■ Kyrgyztan
Russia opens air base
In an attempt to shore up influence in a region it once ruled, President Vladimir Putin on Thursday opened Russia's first airbase in central Asia since the break-up of the Soviet Union. Putin and the Kyrgyz president, Askar Akayev, opened the Kant airbase, close to the capital, Bishkek, where 500 Russian military personnel and 10 Su-27 and Su-25 jets will be based. The Russian base is just a few dozen kilometers from the Manas military base where 2,000 American troops are stationed, much to the concern of Russian nationalists and some of the Russian government.
■ Italy
Strike over pensions
Trains, planes, schools, even opera houses faced disruption yesterday as millions of Italians went on strike to protest reforms of the pensions system. More than 100 demonstrations were set to gridlock towns across the country and travellers faced chaos as morning trains were cancelled and some 150 afternoon flights axed as part of the staggered four-hour strike. From 2008 they will be allowed to stop working only if they have paid into the system for 40 years or reached a minimum age of 65 for men and 60 for women.
■ France
British madame jailed
A British woman accused of running a high-class prostitution ring across Europe was found guilty on Thursday by a Paris court, sentenced to four years in prison and handed a 150,000 euros (US$177,000) fine. Margaret MacDonald, who turned 44 yesterday, was given no chance to comment on the sentence which convicted her of "aggravated procuring for the purposes of prostitution." The prosecution alleged that MacDonald had recruited 538 women and 56 men to work for her successful agency by the time she was arrested in a Paris hotel last year. Meetings were arranged in smart hotels, private homes and occasionally yachts across Europe and clients were charged about 1,000 euros an hour, of which MacDonald took a 40 percent cut.
■ United states
New sea creature discovered
The creature, as viewed from the submarine moving about the ocean depths between Iceland and the Azores, was like nothing the marine biologists had seen before. It had a purple, lotus flower-shaped head perched atop a sinuous green stalk of a body measuring several centimeters long. Months later, the scientists are still not entirely sure if the animal was a fish since the specimen discovered disintegrated when it came to the surface. But its discovery is part of a billion-dollar, 10-year marine project. During the past three years, more than 300 scientists from 53 countries have identified three new species of fish each week. By the time the project is finished, the scientists hope to have established a marine life "base line" from which they will be able to predict change.
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