World briefs

TAIWAN The golden horse statues have been awarded, but drama hasn’t ended from one of Asia’s biggest film festivals. Chinese actress Gong Li (pictured) called Taiwan’s Golden Horse Film Festival unprofessional after she lost the best actress category to Taiwanese actress Chen Shiang Chyi.

PAKISTAN Gunmen attack a polio vaccination team, killing four health workers, while a suspected U.S. drone strike kills four alleged militants in Pakistan, officials say. The attack on the health workers took place in the southwestern city of Quetta, while the drone strike targeted a militant hideout in the North Waziristan tribal region in northwest Pakistan.

INDIA The three-wheeled rickshaw lurches through New Delhi’s commuter-clogged streets with an American scientist and several air pollution monitors in the back seat. Joshua Apte has alarming findings for anyone who spends time on or near the roads in this city of 25 million. The pollution numbers are far worse than the ones that have already led the World Health Organization to rank New Delhi as the world’s most polluted city. More on p12

THAILAND Two top police officers embroiled in a high-profile corruption scandal in Thailand kept an illicit fortune that included antique paintings, golden postage stamps and tens of millions of dollars in cash hidden in secret vaults at a dozen private residences, authorities say. Investigators found the goods stowed behind brick walls they had to break down and buried inside underground vaults on properties owned by the officers in Bangkok and the city’s outskirts.

NEW ZEALAND AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd (pictured) showed up late for a New Zealand court appearance yesterday and clowned around by jumping on the back of one of his security guards outside the courthouse. Rudd did not enter a plea during his brief appearance. The 60-year-old is charged with threatening to kill, which comes with a maximum prison sentence of seven years, as well as possessing methamphetamine and marijuana.

NEPAL South Asian leaders, including from rivals India and Pakistan, gather in Nepal’s capital to boost cooperation in trade and energy and seek greater peace in the region, home to more than a fifth of the world’s population. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit, the first since 2011, is meant as a forum to discuss regional issues, but is usually dominated by the rivalry between Pakistan and India. It is supposed to be held annually, but is often shelved due to member nations disagreeing on meeting dates.

AFGHANISTAN The United Nations appeals for USD405 million to cover the humanitarian needs of the people in Afghanistan in 2015.

USA National Guard reinforcements helped contain the latest protests in Ferguson, preventing a second night of the chaos that led to arson and looting after a grand jury decided not to indict the white police officer who killed Michael Brown. With hundreds of additional troops standing watch over streets and businesses, Tuesday night’s demonstrations had little of the destructive power from the previous night.