Asia in 3 minutes: India’s Trump-themed village goes down pan, ‘drinking’ kangaroo outrages Australia

Toilet charity’s plan for Trump-named village goes down the pan

A toilet-building charity’s effort to rename an Indian village after US President Donald Trump has been blocked. District officials who oversee Maroda village said the renaming effort was a fundraising stunt for the charity. But residents of the village in Haryana state worried they would not get free toilets if they abandoned the new name “Trump Sulabh Village”, the charity said.

What next? None of the funding is coming from Trump or the US, but Sulabh International founder Bindeshwar Pathak said he hoped the renaming attempt would bring attention to their efforts to improve sanitation across India, where about 60 per cent of the 1.25 billion population defecates in the open. “The real issue is that the area had already been declared open-defecation free,” though a survey by the charity found only 40 of the village’s 160 homes had toilets, Pathak said. “When we brought attention to the lack of toilets, they asked us to remove the signs” declaring its new name as Trump Sulabh Village. Most villagers who attended a renaming ceremony said they did not know who Trump was, but were happy to take his name if it meant a free toilet.

Cricketer gets suspended one-year ban for talking to press

Sri Lankan cricketer Lasith Malinga received a suspended one-year ban after the fast bowler pleaded guilty to a charge of speaking to the media without permission. The sanction is suspended for six months and Malinga will be fined 50 per cent of the match fee from his next one-day international, Sri Lanka’s cricket board said. The charge against Malinga came from his response to Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara accusing players of being overweight after Sri Lanka failed to reach the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy, with the team dropping several catches against Pakistan.

What next? Malinga said players knew best about the game and likened the minister – who had suggested military training for the team – to a monkey occupying a parrot’s nest. Sri Lanka Cricket appointed a three-member disciplinary committee with Malinga pleading guilty to breaching his contract with the board by speaking to the media without permission. A special executive committee meeting later considered the finding of the inquiry and announced the sentence, which meant the bowler was free to play in the home series against Zimbabwe that started on Friday.

Professor who called Otto Warmbier ‘clueless white male’ loses job

The University of Delaware has cut ties with an adjunct professor who suggested that Otto Warmbier, the American student whose death last week after being imprisoned in North Korea drew worldwide attention, was a “clueless white male” who “got exactly what he deserved”. Katherine Dettwyler, who taught in the anthropology department as recently as spring, “will not be rehired” the university said. Her comments “in no way reflect the values or position of the University of Delaware” the college said. Warmbier, 22, was visiting North Korea when he was sentenced to 15 years hard labour for trying to steal a poster from a hotel.