■ China
Clothing police dog Britney
Struggling to hold in check liberal tendencies of the country's increasingly affluent and curious urban middle class, Beijing's bureaucrats will vet Britney Spears' wardrobe to ensure she does not reveal too much raw talent on her first tour of China next year, a report said on Tuesday. The singer is seeking permission to perform five concerts in Shanghai and Beijing early next year, which would be among the biggest staged by a foreign act in China. But her reputation appears to have prompted Chinese officials into thinking that she may expose too much flesh.
■ China
SARS alert lifted
Beijing has closed down
its SARS-prevention headquarters and ended emergency control measures on Tuesday, state press reported yesterday. In a similar move, the Ministry
of Public Health announced
the suspension of daily surveillance reports on the epidemic, saying the latest outbreak was under control, Xinhua news agency said. The anti-SARS headquarters, a joint working team responsible for epidemic control and prevention, was established on April 22 when Beijing reported its first SARS case this year. The notice said the decision was made following the discharge of all seven SARS patients recovering in the city and the removal from isolation of those who had close contact with them.
■ China
Finger can't save marriage
A man in western China who cut off his finger to prove his devotion to his fiancee is suing her over his lost digit now that she has divorced him, a report said yesterday. Zhang Liang cut off his finger in front of his fiancee and swore he would stop gambling when she threatened to leave him
four years ago. The gesture
won her heart and the
pair married but the union turned sour when Zhang started gambling again and stole money from his wife, the Hong Kong edition of the China Daily reported. After his wife walked out
on him, Zhang went to court demanding 12,000 yuan (US$1,400) compensation for his lost finger. The court threw out his application.
■ New Zealand
SMS protest lands huge bill
A New Zealander sent over 80,000 text messages from his mobile phone last month -- an average of 2,580 texts a day -- in protest at a hike in short message service (SMS)tariffs. Allowing eight hours for sleep every day, Fraser Ray, a 24-year-old stay-at-home father, zapped off a blizzard of 80,012 text messages from his phone after Telecom Corp
decided to end a deal giving subscribers unlimited SMS for NZ$10 (US$6.29) a month. His text attack
was simple enough -- he repeatedly sent friends a message reading: "Hi. How are you?" At a maximum rate of NZ$0.20 per message, Ray would have tallied a bill of NZ$16,000 for his protest.
■ Singapore
Go north, my children
Singapore will offer scholarships to hundreds of students to become experts on China to ensure the city-state remains relevant to Beijing and its growing economic power, former prime minister and founding father Lee Kuan Yew said. The candidates must have a deep understanding of Chinese culture, language and history, he said on Tuesday. Lee said Singapore needs more experts on China to gain the upper hand over other countries trying to win China's business.
■ United Kingdom
Chinese food shortage looms
A British government crackdown on illegal workers in the restaurant trade has sparked a labor shortage in the Chinese food sector, which traditionally relies on such employees, a report said yesterday. The worker shortage is particularly acute in London's bustling Chinatown, where many kitchen staff have tended to be unofficial entrants to the country paid below minimum wage levels, the Guardian newspaper said. Faced with official warnings that they could be jailed for two years or fined stiffly for employing illegal staff, restaurant owners have sacked hundreds of workers, the paper said.
■ United Kingdom
Prince `should get married'
Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey says Prince Charles and his longtime love Camilla Parker Bowles should be married. "He is heir to the throne and he loves her," Carey told The Times newspaper in an interview published yesterday. "The natural thing is that they should get married." Charles' office has said repeatedly that he has no plans to marry. The Church of England has stayed neutral on a marriage between Parker Bowles and Charles, who divorced Princess Diana before her death in 1997. It's a sensitive issue because Charles would be the supreme governor of the church if he succeeds to the throne, and some Anglicans remain opposed to remarriage of divorcees.
■ Saudi Arabia
Americans attacked
Militants opened fire on two Americans in the Saudi capital of Riyadh on yesterday, but no one was injured, Saudi security officials said. The attack took place as the Americans were leaving a compound on the Kharj highway in southern Riyadh. It wasn't immediately clear whether they were in the same car or driving separately. A Western diplomat said some Americans had come under fire by assailants in three vehicles and that one of the Americans was injured.
■ United States
`Fahrenheit' gets distributor
The independent studio Lions Gate Films will distribute Michael Moore's documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, which has gained wide notice for its critique of US President George W. Bush and was spurned for distribution by the Walt Disney Company. It will be released on June 25 in about 1,000 theaters. IFC Entertainment is putting up 25 percent of the theatrical distribution costs, which could range from US$8 million to US$10 million, said executives involved in the deal. Showtime, which already has a deal in place with Lions Gate, will show the film on pay cable. Harvey and Bob Weinstein, co-chairmen of Miramax, privately acquired the film last week from Disney after Disney instructed them not to distribute the film because of its political nature.
■ United States
Scott Peterson trial starts
For a year and a half, the deaths of Laci Peterson and her fetus have been among the most talked-about crimes in the US, with every detail, true or supposed, picked apart on television, in newspapers and over bowls of popcorn on living room couches. On Tuesday, the process finally moved into a courtroom as the murder trial of Laci Peterson's husband, Scott, 31, got under way in San Mateo County Superior Court in Redwood City, California. It was clear from the outset that Rick Distaso, the lead prosecutor in the case, assumed the jurors knew a lot about the case. He spent no time on the basics or even introducing the Petersons.
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
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