■ United States
Kamm wins MacArthur grant
Businessman-turned-rights lobbyist John Kamm was one of 24 people awarded US$500,000 MacArthur Foundation grants on Tues-day. Kamm, 53, was a suc-cessful businessman and a president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong when he sud-denly veered off career course to become a highly successful, champion of Chinese political detainees. His conversion was triggered by the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. Kamm has succeeded in securing the release or improving the conditions of hundreds of jailed political activists, including some extremely high-profile dissidents. Kamm said he would use the prize to further the lobbying work of his San Francisco-based Dui Hua Foundation.
■ Hong Kong
Yeoh to marry Ferrari man
Action star and former Bond girl Michelle Yeoh is to marry Ferrari motor racing team boss Jean Todt, the South China Morning Post reported yesterday. The glamorous couple let the secret out of the bag at a star-studded event in the territory on Tuesday when Todt revealed he had pro-posed to the former beauty queen, the newspaper reported. "I proposed to her and now we are engaged," the 58-year old Frenchman was quoted as saying. The pair have had a whirlwind romance since meeting at a Ferrari event in Shanghai in June. They were introduced by Yeoh's former boyfriend of four years, movie pro-ducer Thomas Chung. The two were together in Shang-hai last weekend during the Chinese Grand Prix.
■ New Zealand
Alleged spies deported
Two men the government labeled Israeli Mossad spies were deported yesterday after spending three months in jail. A spokeswoman for Prime Minister Helen Clark confirmed the deportation of Eli Cara, 50, and Uri Kelman, 30. She added that there had been no contact from the Israeli government about the two men's part in a conspir-acy to illegally obtain a New Zealand passport. The crime was discovered after an official discovered that a passport application had been made in the name of a cerebral palsy sufferer who could not travel. Police arrested Cara and Kellman after the passport was delivered to them. The pair served three months of their six-month jail sentence after being given the maximum remission for good behavior.
■ Hong Kong
Ho seeks LegCo presidency
Democrats have launched a fresh effort to boost their limited standing in the 60-seat Legislative Council (LegCo) by nominating a candidate for the chamber's powerful presidency. Demo-cratic Party vice-chairman Albert Ho (何俊仁) has put his name forward to challenge the incumbent, Legislator Rita Fan (范徐麗泰), a staunch supporter of the government. The LegCo president has wide powers to set the legislative agenda and reserves the right to veto bill proposals from legislators.
■ China
No. 1 hitman to die
A contract killer known as Hitman No 1 who murdered nine people, including a friend whose head and hands he boiled after cutting up the body, has been sentenced to death, the Xinhua news agency said yesterday. Businessmen hired Tu Guiwu, 37, to eliminate competitors in and around Chengdu, Xinhua said. Tu said he had felt unsettled after the killings. "However, watching TV and playing computer games helped me calm down," he was quoted as saying.
■ Russia
`Two held in editor's killing
Police in Moscow have detained two Chechen men on suspicion they were involved in the killing of American journalist Paul Klebnikov, the city police chief Vladimir Pronin said on Tuesday. Police seized three guns from the two Chechen men detained overnight, Pronin told the Interfax news agency. He said that the pair had kidnapped an unidentified person prior to the killing of Klebnikov, the editor of Forbes magazine's Russian edition. Klebnikov was gunned down July 9 outside the magazine's office in Moscow. Klebnikov's killing compounded concerns about the safety of journalists in Russia.
■ South Africa
Traffickers denied bail
A South African court on Tuesday denied bail to two men accused of involvement in a global nuclear weapons black market, a lawyer for one of them said. Gerhard Wisser, 66, a German living in South Africa, and Swiss colleague Daniel Geiges, 65 were arrested earlier this month. Prosecutors say they have evidence linking the two to the Abdul Qadeer Khan network. Khan, the father of Pakistan's atom bomb, has admitted to supplying nuclear secrets to North Korea, Iran and Libya, which last year vowed to abandon its nuclear program. Both men deny the charges.
■ Iraq
Hostage slaying claimed
The al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group Tawhid and Jihad said it has executed an alleged Iraqi intelligence agent and was holding three Iraqi intelligence service employees hostage. A message posted on an Islamic militant Web site by the group led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi -- who has been blamed in a series of terrorist attacks, kidnapping and beheadings in Iraq -- said "God's judgement" was carried out against Nadia Abdel Wahab. The message did not say how she was killed. The group also said it had kidnapped three hostages on busy Haifa Street in Baghdad.
■ Finland
Rent-a-hubby firm thrives
Need someone to change a lightbulb or babysit? Rent-a-husband Petteri Ikonen says he is your man for all chores about the house. "I don't sell sex services at all," said Ikonen, 42, a warehouse worker who set up his husband-rental business a year ago, noting that his clients were mainly "lonely women" but included men and families. "I've given driving lessons, I've sung a birthday serenade, all sorts of things," he said. "The guy who starts to do this has to be responsible and have a good sense of humor, have good manners, be good with his hands. He has to be all that a typical good Finnish husband is. Sensitive and tender, talks all issues through," he said.
■ France
Thieves may ransom gems
Thieves who swiped two diamonds together worth up to 11.5 million euros (US$14 million) from a complex connected to the Louvre museum in Paris this week may have to resort to ransoming the gems back to the owners, experts said on Tuesday. The uniqueness of the two diamonds make them virtually impossible to sell on the black market at anything approaching their real value, they said. The precious stones were stolen in a bold smash-and-grab heist at a stand operated a by Swiss jeweler on Monday. No one witnessed the robbery, which occurred while Chopard employees were momentarily away from the stand in an area was not covered by surveillance cameras.
■ Brazil
Officer fired over shootings
State authorities fired the chief of an elite police unit and suspended six officers Tuesday after a local newspaper published graphic photos suggesting police executed two unarmed shantytown dwellers. The pictures published on the front page of the O Dia newspaper Tuesday showed officers forcing two young men to the ground at gun point and stepping on them. A second series of photos show officers carrying the bullet ridden bodies of the two men, aged 16 and 24, out of the slum, following the police operation which took place Monday afternoon.
■ United States
Quake jolts California
A strong earthquake shook the state on Tuesday from Los Angeles to San Francisco, cracking pipes, breaking bottles of wine and knocking pictures from walls. There were no immediate reports of injuries from the 6.0-magnitude quake and its more than 160 aftershocks. The quake was centered about 11km southeast of Parkfield, a town of 37 people known as California's earthquake capital. The town is one of the world's most seismically active areas, located on the San Andreas Fault. The quake struck at 10:15am and was felt along a 563km stretch, as far north as Sacramento and as far south as Santa Ana, southeast of Los Angeles.
■ United States
Lawmakers target snake
US lawmakers on Tuesday authorized spending US$104 million over the next five years to stamp out the brown tree snake, a voracious viper that has wreaked ecological havoc in Guam and is threatening Hawaii and neighboring islands. The bill, which now goes to the Senate, calls the snakes "a growing threat to the biodiversity, economy and human health" in the region. It calls for new quarantine protocols in the next two years for travelers, baggage and cargo originating in Guam to prevent the spread of the species.
■ United States
Naked photographer gets jail
An attorney was sentenced to a year and a half in jail in Columbus, Ohio, for ambushing dozens of women while nude and taking pictures of their shocked expressions. But Stephen Linnen, 34, won't lose his law license and will be allowed to leave jail to continue work as a law clerk. He pleaded guilty earlier this month to 53 misdemeanor counts. Linnen, a former lawyer for the Ohio House Republican caucus, has admitted to photographing women while he was unclothed over nearly two years. Judge Tommy Thompson declined to label Linnen a sexual offender, saying he was not a threat to the community.
■ United States
FBI behind in translations
More than 120,000 hours of wiretapped conversations between terrorist suspects and sympathizers since the Sept. 11 attacks have not been translated because of the FBI's lack of linguists, according to an official report. The report, by the justice department's inspector-general, also found that many sensitive intercepts have been wiped automatically from the memory of the FBI's outdated computers to save hard-drive storage space. The linguistic problem applied even to wiretaps carried out as part of al-Qaeda investigations. Under FBI policy, these are supposed to be translated within 12 hours, but the justice department found that the translations did not meet that deadline more than a third of the time. In 50 cases, it took more than a month.
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
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
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