■ Australia
Baked beans go upmarket
Long the staple of culinarily-challenged students, the humble baked bean went upmarket yesterday at a restaurant set up by food giant Heinz with a menu featuring the beans in every dish. Diners in the southern city of Melbourne can binge on beans all day long, starting with a breakfast of, for example, Heinz Baked Beans with crispy pancetta, mushrooms and ricotta on toasted ciabata bread for A$8.50 (US$5.95). Then they could return for a three-course dinner of golden fried Heinz Sweet Chilli Baked Bean fritters on rocket, pear and pistachio salad -- followed by pancetta wrapped chicken breast, stuffed with bocconcini, thyme and semi dried tomatoes on a Heinz Baked Bean and capsicum roesti and round it off with a desert of pumpkin and Heinz Baked Bean pie with a pistachio crust, served with marscapone, all for just A$41 (US$28.70).
■ Banglandesh
NGO head arrested
The executive director of one of Bangladesh's biggest non governmental organizations, Proshika, has been arrested on corruption charges, a government spokesman said yesterday. Qazi Faruque Ahmed was arrested Saturday and faces charges of misappropriating money intended for poverty alleviation, the government's principal information officer Khondker Manirul Alam told reporters. "Ahmed has been arrested and charges have been brought relating to corruption," he said. A spokeswoman for Proshika said Ahmed's deputy David William Biswas was also in custody and described the arrests as "politically motivated." The Bangladeshi government is a four-party Islamic coalition led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
■ South Korea
Ex-spy chief pardoned
South Korea yesterday pardoned six people, including an ex-spy agency chief, convicted over illegally paying US$500 million to North Korea in 2000, the justice ministry said. The pardons were a part of yesterday's presidential special amnesty affecting some 1,500 people in commemoration of Buddha's birthday, the ministry said in a statement. The six included Lim Dong-Won, a former head of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) who also served as chief presidential security advisor, and Lee Ki-Ho, a former chief presidential economic aide. They were convicted last year of engaging in the illegal transfer of US$500 million to North Korea just prior to a summit between then president Kim Dae-Jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il in June 2000.
■ China
Missile-exporters fined
China fined two companies for violating missile-export regulations, the government said yesterday, months after it issued new rules to restrict the sale of weapons technology. China is under US pressure to block the spread of weapons of mass destruction. The US has sanctioned several Chinese companies accused of transferring missile technology to Iran, Pakistan and other countries. The companies and China's government have denied the accusations. The companies included in yesterday's announcement were fined "millions of yuan," the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of dollars, the official Xinhua News Agency said. It didn't identify them or give details of their offenses. China issued rules in January restricting the export of missile, nuclear or biological technologies that could be used to make or deliver weapons of mass destruction.
■ United States
Aide sacked for saucy posts
Washington loves nothing as much as a summer sex scandal, and the season is off to an early start this year, as a congressional aide was sacked after posting her lovemaking exploits on the Internet. Jessica Cutler, 24 -- who has become better known as "Washingtonienne" -- was dismissed last week from her job as an entry-level aide to Republican Senator Mike DeWine. Her Internet diary includes lurid descriptions of sexual encounters on Capitol Hill and other venues in official Washington -- some allegedly involving prominent paramours. The tawdry accounts, which have become "must reads" in Washington, include descriptions of sexual favors for money, which she says she grants to supplement her paltry paycheck. "Most of my living expenses are thankfully subsidized by a few generous older gentlemen," she writes in one entry.
■ United States
Courtney Love pleads guilty
Closing one chapter in a troubled period in her life, rock star Courtney Love pleaded guilty on Tuesday to being under the influence of cocaine and agreed to enter drug treatment. Under the plea deal reached in Los Angeles Superior Court, the 39-year-old former lead singer for Hole will be spared any jail time and have the conviction removed from her record if she completes the treatment program, prosecutors said. In exchange for her guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to drop a charge of disorderly conduct stemming from her arrest last October. If she fails to complete the program or violates the terms of her probation, the singer will be required to serve at least 90 days in jail, prosecutor Jerry Baik said.
■ United States
Phish calls it quits
Phish, the enormously popular jam band that experimented with myriad musical genres and whose legions of dedicated fans made them a younger version of The Grateful Dead, announced that they are breaking up. The surprise announcement on Tuesday came as the band prepared to release a new album, Undermind, on June 15. They will still embark on a summer tour on June 17 at Coney Island in New York City. Band leader Trey Anastasio made the announcement on the band's Web site. The quartet was formed in 1983 and drew thousands of fans to their concerts with marathon performances and long, experimental jams that melded every type of music, from bluegrass to electronica.
■ Kosovo
UN official resigns
Prospects for a settlement between Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo were set back on Tuesday when the UN administrator of the province resigned after 10 months in the post. Harri Holkeri, 67, a former prime minister of Finland, who has been criticized for his lackluster performance in the job, told journalists in Helsinki that he was standing down for health reasons. Holkeri, who has led the civil administration of the UN protectorate in the Balkans since July, was recently admitted to hospital in Strasbourg suffering from fatigue. He then went home to Finland for further medical consultations. It is understood that his health problems are connected with the stress involved in running Kosovo.
■ United States
"`Times' admits bad reporting
The New York Times said its reporting in a number of stories leading up to the war in Iraq and the early occupation "was not as rigorous as it should have been" and relied on reports from informants whose credibility was later called into question. Reports of claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or ties to international terrorists contained information that was unchallenged by editors and was not adequately followed up, the Times said in a lengthy editor's note that appeared in yesterday's editions. The Times also said it had featured articles containing alarming claims about Iraq under Saddam Hussein more prominently than follow-up stories that countered those claims.
■ United States
Soldiers charged with abuse
Several US soldiers face possible discipline for forcing two Iraqi detainees to jump off a bridge into the Tigris River earlier this year, a US military spokesman said. There have been questions about whether one of the Iraqis died, but Fort Carson spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Budzyna said Tuesday that no one was killed. The soldiers, based at Fort Carson in Colorado, were part of a 3rd Brigade Combat Team, Budzyna said. Budzyna also said that members of another unit are being questioned about the deaths of two Iraqi prisoners. The CIA said one of its agents may have been involved and referred the case to the Justice Department.
■ West Bank
Family fued erupts
An argument between two Palestinian bodyguards quickly escalated Tuesday into a major clan feud. The incident began Monday, with an argument between two bodyguards for Samir Ghosheh, the head of the Palestinian National Struggle Front. As the argument heated, Ahmed Mustafa, 26, was shot and killed by his colleague, Hassan Musleh, Palestinian security officials said. A 10-year-old boy, riding his bicycle at the time, was shot in the head by a stray bullet. Hospital officials said the boy was on life support. Family feuds and gang battles have gone unchecked in the West Bank, as Palestinian police, banned from carrying weapons by Israel, watch from the sidelines
■ Germany
`Florida Rolf' goes home
The pensioner dubbed "Florida Rolf," who persuaded the German social services to pay for his life on the beach in America, has arrived back in Germany and signed up for more benefits. Rolf John, 65, provoked outrage last summer when it emerged that he was receiving US$2,200 a month in welfare payments, including US$875 for the rent of a beach house in Florida, from the German state. The embarrassed government quickly made it more difficult for citizens living abroad to claim benefits. John complained that living in Germany made him depressed, and after receiving a doctor's certificate of disability confirming his condition, he left the country and Frankfurt social services allowed him to receive his money abroad.
■ Iraq
Sarin found in bomb
Laboratory tests have confirmed that the chemical weapon sarin was in the remains of a roadside bomb found in Baghdad earlier this month, US government officials say. Two officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tuesday the finding verifies preliminary field tests that had indicated the deadly nerve agent was in the bomb. Officials are still investigating the origin of the bomb.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not