MANILA: A total of 3,695 violators of the Commission on Elections’ gun ban have been arrested, police said yesterday. The ban started on January 23 and yesterday was its last day. Among the violators were 23 soldiers, 52 policemen, a fireman, 42 officials, 154 guards and four militia men. Police also arrested 3,590 low and high-powered firearms, 163 gun replicas, 1,082 bladed weapons, 242 grenades, 515 explosive devices
Four Vietnam smugglers jailed
HANOI: Vietnam has sentenced four people to up to four years in prison for attempting to traffic migrants to Australia by boat, a court official said yesterday. The Vietnamese arranged for 33 people to embark on the journey in May 2012, but failed to reach the destination, Judge Ta Quoc Viet said in the southern province of Ba Ria Vung Tau. “They were stuck in a storm, arrested and deported to Vietnam by Indonesian authorities.” After the unsuccessful attempt, the men started to arrange another voyage for 28 migrants but police took them into custody.
Briton abducted in Indonesia
BANDA ACEH: Gunmen kidnapped a British man working for an energy company in the restive Indonesian province of Aceh, officials said yesterday. Malcolm Primrose was being driven to work on Tuesday when he was stopped by a group at around 11am in Lubuk Pempeng village, East Aceh district. The British embassy in Jakarta said in a statement: “We can confirm a British national was involved in an incident in Aceh yesterday. We are in touch with the local authorities and his family. An embassy team has deployed to the area.”
Singapore fights dengue
SINGAPORE: Singapore is fighting back against a worsening dengue epidemic by distributing insect repellants to every household and recruiting hundreds of disease control officers, officials said. Two Singaporeans have died from the virus so far this year and weekly cases hit an all-time high of 820 in the period ending June 8, the National Environment Agency said. More than 9,300 people were infected this year as of Tuesday, nearing the 13,984 infections in 2005, the worst year on record.
World’s oldest man dies at 116
Tokyo: Jiroemon Kimura, the world’s oldest man, has died, aged 116. Kimura, born on April 19, 1897, when Queen Victoria was on the British throne, died of natural causes, the Japanese media said. The Kyoto prefecture resident became the oldest man in December 2012 at the age of 115 years and 253 days, following the death of Dina Manfredini, an Italian-American who lived in Iowa. Kimura He had been receiving treatment for pneumonia for one month.
Japan diplomat shouts ‘shut up’
TOKYO: Japan’s human rights envoy to the UN yesterday was facing calls to quit over a video which showed him shouting at fellow diplomats to “shut up”. YouTube footage of the incident at the UN torture committee meeting in Geneva has provoked criticism on the Internet, with demands that Hideaki Ueda be recalled. Agencies
