■ Tokelau
Self-government vote fails
Voters have failed to endorse a plan for self-government in a UN-mandated referendum. Some 60 percent of voters in the tiny South Pacific territory, with a population of 1,500, approved the proposal. But a 66 percent majority was needed for the vote to be binding. The microstate, seized by Britain in 1889 and handed to New Zealand to administer in 1926, would have become one of the world's smallest self-governing territories if the vote had succeeded. Without an airport or sea port and linked to the outside world only by telephone and cargo ship, Tokelau had been expected to approve the plan and then sign a support treaty with New Zealand. Tokelau administrator Neil Walter said the referendum had "failed to produce the requisite two-thirds majority vote in favor of self-government in free association with New Zealand."
■ Thailand
Court clears prime minister
The Constitutional Court yesterday ruled out investigating whether Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra had mixed business and politics while in office. The ruling was a reprieve for the former tycoon, who has faced mounting calls for his resignation and faced losing his job if a court probe found him guilty. "The Constitutional Court agreed not to investigate into a petition submitted by 28 senators. Eight judges voted to reject the petition, and six judges supported the petition," court secretary-general Paiboon Varahapaitoon told a news conference. Paiboon said the petition failed to provide enough evidence to support the senators' allegations. "The petition lacks substantial proof that the prime minister had been involved in corporate management."
■ China
Heavy metals in seafood
Dangerous levels of heavy metals have been found in a significant proportion of seafood in one of China's major fish-producing areas, prompting officials to warn of the potentially harmful impact on human health, media reports said yesterday. An investigation of four major freshwater lakes and offshore areas of eastern Jiangsu Province showed cadmium, lead, mercury, chromium and zinc were present in 41 percent of all fish, the China Daily reported. The investigation found seashells, shellfish and large fish were the most severely contaminated.
■ Hong Kong
Spy charge deadline passes
A deadline for prosecuting a Hong Kong journalist held on spy charges in China has passed without word from authorities, his wife said yesterday. Ching Cheong (程翔) remains incommunicado despite the lapse on Wednesday of a 300-day Chinese legal limit set to decide whether a trial should be held or not, his wife Mary Lau (劉敏儀) said. Ching, 55, a China correspondent for Singapore's Straits Times, was arrested in April in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou and has been held under house arrest in Beijing. China's state Xinhua news agency has said Ching set up "a number of channels for espionage" in Hong Kong and China for Taiwanese intelligence between early 2000 and March last year.
■ Japan
US asks Tokyo to pay up
The US has asked Japan to pay most of the estimated US$7.6 billion needed for the partial relocation of US Marines from a base in southern Japan to Guam, a newspaper reported yesterday. The bulk of the cost, around US$4.7 billion, will go towards building housing for the Marines and their families, the Yomiuri Shimbun said. The steps are part of the Pentagon's troop realignment plans in the region, and a bilateral agreement reached by the countries in October would give Tokyo greater responsibility for security in the Asia-Pacific. Under the accord, 7,000 US Marines on Japan's southern island of Okinawa will be moved to Guam, a process expected to take several years.
■ China
Great Wall guardians wanted
China plans to recruit villagers who live near the Great Wall to guard against vandalism that has damaged sections of the country's most famous landmark, a news report said yesterday. Patrols will focus on a 630km stretch of wall north of Beijing, the official China Daily newspaper said. Near Badaling, almost every brick on a popular section of the wall has been carved with people's names and other graffiti, the report said.
■ China
High-quality sperm needed
A sperm bank in eastern China is having trouble finding high-quality donors, with 86 percent of contributions failing to pass muster, state media reported yesterday. The Zhejiang Family Planing Science Institute, in Zhejiang Province's Hangzhou City, has attracted more than 600 volunteers since opening a year ago, but less than 80 reached the required standard, the Beijing Morning Post said. Smoking, drinking and environmental degradation are among the main factors causing the sperm quality to fall to the current level, according to the paper. Scientific research shows that overall sperm density among Chinese males has dropped by about 40 percent over the past half century, the paper said.
■ Germany
Youth traps himself in bed
A 16-year old youth who tied himself to a foldaway bed because he was bored was rescued by police after becoming trapped in its mechanism, officials said on Tuesday. Neighbors alerted the police in the western town of Schwelm after hearing the teen's cries for help late on Monday night. When police entered the apartment, they found the bed had folded itself away and the red-faced youth was tied upside down to it with a tow-rope and wire and unable to free himself. "He said he did it because he was bored," said Dietmar Trust, a spokesman for the local police. "He was visibly embarrassed but it was also a pretty amusing situation."
■ Germany
Priest given machine gun
A priest got more than he bargained for during confession when a man not only declared his sins, but also handed over a machine gun and a hand grenade, police in Bavaria said on Tuesday. "He also gave the priest a cardboard box with a clown's face and the words `Red Nose Day March 26, 2004' on it containing 34 cartridges of 7.65mm caliber," police said in a statement. The priest from the southern town of Pfarrkirchen turned in the weapons to police but told them church rules governing confession prevented him from revealing the man's identity.
■ United Kingdom
Home abortions `safe'
Women who are less than nine weeks pregnant can safely have medical abortions at home, according to the head of a British government-backed pilot project. Abortion services for the 20,000 women who seek a chemically induced abortion every year could be transformed should the UK Department of Health's official evaluation of the pilot confirm initial findings. But it is also likely to provoke controversy from anti-abortion campaigners who will claim that home abortions would lead to more women having terminations.
■ South Africa
Zuma rape trial hits snag
The rape trial of former deputy president Jacob Zuma was thrown into disarray on Wednesday when it was claimed that the politician had fathered a child with the sister of the judge expected to hear the case. Defense lawyers objected to the appointment of Judge Jeremiah Shongwe reportedly because his sister Minah had an affair with Zuma three decades ago, which produced a son, Edward, now 29. The revelation jolted what has been billed as a star trial, with an accusation of sexual violence tangled with a power struggle within the ruling African National Congress. Zuma, 63, denies raping a 31-year-old family friend last year.
■ Germany
Minister warns over bird flu
Agriculture Minister Horst Seehofer warned yesterday that Germany's bird flu outbreak was likely to spread and that his top goal was to protect the public and prevent the disease from breaking out in domestic poultry stocks. German scientists confirmed on Tuesday that two dead swans found on the Baltic Sea had been infected with H5N1, the most dangerous strain of avian influenza. This is the first known outbreak of deadly bird flu in Germany. "We expect further cases," said Seehofer. Bird flu was likely to spread both in northern Germany and into the southern part of the country after the disease was found in Italy, Bulgaria, Austria and Poland, he said.
■ United States
NY condoms coming soon
New York's health department is to release what may be the world's first municipally branded condom. The city, which distributes 1 million free condoms a month, wants to create its own distinctive packaging to help track and promote condom use. City officials have said the New York condom is not part of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's larger branding campaign, which includes products that use the logos of the police and fire departments. While some New Yorkers may welcome condoms bearing an image of the Statue of Liberty or the slogan "I (heart) NY," others were not impressed. "That's not the place that you want people to think of New York City," Reverend Bill Banuchi said.
■ United States
Artificial legs stolen again
Callous crooks broke into the home of a California teenager and stole her prosthetic legs for the second time in three months, a report said on Wednesday. Melissa Huff, 16, who lost her right leg in a car accident two years ago, woke up on Tuesday to find that burglars had broken in and taken two false limbs, including one configured for softball. The burglary took place just three months after Huff's softball limb was stolen in another break-in at her home near Los Angeles, according to the Pasadena Star-News. "It's insane. Who hates her that bad?" the girl's mother asked.
■ South Korea
US linked to stem cell fraud
A US collaborator of disgraced stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk suggested they fake some data for a paper last year, a news report said yesterday. A senior researcher on Hwang's team has told prosecutors that he heard Gerald Schatten make the suggestion after learning that some patient-specific stem cell lines had died in January last year, the Yonhap news agency reported. It is not yet known if Hwang followed through on Schatten's suggestion. However, all his stem cell lines were later found to be fake. Schatten, of the University of Pittsburgh, suggested Hwang write the paper as if the dead cell lines existed, Yonhap said.
■ United States
Prized dog missing in airport
A dog that won an award in this week's Westminster Kennel Club show escaped from its cage at JFK airport and was believed to be on the loose in the surrounding area, authorities said. The dog, a whippet, broke free at about noon on Wednesday, said Tiffany Townsend, a spokeswoman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs area airports. Port Authority police were working with its owners to search the area where planes arrive and depart, she said. "They're looking every possible place they can to see if they can locate the dog," Townsend said.
■ Mexico
Bus crash kills 23
A bus careened off a windy highway and into a ravine in central Mexico's Sierra Gorda mountains on Wednesday, killing 23 people and injuring 14 others, authorities said. The passenger bus was headed to the community of San Jose Iturbide when its driver lost control on a steep incline early on Wednesday, according to a statement released by Guanajuato State. The vehicle came to rest on its right side in a valley. Nineteen people died at the crash site on a highway linking Atarjea State and Santa Catarina, near El Chilar village. Four died while being transported to nearby hospitals, the statement said. Eight of the 14 people injured were in serious condition, said Rafael Alberto Diaz, chief spokesman for Guanajuato.
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