Ecuador curbs Julian Assange’s internet use
QUITO: Ecuador’s government has partly restricted internet access for Julian Assange, the founder of anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks who has lived in the South American country’s London embassy since mid-2012.
WikiLeaks said Assange lost connectivity, sparking speculation Ecuador might have been pressured by the US owing to the group’s publication of hacked material linked to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Ecuador’s government said WikiLeaks’ publishing documents affecting the election campaign was its own responsibility, and the country did not cede to pressure from other nations. – Reuters
Bounty for rat killers
JAKARTA: The Indonesian capital will pay residents to catch rats as part of efforts to curb diseases transmitted by the rodents.
A resident will be paid 20 000 rupiahs (R21) for every rat caught and handed over to authorities, said Jakarta deputy governor Djarot Syaiful Hidayat, the Kompas daily reported. “Just collect the rats, count them and we will pay,” Djarot was quoted as saying.
Rats are rampant in denselypopulated areas, potentially causing diseases such as leptospirosis, salmonellosis and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, he said. – dpa
China’s space salute
BEIJING: Two Chinese astronauts arrived, entered and saluted the folks back home from the Tiangong-2 space laboratory, a state media broadcast showed yesterday.
The Shenzhou-11 spacecraft docked with Tiangong-2 on Tuesday at an altitude of 393km after blasting off on Monday from the Jiuquan space centre, a military-operated facility on the edge of the Gobi Desert.
Astronauts Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong will spend the next 30 days conducting experiments before returning to Earth around November 14. – dpa
Demonstrators rammed
MANILA: A Philippine police van rammed demonstrators who were yesterday protesting against the presence of US troops in the country outside the US embassy in Manila, a protest organiser said.
Police also fired teargas in an attempt to disperse the more than 1 000 protesters who had gathered.
The demonstrators were holding a rally outside the embassy when the police began trying to disperse the crowd, said Renato Reyes, secretary-general of the left-wing group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (New Patriotic Alliance). – dpa
Jailed for crippling boy
MAIDUGURI: A Nigerian courtmartial has sentenced a soldier to three years in jail for meting out punishment that left a 10-year-old without the use of his hands. One hand was amputated.
A court ruling published yesterday also stripped all rank from Staff Sergeant Umar Sule.
The father of the crippled boy, Usman Muhammed, expressed satisfaction with Tuesday’s ruling.
The court-martial was petitioned by the governmentfunded National Human Rights Commission, which is also pursuing monetary compensation for the family. – AP
Kid vaccines deal
UNICEF has reached an agreement with six vaccine suppliers to provide a combined vaccine against five deadly childhood diseases for half the price the organisation pays now.
An estimated 5.7 million deaths a year could be averted under the deal to send 450 million doses to 80 countries between 2017 and 2020, the agency said.
“We will be able to procure pentavalent vaccine to protect children… for less than $1 (R14) a dose,” Shanelle Hall, Unicef director for supply and procurement said. – Reuters SYDNEY: A ship involved with the deep-sea sonar search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is being fitted with a drone that will examine several sonar contacts of interest on the remote seabed west of Australia, officials said yesterday.
None of the sonar contacts exhibit the characteristics of a typical aircraft debris field, said the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is heading up the hunt for the Boeing 777 in a desolate stretch of