident which
unfortunately took a life. I am sure
life has to go on and I’m sure she
would have liked for life to go on.”
Tensions with President Rob-
ert Mugabe, Tsvangirai’s partner
in a new unity government, had
prompted speculation over the
cause of the crash. – Agencies
Tourist found dead
in Singapore hotel
SINGAPORE: A foreign tourist
was found dead with a stab
wound at a luxury hotel in Sin-
gapore yesterday, local police
said. Hotel staff discovered
the body of an “Asian male in
his 60s” in his bathroom at the
Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore
yesterday morning with “a
stab wound on his chest,” a
police spokesman said.
The spokesman could not
immediately verify the identity
and nationality of the tourist
but said it was being classified
as an “unnatural death”. – AFP
US: Chinese vessels
harassed Navy ship
WASHINGTON: Five Chinese
vessels harassed a US Navy ship
in the South China Sea on Sun-
day, at one point closing to within
7.6m of the ocean surveillance
ship, the Pentagon said.
A Defence Department state-
ment said the Chinese vessels
“shadowed and aggressively
maneuvered in dangerously close
proximity” to the USS Impeccable,
which was conducting routine
operations in international waters
120km south of Hainan Island.
Two Chinese vessels sur-
rounded the Impeccable, while
two closed to within 15.2m wav-
ing Chinese flags and telling the
US Navy ship to leave, it said.
The Navy ship responded by
spraying one of the vessels with
its fire hoses, but the Chinese ship
closed further and its crew mem-
bers disrobed to their underwear,
the Pentagon said. – Reuters
11 dead in Ugandan
plane crash
KAMPALA: Eleven people died
yesterday when a Russian-
made cargo plane carrying
supplies for the African Union
(AU) peace keeping mission in
Somalia, burst into flames and
crashed into Lake Victoria soon
after take-off from Uganda’s
Entebbe international airport,
a government statement said.
An Illyushin 76-cargo aircraft
F9-FAB with 11 people including
four crew and seven others on
board was flying from Entebbe
to Mogadishu and crashed soon
after take-off, it said. – dpa