■ United Kingdom
Dog's ears a world record
PHOTO: REUTERS
A basset hound whose grandfather gained fame as Biggles, the face of Hush Puppies shoes, has hit the limelight himself, making it into the new Guinness Book of World Records as the dog with the longest ears. Guinness issued a photo of Mr. Jeffries, Biggles' grandson, on Wednesday. Mr. Jeffries, whose full name is Knightsfollie Ladiesman, has ears that measured 29.2cm on Nov. 3, 2002, Guinness said. Owner Phil Jeffries said his pet, whose ears are insured for US$47,800, often stands on his ears, trips over them or drags them through his food.
■ Germany
Court accepts teacher's scarf
Treading into a debate that has flared across Europe, Germany's highest court ruled on Wednesday that a Muslim teacher cannot be forbidden to wear a head scarf in a public school. The decision ended a protracted legal battle involving an Afghan-born woman, Fereshta Ludin, who was barred from teaching at a school in Stuttgart because she refused to shed her scarf. In August, the constitutional court ruled that a Turkish shop assistant had been wrongly dismissed for expressing a desire to wear a head scarf at work. Her boss claimed it would drive away customers.
■ United Kingdom
Iraq death penalty debated
Britain and the US are discussing reinstating the death penalty in Iraq in response to calls by senior Iraqis who want to curb rising lawlessness, The Times newspaper reported yesterday. Prime Minister Tony Blair's special envoy on human rights in Iraq, Ann Clwyd, said the British government was against the death penalty. But it was discussing calls by Iraqi Governing Council members to reinstate it because Iraqis are frustrated that lawlessness is going unpunished.
■ United states
Visa program extended
The US government has postponed until Oct. 26 next year the date for tightening the rules for letting people enter the country without visas, the State Department said on Wednesday. The extension applies to 21 of the 27 countries on the "visa waiver" list. Under the previous arrangements, with effect from Oct. 1, those whose passports are not readable by machine would not have been able to enter the US without visas. Foreign governments in the visa-waiver program face another deadline on Oct. 26 next year, when the US wants them to introduce "biometric identifiers" in passports they issue, which would include digitally coded information about the person's facial features or fingerprints.
■ United states
Rich get richer...
The gap between rich and poor more than doubled from 1979 to 2000, an analysis of government data released Wednesday shows. The figures show 2000 as the year of the greatest economic disparity between rich and poor for any year since 1979, the year the budget office began collecting this data. The richest 2.8 million Americans had US$950 billion after taxes, or 15.5 percent, of the US$6.2 trillion economic pie in 2000. The poorest 110 million Americans had less, sharing 14.4 percent of all-after tax money.
■ Japan
Election set for Nov. 9
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will call lower-house elections for Nov. 9 after dissolving Parliament on Oct. 10, local media reported yesterday. The <
■ Thailand
Sex quality, not quantity
When it comes to sex, Thais don't do it too often, but when they do they enjoy it more than anyone else on earth, according to results of a worldwide survey. Asked whether they were happy with their sex lives, 92 per cent of Thais surveyed by the condom-maker Durex said yes, followed closely by the 90 per cent of Vietnamese who expressed sexual satisfaction far higher than the global average of 73 per cent. Overall results of the annual global survey, which were released on Monday, showed that the Hungarians had replaced the French in their love-making frequency at an average of 152 times a year, followed closely by the Bulgarians at 151 times a year.
■ Australia
Sheep shipment protested
Australian police removed protesters who chained themselves to fences at a port yesterday in a bid to stop the loading of a live cargo of sheep amid an escalating row over more than 50,000 sheep stranded at sea. The port protest, staged to highlight the plight of the sheep adrift in the Gulf, ended as police cut through chains to make a path for trucks taking sheep from a feedlot to a ship, which is due to take them on to the Middle East. A shipload of sheep has been in limbo for over a month after it was rejected by Saudi Arabia because of what it said was an unacceptably high incidence of disease. The Saudi importer, aided by Australian officials, is trying to find them a new market.
■ China
No unappetizing ads
China has banned commercials for feminine hygiene products and haemorrhoid ointments and other items deemed unappetizing during meal times, local media said yesterday. The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television unveiled the restrictions as part of a regime of fresh controls on commercials in China's increasingly market-savvy, decentralized television industry, Xinhua news agency said. "Television and radio broadcasters' advertisements should respect the customs of the masses ... and are not allowed to air commercials likely to disgust audiences, for example medicines for haemorrhoids and athlete's foot, sanitary napkins and other hygiene products," the Beijing Times said.
■ Indonesia
No appeal for Bali bomber
Convicted Bali bomber Ali Imron will not appeal a life sentence handed to him last week to show he truly regrets his actions, one of his lawyers said yesterday. "He fears that if he appeals, his remorse will be considered make-believe," Muhammad Yasin said. "He accepts the verdict whole-heartedly."
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was