■ Vietnam
Dead fetus found in woman
Doctors in Vietnam successfully removed a 50-year-old calcified fetus from a 75-year-old woman on Wednesday, the operation's head surgeon said yesterday. Dinh Thi Thu was hospitalized more than a week ago with abdominal pain. Doctors were shocked to discover she was carrying a fetus believed to be 50 years old. Scans revealed the skull, backbone, ribs and limbs to be the size of a normal eight-month-old fetus that appeared to be the result of an ectopic pregnancy. Because it was outside her womb it had not interfered with the woman's ability to give birth to three children in her 30s.
■ New Zealand
Man undone by egg in undies
Border authorities have arrested a New Zealand man who tried to smuggle a bird's egg from Australia by hiding it in his underwear, officials said yesterday. The man arrived at Auckland's airport on Jan. 11 from the Australian city of Melbourne, said Tina Nixon, an official with New Zealand's biosecurity agency. A sniffer dog picked up the scent of the egg, which officials later found in the man's underpants, Nixon said in statement. The alleged smuggler will be charged under New Zealand's biosecurity laws, and if convicted, faces up to five years in prison and a 100,000 New Zealand dollar (US$705,000) fine. The egg is being kept in quarantine facilities until it hatches "to aid the identification of the species," Nixon said.
■ South Korea
Trainees forced to eat feces
South Korean Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung publicly apologized yesterday after army recruits were allegedly forced to eat human excrement at boot camp. A 28-year-old army captain was arrested on Thursday after he was accused of ordering 192 trainees under his command to eat feces as punishment for not flushing toilets. The incident, described by the defense ministry as "outrageous, inhumane behavior," allegedly occurred at a training camp in Nonsan, 200km south of Seoul. It was disclosed after recruits complained to their families who posted protests on the Internet. All adult males must complete 24 months' training in South Korea's military.
■ Macau
Robbery ends in shootout
Police exchanged shots with a gang of armed robbers outside the New Century Hotel casino in the territory, security officials said yesterday. The shootout, which left one man injured, took place when a gang of robbers tried to rob a couple leaving the complex. Police intervened and the robbers attempted to escape by car, leading to a car chase and a shoot-out, a spokesman for the security officials said. One man from Hong Kong was arrested but police are still seeking five other suspects who were involved in the attempted robbery.
■ Germany
Judge warns Blair
British Prime Minister Tony Blair was effectively reprimanded by a British judge sitting at the court martial in Osnabruck, Germany of three soldiers who are alleged to have abused Iraqi looters they captured and held in their camp. Judge advocate Michael Hunter urged the British government not to make any further statements with regard to the case dubbed "Britain's Abu Ghraib,'' after Blair, in the House of Commons in London on Wednesday, mentioned a series of photographs taken from soldiers' cameras depicting the alleged mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners. Hunter added, "I would like to make an appeal that no public statements, if possible, be made with regard to this trial."
■ United Kingdom
Fare-haggling allowed
Passengers who feel London's black cab fares are extortionate will be allowed to haggle with drivers in April. The cabs, already the most expensive of any major city save Tokyo, are to increase their tariffs by an inflation-busting average of 5.6 per cent, under a draft settlement with London's mayor, Ken Livingstone. Under the deal, the Public Carriage Office is changing its rules to designate meter fares as "maximum" prices, after concerns about tariffs following an Office of Fair Trading investigation. As a result, travelers brave enough will have the right to request a lower price at the start of their journey.
■ Poland
Warsaw courrier dies
Jan Nowak-Jezioranski, the Polish soldier who made death-defying trips between Warsaw and London during World War II to carry messages to Poland's government-in-exile, died in Warsaw on Thursday. Nowak-Jezioranski, born May 13, 1913, spent his life fighting for a free Poland, first against the Nazis and then after the communist takeover as an exiled journalist and broadcaster. He was head of the Polish section of Radio Free Europe for 20 years during the Cold War.
■ Belgium
Hookers want dim lights
Antwerp will dim the bright new lights along its waterfront after prostitutes complained they were putting off potential clients. "We had some remarks from the prostitutes that there was too much light, both for them and the clients," City Council spokesman Jorn Verbeeck said. "We are investigating the possibility of lowering the light there." Prostitutes complained to city and police officials that the lights installed last month did not give them enough privacy and hurt business, he said. The port, which tolerates prostitutes in a select few streets near the waterfront, will next week test an electric system to dim the lights, Verbeeck said.
■ United Kingdom
Irish priest defrocked
The Catholic church on Thursday defrocked the Irish-born priest who upset the men's Olympic marathon in Athens last summer by leaping on the front-runner. "I completely reject this decision," Neil Horan, 57, said after the ruling. "I appeal to the much higher court of heaven and the court of Jesus Christ." Horan was given a one-year suspended sentence by a Greek court last September after leaping on Brazilian runner Vanderli de Lima during the marathon, ruining his chances of winning the gold medal. The Roman Catholic priest claimed that he was highlighting the "second coming" of Jesus Christ.
■ United States
Christians issue `gay alert'
Christian Conservative groups have issued a gay alert warning over a children's video starring SpongeBob SquarePants, Barney and a host of other cartoon favorites. The music video is due to be sent to 61,000 US schools in March. The makers -- the nonprofit We Are Family Foundation -- say the video is designed to encourage tolerance and diversity. But at least two Christian activist groups say the innocent cartoon characters are being exploited to promote the acceptance of homosexuality. The video is a remake of the 1979 hit song We Are Family using the voices and images of SpongeBob, Barney, Winnie the Pooh, Bob the Builder, the Rugrats and 100 TV cartoon stars.
■ United States
Kinky judge charged
A former state judge, who allegedly used a sex toy called a penis pump in court, was charged with three felony counts of indecent exposure by Oklahoma authorities. Former Judge Donald Thompson, 58, pleaded not guilty in the Creek County District Court in the town of Sapulpa. If convicted, Thompson could face up to 10 years in prison for each count. Last year, a court reporter who worked for Thompson was fired after she said she saw the judge masturbate and use the penis pump during hearings. Other witnesses claimed they saw Thompson use the pump in court.
■ Brazil
Carnival offers condoms
Brazil, one of the Latin American countries hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic, will hand out a record 11 million condoms to prevent the spread of the disease during its erotically charged Carnival festival when casual sex rises. The "Dress Yourself" campaign is to remind revelers a condom should be part of their outfit, no matter how little they wear to parades and parties renowned for semi-nude, hip-thrusting dancers. Millions flock to cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and Recife for the Feb. 4 to Feb. 9 festival. Crammed streets and close contact in tropical heat intensifies sexual relations, health authorities said.
■ United States
Cosby faces complaint
A female acquaintance of comedian Bill Cosby has made an allegation against him that has prompted a police investigation in Pennsylvania, the entertainer's attorney said. Attorney Walter Phillips said authorities in Pennsylvania told him they have begun an investigation. He would not discuss the specifics of the allegation -- which he called "utterly preposterous" -- but said it amounts to, at the most, "inappropriate touching." No charges have been brought against Cosby. Phillips said, "We are hopeful and optimistic that no charges will be brought forward."
■ United States
Oily birds indicate spill
Investigators are testing oil wiped from the coated bodies of birds to try to determine the origin of a mysterious oil spill somewhere along the California coast. More than 1,100 birds have been brought to a bird care center in San Pedro, and a sea lion was taken to a nearby marine mammal center. Possible oil sources include pipes broken in mudslides, natural seepage exacerbated by seismic activity, or even cars and trucks submerged in floods, officials said. Of a total of 1,141 live birds taken to the Los Angeles Oiled Bird Care and Education Center in San Pedro, 366 died or were humanely euthanized. Investigators are intrigued by the timing of the spill, which coincided with heavy rains and mudslides.
Le Tuan Binh keeps his Moroccan soldier father’s tombstone at his village home north of Hanoi, a treasured reminder of a man whose community in Vietnam has been largely forgotten. Mzid Ben Ali, or “Mohammed” as Binh calls him, was one of tens of thousands of North Africans who served in the French army as it battled to maintain its colonial rule of Indochina. He fought for France against the Viet Minh independence movement in the 1950s, before leaving the military — as either a defector or a captive — and making a life for himself in Vietnam. “It’s very emotional for me,”
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Central Committee is to gather in July for a key meeting known as a plenum, the third since the body of elite decisionmakers was elected in 2022, focusing on reforms amid “challenges” at home and complexities broad. Plenums are important events on China’s political calendar that require the attendance of all of the Central Committee, comprising 205 members and 171 alternate members with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at the helm. The Central Committee typically holds seven plenums between party congresses, which are held once every five years. The current central committee members were elected at the
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed his pledge to replace India’s religion-based marriage and inheritance laws with a uniform civil code if he returns to office for a third term, a move that some minority groups have opposed. In an interview with the Times of India listing his agenda, Modi said his government would push for making the code a reality. “It is clear that separate laws for communities are detrimental to the health of society,” he said in the interview published yesterday. “We cannot be a nation where one community is progressing with the support of the Constitution while the other
CODIFYING DISCRIMINATION: Transgender people would be sentenced to three years in prison, while same-sex relations could land a person in jail for more than a decade Iraq’s parliament on Saturday passed a bill criminalizing same-sex relations, which would receive a sentence of up to 15 years in prison, in a move rights groups condemned as an “attack on human rights.” Transgender people would be sentenced to three years’ jail under the amendments to a 1988 anti-prostitution law, which were adopted during a session attended by 170 of 329 lawmakers. A previous draft had proposed capital punishment for same-sex relations, in what campaigners had called a “dangerous” escalation. The new amendments enable courts to sentence people engaging in same-sex relations to 10 to 15 years in prison, according to the