■ Hong Kong
Porn video shocks airport
Hong Kong's airport is up in arms over a Japanese porn video which shows a model posing in the nude in various locations at its state-of-the-art facility. The Japanese-language video came to light here after some Hong Kong newspapers printed shots from the film, which shows a young model clad in only a pair of high heels and a silver raincoat, which she flashes open time and again. "We can't allow this to happen and we are very shocked," a spokeswoman for the airport authority said yesterday, adding that it had reported the matter to police. Some newspapers said the 60-minute film, called Exposure trip in Hong Kong, shows the model "engaging in lascivious acts in direct view of the airline counters at the departure hall."
■ Australia
Boy who sparked riot buried
Extra police were on standby near a remote Outback town yesterday as hundreds of mourners attended the funeral of a teenage boy whose death sparked a nine-hour riot in an Aboriginal ghetto in Sydney. Hundreds of kilometers away, in Sydney, dozens of police including dog handlers warily watched hundreds of Aborigines who staged a march near the scene of the riot to protest the death of 17-year-old Thomas Hickey. The marchers demanded an independent inquiry into his death. Claims that police chased Hickey to his death on Feb. 15 sparked the rampage by mostly Aboriginal teenagers that left 40 officers injured.
■ India
Six die in space center fire
Authorities yesterday investigated an explosion and fire at a research facility at India's main space center that killed at least six people and seriously injured three. Madhavan Nair, the head of India's space program, launched the inquiry into the fire at a solid propellant plant at the government's Dhawan Space Center on Sriharikota Island just off India's southeastern coast. Nair, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, said firefighters contained the blaze on Monday evening. The cause remained unclear.
■ Hong Kong
Protest venue blocked
The organizers of an anti-government rally that attracted 500,000 people in Hong Kong have had their booking for an anniversary protest venue blocked, a news report said yesterday. The Civil Human Rights Front tried to book the city's Victoria Park for a march on July 1, the first anniversary of the mass rally which made headlines worldwide. However, organizers have been told all six football pitches have already been reserved on that day and they can only book the central lawn, the South China Morning Post said. Government officials refused to say who had booked the park.
■ Vietnam
Bomb smuggler sentenced
A man has been given a life jail sentence after being convicted of making explosives that killed 46 people when they detonated in a crowded bus in Vietnam last April, a court official said yesterday. Nguyen Van Thuan, 46, bought war-era shells and grenades and extracted the explosives, which his wife then sold on the black market in Hanoi, an investigative police officer said. Four kilograms of recycled explosives detonated on a bus in a busy marketplace in Bac Ninh province last April, killing a total of 46 people and injuring 47. Thuan was given a life sentence for smuggling and transporting explosives at the end of the one-day trial which ended on Monday.
■ United Kingdom
Men suing Saudi captors
Two British nationals and a Canadian man convicted in Saudi Arabia of carrying out a spate of bombings are suing their captors, who they say tortured them into confessing, their lawyers said Monday. Sandy Mitchell, Les Walker and Canadian William Sampson have made a claim through the British courts for damages from four men: two of their interrogators; a Saudi government minister; and the deputy governor of the prison where they were held for two-and-a-half years. "We are not saying we are not suing the state," said Mark Emery, a lawyer for the three men. "It is certainly possible we are going to sue the state. We are very much of the opinion that might [occur] at some point," he said.
■ Canada
Nurse files SARS suit
A Toronto nurse who caught the deadly SARS virus last year on Monday filed suit against Canada, Ontario and the city of Toronto, accusing them of poor management of the outbreak of the respiratory disease. Andrea Williams is seeking authorization for a class action lawsuit, to allow other victims to make claims along with her. Williams is seeking US$450 million in damages, charging authorities were negligent in lifting precautionary measures in hospitals too quickly between late April and early May 2003. At that time, the WHO, stating that no new cases had been seen in Canada, scratched Toronto off its blacklist of destinations to avoid. However, the disease spread further still into Toronto in the following weeks.
■ Canada
Death in spitting contest
A student fell 11 storeys to his death during a spitting contest on his 20th birthday, police said Monday. The Ottawa-Carleton University student had been drinking with friends when, in an attempt to spit the farthest off a balcony, got a running start, tumbled over the railing and fell 11 storeys to his death, police said. Police called the death "a tragic accident."
■ United States
Youth getting sex diseases
Teenagers and young adults account for nearly half the cases of sexually transmitted diseases (STD) in the US, though they make up just a quarter of the sexually active population, according to the first extensive national estimate of STDs among young Americans. Researchers at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 9.1 million cases of eight sexually transmitted diseases occurred in people aged 15 to 24 in the year 2000. There were 18.9 million new cases overall, the report said.
■ United States
`Rings' busts US$1 billion
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, already this year's most-nominated Oscar film, has become the second movie ever to break the US$1 billion box-office mark worldwide, and did so in record time, distributor New Line Cinema reported on Monday. The conclusion to director Peter Jackson's fantasy trilogy now ranks as the second-highest-grossing film of all time after the 1997 seagoing romance Titanic, which cruised to US$1.8 billion in global receipts. But Return of the King crossed the 10-figure threshold in less time, getting there in fewer than 10 weeks from its Dec. 17 opening, compared with Titanic, which hit the mark as it entered its 11th week after its release.
■ United States
Halliburton probe begins
The US Defense Department has launched a criminal investigation into allegations that a subsidiary of oil service company Halliburton had overcharged the military for oil delivered to Iraq, a defense official said Monday. "The Defense Criminal Investigative Service ... is investigating allegations of fraud on the part of Kellogg Brown and Root [KBR], including the potential overpricing of fuel delivered to Baghdad by a KBR subcontractor," said the Pentagon official. Kellogg Brown and Root is a subsidiary of Halliburton,
a Houston, Texas-based company which was headed by Vice President Richard Cheney until 2000, when
he joined George W. Bush's election campaign.
■ United States
Amnesty protests trial ban
Amnesty International and two other leading human rights organizations are protesting to the Pentagon about its decision not to
let them attend the planned trials of al-Qaeda suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The US Defense Department refused
to allow them to send representatives, citing a
lack of courtroom space and other logistical problems. Journalists will be able
to attend, as will the International Committee
of the Red Cross. Lesley Warner, a spokeswoman for Amnesty International, said yesterday: "Allowing media coverage while pleading insufficient space for human rights groups smacks of fear of informed criticism, and will only fuel the perception that tribunals will be show trials."
■ United States
Osama tops pay-per-kill list
One in five Americans would pay to watch a televised execution of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden if he were found guilty and sentenced to death, but more than a third say executions should not be televised, a poll released on Monday said. The poll for TRIO cable network by Harris Interactive asked respondents who they would most likely pay to watch executed if executions were shown on pay-per-view
TV. Bin Laden, accused of masterminding the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the US, was named by 21 percent of those polled. Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was named by 11 percent. However,
37 percent of those polled
said they did not think
that executions should be televised.
■ United States
Topless cafe gets the nod
Facing stiff competition from nationwide coffee
shop chains, one Maine businessman wants to offer more than just a regular cup of cappuccino to perk up his customers -- so he's hiring topless waitresses. Normand St Michel submitted an application with the town of Madison, Maine, to open a topless coffee bar named
the Heavenly Angels Coffee Shop. "He has the go-
ahead as far as the town
is concerned," said Robert Dunphy, the town's code enforcement officer, adding that the project does not violate Madison's obscenity ordinance.
■ United States
Couples vie for custody
A judge began hearing evidence to decide whether
a 5-year-old Chinese girl should remain with her US foster family or be returned to her immigrant parents. Shaoqiang He and Qin Luo say they were out of work and unable to care for their daughter when they signed juvenile-court papers in
1999 giving custody of the newborn to the couple. Jerry and Louise Baker have cared for Anna Mae since then and are trying to adopt her.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
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
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