■ Japan
Space agencies streamlined
Japan merged its three space agencies yesterday to save money, just as China counts down the weeks to a milestone its wealthy neighbor has yet to reach -- its first manned space launch. The govern-ment aims to save ?10 billion (US$89.8 million) a year by unifying Japan's space-related activities, ranging from fundamental research to satellite development and rocket launches, under the management of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
■ Japan
Cow disease traced
Japan has traced the country's mad-cow disease outbreak
of two years ago to either Italian cattle feed or British cows, but is still unsure exactly how the disease spread to domestic herds, according to a government panel report. The report concluded an 11-month investigation into the cause of the fatal bovine disease in Japan, where it was dis-covered in September 2001. Screening of all cattle bred for human consumption began a month later, but the source of the outbreak has perplexed scientists and concerns remain among ordinary Japanese about more possible cases. The outbreak likely stemmed from 14 British cows imported between 1982 and 1987, during the peak of infections there, or about 650 tonnes of meat-and-bone meal made from ground-up infected animals from Italy before 1991, the report said.
■ India
Durga festival begins
Over 100 million people in eastern India began a five-day festival yesterday for a 10-armed, demon-slaying Hindu goddess who triumphed over evil -- but is also associated with disasters, like the deadly floods that have recently ravaged the country. The five-day Durga Puja festivities honor Durga, a young woman chosen and empowered by the gods to kill a vicious demon king who rampaged through heaven and earth in ancient times, terrorizing mortals and gods alike. Hindus link natural events, like flood and drought, to Durga's annual arrival on earth.
■ Australia
Animal exports to continue
Australia will not halt its lucrative live animal exports despite concern over the plight of thousands of sheep that have been stranded at sea on a cargo ship for eight weeks, the government said yesterday. Australia exports A$195 million (US$125 million) worth of live animals each year, mostly to Islamic countries that require halal meat products -- that is, meat from an animal that has been killed by a Muslim who slits its jugular vein and drains all blood from the carcass. Australia also provides pre-packed halal meat to Islamic countries, but the demand is higher for livestock as many customers cannot afford the packaged product or do not have refrigeration to keep it fresh.
■ China
Soldiers give all for country
Chinese soldiers have entered a new line of production as sewage from six military units in Beijing is being recycled and turned into water clean enough for washing cars and watering flowers, state media said on Tuesday. Chinese soldiers have a proud tradition of supplying their labor to civilian society, and with the opening Monday of a military-designed sewage treatment system, they have an opportunity to contribute even more, the Xinhua news agency reported. The sewage system, the largest in Chinese history, is capable of processing and "rendering harmless" 5,000 tonnes of sewage a day, the agency reported.
■ Russia
Nuclear material in garage
A deputy director of a company that operates and repairs Russia's nuclear-powered icebreakers has been arrested for hoarding in his garage 2kg of highly radioactive material. Alexander Tyuliakov, 50, was seized as he tried to sell undercover investigators a suitcase containing the material, which is thought to include a small amount of uranium 235, capable of being used to make a "dirty" bomb. It was unclear on Tuesday whether he had got it from his employer, Atomflot, which refuels the Arctic icebreakers at its Murmansk shipyard, or from his contacts in the nuclear industry.
■ United States
Huffington out of recall race
A week before the election, independent Arianna Huffington dropped out of the California recall race to focus on torpedoing Arnold Schwarzenegger's run for governor as a new poll showed strong support for ousting Governor Gray Davis and the actor leading rivals to replace him. The Los Angeles Times poll showed the recall succeeding by a 56 percent to 42 percent margin. That was a dramatic shift from a Sept. 12 Times poll that showed support for the recall stalling, with 50 percent of voters supporting it and 47 percent in opposition. Schwarzenegger had support from 40 percent of likely voters in Tuesday's poll.
■ Israel
Pilots mutinous, MPs say
Israeli members of parliament called yesterday for 28 air force pilots to be sacked and tried for mutiny for refusing to attack Palestinian towns. The defense minister, Shaul Mofaz, told the knesset that the pilots were aiding "terrorists" when they signed a letter last week saying they would not carry out "illegal and immoral orders to attack, of the type Israel carries out in the [occupied] territories." These included targeted assassinations in Palestinian urban areas which, the pilots said, endangered civilian lives. Mofaz called the pilots pretentious, sanctimonious and arrogant. "The refuseniks' letter gives moral encouragement to the lawless members of the terrorist organizations," he said.
■ United States
Baby survives on ketchup
A two-year-old girl survived on ketchup, mustard and dried pasta for nearly three weeks after she was left home alone while her mother served time in jail. The child was recovering from malnutrition on Tuesday and was listed in good condition at Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida. The child's father, Ogden Lee, who is separated from the child's 22-year-old mother, Dakeysha Telita Lee, said he had been trying to contact the mother for two weeks and did not learn until Sunday that she was in jail. When a manager let him into the apartment on Monday, the girl was lying in a baby's bathtub, covered with a towel and was watching cartoons.
■ Ecuador
It's never too late ...
Ecuadorans were reminded to set their watches on Tuesday, in a war against an evil as costly as theft or corruption: lateness. "He who is late steals time from another," said Cesar Montufar, the retired colonel in charge of ending lateness. The campaign begins Wednesday precisely at noon, or so. President Lucio Gutierrez will kick off events by signing a commitment to be on time. In Ecuador, where the national pastime is being past time, Montufar has a huge task, by his own accounting. He said lateness costs Ecuador, a tropical country for sure, 3.4 percent of its gross national product.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
The pitch is a classic: A young celebrity with no climbing experience spends a year in hard training and scales Mount Everest, succeeding against some — if not all — odds. French YouTuber Ines Benazzouz, known as Inoxtag, brought the story to life with a two-hour-plus documentary about his year preparing for the ultimate challenge. The film, titled Kaizen, proved a smash hit on its release last weekend. Young fans queued around the block to get into a preview screening in Paris, with Inoxtag’s management on Monday saying the film had smashed the box office record for a special cinema