■ Malaysia
Web site `shames' drivers
Malaysian authorities have issued summonses to some 40 motorists whose alleged road offenses were exposed in an online Hall of Shame, a news report said yesterday. Members of the public are invited to upload photographs they have taken with digital cameras or camera phones showing motorists violating traffic rules to the Web site, which was launched last month. The Transport Ministry said the Hall of Shame would help catch violators who might otherwise escape punishment because of a lack of road-safety enforcement. The Web site has received about 400 pictures since its launch and has recorded 59,000 hits a day -- far higher than the 30,000 daily hits anticipated.
■ Indonesia
Soldiers pull out of Aceh
Some 1,300 Indonesian soldiers were pulled out of Aceh Province yesterday, marking the first major step by the government towards implementing an historic peace accord struck last week with separatist fighters. Two battalions from the army's Kostrad strategic reserve, about 1,300 personnel, left yesterday morning on board a navy ship from North Aceh's Lhokseumawe Harbor after a farewell ceremony was held, led by Aceh's military commander Major General Supiadin. Some 15 rebels reportedly surrendered themselves and five military rifles to government authorities at two different districts in the province last week, but disarmament of rebels from the Free Aceh Movement is expected to begin on Sept. 15.
■ Japan
No change to PM's plans
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is not thinking of staying in office beyond September next year when his term as ruling party leader ends, even if his coalition wins next month's election, a party official said yesterday. Speculation surfaced over the weekend that Koizumi, already the longest-serving prime minister in two decades, might extend his term, following comments from members of the coalition. Koizumi called a Sept. 11 general election after rebels in his Liberal Democratic Party sided with opposition parties and helped defeat bills to privatize the postal system, the pillar of his reform plans.
■ India
Disciple attacks saint
An attack on Mata Amritnandamayi, world famous as the "Hugging Saint," was foiled when her followers stopped a man who attempted to stab her while she was singing devotional songs in the southern Indian Kerala state, police said yesterday. The seer was attacked at her ashram (spiritual home) in Quilon on Sunday evening. According to police, she was conducting a prayer meeting in front of 19,000 devotees when an attacker lunged at her with a knife. Disciples stopped him and the saint escaped unhurt. The police arrested a resident of the ashram and is interrogating him.
■ Australia
Women bound for frontline
Women in the Australian army will now be allowed to serve in frontline units, with some heading for duty in Iraq, the government said yesterday. But female soldiers will remain barred from direct combat roles under new regulations, Veterans' Affairs Minister De-Anne Kelly said. Up to 15 women will serve in support roles in combat units in the next rotation of troops in Iraq, where Australia has some 900 troops, she said. Kelly said the new roles would give women "a better career path" and make the military a more attractive career option.
■ Russia
Planes grounded
Transport inspectors yesterday called for the immediate grounding of all Ilyushin 96-300 commercial jets, citing problems with their braking systems. The federal agency overseeing transport inspections said that the Il-96-300 wide body jets had suffered several incidents this month involving brakes. The agency was seeking nationwide grounding of planes from the Transport Ministry.
■ United Kingdom
WRAF had a lesbian index
A secret "observation list" of women engaged in "suspected unnatural female friendships" was maintained for more than 40 years by the Women's Royal Air Force (WRAF), according to government files released at the UK National Archives. The list was devised in the 1950s for those women who were suspected of lesbianism but where there was no evidence to back it up. They were placed under constant surveillance and subjected to a quarterly "check-up" by the WRAF police. Officers would search their belongings, read their letters and question them about their relationships. It is believed this was still in force in the late 1990s.
■ United Kingdom
Redheads can stand pain
Red-haired women can stand pain more readily than blondes or brunettes, according to new research carried out by the University of Edinburgh. A team headed by Ian Jackson is seeking the gene responsible in the hope that it will lead to developing new anesthetics. "The nature of it is still being worked out, but it does appear that redheads have a significantly decreased pain threshold and require less anesthetic to block out certain pains," Jackson said. Jackson, who works with Britain's Medical Research Council's Human Genetics Unit, is experimenting with "redhead" mice that have a similar gene mutation. The aim is to find biochemical pathways that can be used to develop better ways of combating pain.
■ United Kingdom
Academic gap studied
Younger children tend to do worse at school than their older brothers and sisters, according to a Norwegian study published by a British newspaper yesterday. The study showed that the biggest gap in performance was between the first and second child born to a family. The researchers analyzed everybody in Norway aged from 16 and 74 between 1986 and 2000. It showed that only children tended to do less well than average children brought up in families with two or three children. The survey showed that the performance gap between younger and older children was more marked between girls than boys.
■ France
Book machine debuts
Parisian book-lovers desirous of a dose of Dumas in the dead of night or some Stendhal on a Sunday can turn to a new development in automated distribution -- the book vending machine. Livre a toute heure machines, stocking 25 contemporary and classic titles, have been installed around the city. "People have cravings for literature just as they do for bars of chocolate," said Xavier Chambon of the bookshop chain Maxi-Livres, adding most customers were prepared to venture forth "at all hours" to get it. Their biggest vending-machine sellers are The Wok Cookbook and a popular French-English dictionary, and all books are sold for a modest 2 euros (US$2.43).
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