■ Singapore
Bungeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Singaporeans can now undertake bungee jumping without having to travel overseas after Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong yesterday said the adrenalin-pumping activity will be permitted. "It is not an activity that I would do," Goh said in an afternoon speech to formally receive a report from a government-appointed committee tasked with reviewing social, political and cultural practices. "But I accept that some of you may want a rush of adrenaline from jumping off a high bridge, suspended from a rope. So we will now allow bungee jumping in Singapore," the 62-year-old premier said.
■ Thailand
Nurses fume about cigars
Thailand's nurses were fuming yesterday over the local outlet of an international cigar company naming itself The Nurse and outfitting its staff in nurse uniforms. "Nurses take care of sick people and promote good health, but cigars and wine are not merchandise relating to good health at all," Thailand's Nursing Council said. "It is not appropriate for the shop's presenters to dress in nurse uniforms," it added. The council, which represents around 140,000 nurses nationwide, said that allowing the shop to continue using its name would tarnish the professional image of nurses.
■ China
One size fits all?
A condom big enough to cover a hotel 80m tall has gone on show in the southern Chinese city of Guilin to mark UN World Population Day in the most populous nation on the globe, the Xinhua news agency said. The Guilin Latex Company has applied to the publishers of the Guinness Book of World Records to recognize their giant yellow condom, nearly 100m in perimeter and big enough to swathe the local Fragrant River Hotel, as the world's largest, Xinhua said. The company joined local birth control officials in Guilin on Friday to promote contraception, distributing free condoms and brochures to passers-by.
■ India
Marriage lasts two hours
An Indian bride ended her marriage after just two hours after her husband allegedly demanded dowry at the wedding reception, Indian television reported yesterday. Kanta, 18, was enraged when her police officer husband Prakash asked for 51,000 rupees (US$1,109) "as the price for being married to him," New Delhi Television (NDTV) reported. Kanta told NDTV, "He told me that my parents had cheated him. He then told me to ask my parents to pay him 51,000 rupees in cash or else he would not take me with him. My parents asked for his forgiveness even though they were not at fault. How can I spend the rest of my life with a person like this?"
■ Australia
White whale is `special'
Fear that the rare white humpback swimming up Australia's east coast will be loved to death by over eager animal lovers yesterday prompted the Queensland state government to declare it a "special interest whale." Those following the albino's progress up the Queensland coast were warned by Queensland Environment Minister Dean Wells to keep their distance or risk a hefty fine. The 12m humpback was first sighted in 1991 and has been seen regularly in the last four years making its way north from the Antarctic to breed in the tropical waters off the Great Barrier Reef.
■ Russia
Police track down lost nose
A giant statue of a nose, inspired by Nikolai Gogol's story of a man's pursuit for his runaway nose, was tracked down by Russian police on Friday, 10 months after it vanished. Life imitated art when the marble sculpture, erected in Russia's second city eight years ago to honor the tale, went walk-about last September from the house where the story's hero is supposed to have lived. The head of St Petersburg's sculpture museum said the 100kg proboscis was found in a city apartment block. "Both the residents and the police, who found the nose, treated it with affection," Vladimir Timofeyev said.
■ France
Culture festivals in trouble
Some of France's most renowned summer culture festivals faced the prospect of financial ruin after closing down amid strikes by performers, organizers said on Friday. The fallout from the cancelation of events like the famed Avignon theater festival was expected to ripple through the southern French town's economy, down to shopkeepers and restaurateurs. Meanwhile, as event organizers were tallying up the losses, union leaders vowed to press on with their walkout over government plans to cut their unemployment benefits. The powerful CGT union, which has spearheaded the show business strike, vowed to disrupt shows that have not yet been canceled.
■ United Kingdom
Beatles museum to open
An important Beatles archive is to go on public display for the first time. The archive, which museum staff describe as one of pop culture's most significant collections, includes a guitar which used to belong to Stuart Sutcliffe, one of the original Beatles. It will be displayed at the Museum of Liverpool Life, in the Beatles home city of Liverpool in the north west of England, from next month. The collection reveals an important snapshot of the band's early life. Sutcliffe was a member of the Beatles in the band's formative years, but left the group to study art and died of a brain haemorrhage when he was just 21.
■ United Kingdom
Sex Pistols to play in Iraq
British punk band the Sex Pistols want to bring their particular brand of anarchy to Iraq, vowing to play a live concert in Baghdad with the message that democracy has its pitfalls. In an interview posted on the MTV music channel Web site, Pistols' frontman John Lydon, who was known as Johnny Rotten during the punk heyday, said the reformed band hoped to set up the concert for sometime early next year. "I am definite about it," Lydon said. "The red tape is lining up thick and fast, and the more they put up, the bigger the scissors."
■ Germany
Love parade marches on
Bare flesh, pierced belly-buttons, fluorescent swimsuits or skin-tight pants -- thousands of dolled up techno fans hit Berlin's nightclubs overnight on Friday in a warm-up session for the annual techno rave party, the Love Parade. Trucks bedecked with disc jockeys from all over Europe were due to kick-off the 15th Love Parade at midday yesterday, spinning the latest tracks and filling the German capital with pumping techno beats. Organizers will be hoping the summer sun will draw in the crowds as numbers have been dropping steadily for two years. Less than 700,000 people partied the day away last year when rain drenched the music fest, compared with over 2 million people in 2000.
■ Congo
French troops kill three
French peacekeepers in this troubled town in war-torn northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday killed three ethnic militia fighters, a force spokesman said. Another spokesman for the French-led force had earlier said that at least five had been killed in the exchange of fire with militia fighters from the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) on the outskirts of Bunia. Spokesman Colonel Gerard Dubois said three fighters were killed after members of the rebel group fired shots during a search for banned weapons. The force suffered no casualties, Commander Xavier Pons said earlier.
■ Colombia
Mayor charged with murder
The attorney general's office charged a town mayor with the murder of a journalist on Friday, issuing an arrest warrant for his arrest. Julio Cesar Ardila, mayor of Barrancabermeja, is accused of ordering the killing of Juan Emeterio Rivas. The radio journalist's bullet-riddled body was found in April in a rural area outside of the town, which is home to the nation's largest oil refinery. Rivas was known for his controversial radio programs, which often accused Ardila of corruption and ties to outlawed paramilitary groups operating in Barrancabermeja, 265km north of the capital Bogota.
■ Spain
Six injured in bull run
Six men were injured early yesterday as they raced with bulls at the week-long Pamplona fiesta, bringing to at least 37 the number of casualties this week in the traditional hair-raising ritual. The incidents took place on the sixth day of racing in the northern Spanish town, in which mainly young men risk death and injury by racing ahead of fighting bulls as these are driven through the streets of the Spanish town en route for the bullring. A 31-year-old British runner, David Bigging, was hospitalized with thigh and head injuries, while a Spanish runner aged 36 was gored in the thigh.
■ Greece
Police defuse bomb
Greek police defused late on Friday an explosive device placed at the doorstep of a branch of US insurance giant AIG in Athens, police sources said. No serious damage was caused by the controlled explosion of the bomb, which was of a small capacity, the sources said. A detonator and remains of TNT were detected, sources said. Police explosive experts were seeking to establish the type of device was used. Police acted upon a phone call made by an unknown man to a television station, warning of an imminent explosion at the site. Senior police and anti-terrorist squad officials were investigating the incident, the sources added.
■ Albania
Blood feuds affect children
More than 1,000 children are confined indoors in Albania for fear of being killed in blood feuds, government figures revealed. According to the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the total number of children currently affected by blood feuds all over the country amounts to 1,024. Almost all of them were from northern Albania, where the tradition of blood feuds is still strong. The government has not been successful in its attempts to fight the phenomenon after it increased in the early 1990s. The children are the victims of murders committed by their fathers or their kinsfolk. The tradition is based on a 15th century Kanun law drawn up by Lek Dukagjini, an Albanian feudal lord of that period.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of