■ China
Man pays for lucky number
A Beijing man has paid 1.8 million yuan (US$215,000) for the ultimate in lucky cellphone numbers -- 133-3333-3333. The phone number was sold this week at an auction in the Chinese capital, newspapers said yesterday. Nine other "highly auspicious" phone numbers also were sold. Chinese tradition considers 3 a lucky number and groups of 3's even luckier. Though the number 8 is luckiest, all Chinese cell phone numbers begin with ``13,'' making it impossible to make a number with all 8's. The reports by the Beijing Times and Beijing Morning Post didn't identify the buyer.
■ Singapore
Political leader bankrupt
Singapore's opposition leader lost a bid to defend himself from bankruptcy when a court dismissed his appeal to reassess libel damages he has been ordered to pay to two former prime ministers. Ruling against the application, the court said Chee Soon Juan, leader of the tiny Singapore Democratic Party, had failed to provide valid reasons justifying his absence from court, the Straits Times said yesterday. The failure of the appeal means Chee is likely to be bankrupted. He would be unable to contest the next general election, likely in 2007, if he cannot pay US$500,000 in damages sought by former prime ministers Goh Chok Tong and Lee Kuan Yew.
■ Thailand
Boy hangs himself
An 11-year-old Thai boy allegedly hanged himself in a huff after his mother refused to give him 10 baht (US$0.25), media reports said yesterday. The incident occurred in Bangkok at 9pm on Thursday, hours after Chaiyawut Kamnuan had been refused 10 baht by his mother Kularb. "I didn't give him the money because he'd got 20 baht (US$0.50) from me just a few hours earlier," Kularb told The Nation newspaper. Kularb reportedly stormed to his room and locked the door after being refused the money. When his mother and father broke down the door hours later they found him hanging by a cloth belt from a window bar.
■ Singapore
New plans against terror
Singapore will deploy security guards and install closed-circuit TV cameras in all of this city-state's schools to deter terror attacks. The measures are expected to cost the government US$9 million to US$12 million, the Straits Times reported. Addressing students at a forum on Friday, Education Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said it was necessary to beef up security even though there was no immediate threat, the paper reported. The measures are expected to be implemented in all of Singapore's 351 schools in six to eight months, the paper said.
■ Afghanistan
Militants extend deadline
Militants claiming to hold three UN hostages in Afghanistan said they have extended a deadline until late yesterday to decide the fate of the trio, who they have threatened to kill if the UN doesn't pull out of the country. The world body and the Afghan government had until last night to open "formal" talks with Jaish-al Muslimeen, Ishaq Manzoor, who claims to be a spokesman for the shadowy Taliban splinter group, said on Friday. The militant group had said it would decide on Friday whether to kill the hostages or allow more time for negotiations. But "some respected people intervened and convinced our leaders to give time to the Afghan government and UN" to contact the group, Manzoor said.
■ United States
Americans eye move to NZ
Enquiries from Americans wanting to move to remote New Zealand have skyrocketed since US President George W. Bush was reelected. The New Zealand Immigration Service Web site had 10,300 hits from the US the day after the election, compared to the daily norm of 2,500. Thousands of North Americans have migrated to New Zealand in recent years but the number now looks set to soar. Phones at the Immigration Service offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Portland have been ringing constantly since the vote outcome, marketing manager Don Badman said. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Americans were also looking to Australia and Canada.
■ United States
Jackson case bombshell
A son of late acting legend Marlon Brando was implicated in an alleged plot by Michael Jackson to kidnap the boy who accused him of child molestation, a court heard on Friday. The bombshell was dropped during a pre-trial hearing in Jackson's child molestation case when prosecutors revealed they had recently discovered documents linking Miko Brando with the alleged crime. Brando, 44, works as a security guard for Jackson and received a US$20,000 petty cash payment from Jackson, prosecutor Ronald Zonen told Judge Rodney Melville. But Jackson's lawyer, Robert Sanger, argued that the financial record proved nothing.
■ United States
Oral sex and the city
New York transport officials were impressed when the hip-hop clothing label Akademiks announced it wanted to buy advertisements on the sides of buses promoting the benefits of literacy. But it turned out that the benefits in question weren't the ones the authorities had in mind. The Metropolitan Transit Authority vowed on Friday to start removing the ads after being informed the slogan plastered over 200 city buses -- "Read books, get brain" -- includes a slang term for oral sex. Anthony Harrison, Akademiks' advertising designer, told the New York Daily News he had been fully aware of the connotations of the phrase "get brain." "We knew this," he said. "It's coded language, city slang. Teens know what it means but the general public doesn't."
■ United States
Gun nut convicted
A man who amassed explosives and made a list of public figures who were "marked to die" because of their liberal and anti-gun stances was convicted in federal court. A federal jury on Friday found 20-year-old Michael Breit guilty of illegally receiving explosives and illegally receiving explosive materials with intent to kill, injure, intimidate people or damage property. Breit was charged in April after he accidentally fired an AK-47 assault rifle in his apartment in Rockford, about 130km northwest of Chicago. Police also found an essay in which Breit allegedly outlined a plan to kill 1,500 people at a Democratic presidential caucus. Breit could face up to 10 years in prison.
■ United States
Iraq policymaker resigns
A central figure in developing Iraq policy in the Bush administration, Robert Blackwill, has told his colleagues at the White House National Security Council that he will resign, leaving the administration without one of the major players in stabilizing the country and moving toward elections, according to a senior administration official.
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