■ China
Piracy helps rapper
Piracy may rob musicians of profits in China, but it has also helped Taiwan's top rap artist to get around the censors. Chinese cultural authorities rejected the music of Yao Chung-jen, better known as MC HotDog (哈狗), for profanity. Beijing also turned down a "super clean version" of a special compilation CD targeted at China. The rapper, whose lyrics feature profanity and humorous social criticism, estimates black market sales of his CDs in China at 1 million. Those sales, combined with illegal downloads, have helped him to build up a huge following. "I'm ambivalent about this," Yao said. "You can't blame the masses."
■ China
False advertising banned
The government has moved to combat rampant false medical advertising in newspapers, which account for more than half of some publications' ad revenue, state press reported yesterday. The central government introduced a ban on Wednesday for a wide range of medical treatment advertising, including for cancer, venereal diseases, abortion, AIDS, psoriasis, epilepsy and hepatitis B, the China Daily said. The ban followed a similar prohibition introduced in August on advertising for breast enlargement products and operations to make people taller.
■ China
Coal miners rescued
All 16 coal miners who were trapped after a landslide in western China have been rescued, Xinhua news agency said yesterday. The landslide had trapped the workers on Wednesday morning, when it blocked the entrance to the mine at the Deshun Coal Mine Fields in Gansu Province, Xinhua said.
■ Japan
Robber pays for meal
Police are looking for a robber who held up a noodle bar in Osaka then paid for his meal and waited for his change before making off. The young man ate a bowl of "ramen" noodles and a side order of fried chicken at a restaurant on Wednesday, then produced a knife and forced a waitress to hand over takings of ¥46,000 (US$393), the Sports Nippon newspaper said. When the woman demanded he pay for his meal, the robber gave her ¥1,000 and waited for his ¥100 change before running away, the paper said.
■ Malaysia
`Drama queen' sues writer
An academic is suing a columnist who called him a "drama queen," claiming that in Malaysia's version of English, the term is a homosexual slur, a New Straits Times report said yesterday. Retired lecturer Edward Dorall told a court in Penang that columnist Thor Kah Hoong had libeled him by calling him a "drama queen lecturer" in a 2004 article, it reported. Thor said he had no malicious intent and that Dorall had deliberately misinterpreted the word "queen." He called as a witness British Broadcasting Corp correspondent Jonathan Kent, who caused mirth in the courtroom by saying that Dorall's lawyer was himself acting like a drama queen -- someone who overreacts to a minor problem. Kent testified as to the Oxford Dictionary's definition of "drama queen" as an overly dramatic person, and said he was well aware of Malaysian English, having worked in the country for several years.
■ Pakistan
Six killed in wedding bus
A bus carrying dozens of wedding guests lost control and plunged into a canal in eastern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing at least six people and injuring several others, police said. The accident happened near Dera Ghazi Khan, a town about 150km west of Multan, in Punjab Province, said Mohammed Raza, an area police chief. It was unclear if the bride and groom were on the bus, Raza said.
■ Japan
Court orders arrest of spy
A court issued an arrest warrant yesterday for a North Korean woman accused of the 1978 abduction of a Japanese teenager and her mother by North Korean agents, officials said. Hitomi Soga, then 19, was kidnapped with her mother Miyoshi Soga on the island of Sado. Hitomi was returned to Japan in 2002, but her mother has never been found. Police obtained an arrest warrant for the North Korean woman -- identified as Kim Myung-sook -- on charges of abduction for the purpose of transfer outside Japan and other crimes, according to Masayuki Okabe of the National Police Agency. "I think this shows that the efforts to investigate the facts have born fruit. We need to make further efforts in order to save abduction victims," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters.
■ Philippines
Small plane malfunctions
The landing gear of a small plane broke as it touched down in central Philippines yesterday, blocking the runway and delaying flights carrying tourists bound for popular Boracay island, an official said. The left landing gear of the plane, owned by domestic budget carrier Interisland Airline, broke on landing, causing the plane to swerve and get stuck on the grassy shoulder at Caticlan airport in Aklan province, airport manager Efren Nagrama said. The two pilots and a flight attendant were unhurt, Nagrama said by telephone.
■ Netherlands
Woman dies beside grave
A woman, who had meticulously planned her own funeral after the death of her husband last year, died next to the grave in Amsterdam where she wanted to be buried, a newspaper reported. The 65-year-old widow probably died of a heart attack while she was visiting the family grave where her name, but no date, was already inscribed, De Telegraaf daily reported on Wednesday. The woman was carrying a bag with her containing her will when she died and had already organized details of her funeral including the music she wanted played, the paper said.
■ United Kingdom
Matchmakers trump Internet
Online daters, disappointed by potential partners lying about their age, weight or marital status, are turning to professional matchmakers to find love. Rather than risk taking pot luck online, chief executives, entertainers and politicians are among those paying matchmakers to discreetly "headhunt" and vet the perfect partner. "In the old days you had your extended family, or in some societies an actual matchmaker, trying to find someone for you," said dating expert Mary Balfour. "Nowadays people have a personal matchmaker in the same way they would have a personal trainer," she said at her Drawing Down the Moon agency in London.
■ Portugal
Pilgrims hire stand-ins
For any Roman Catholics who have vowed to make the pilgrimage to Fatima, which is famous for religious visions, but can't fulfill their promise, help is at hand -- rent-a-pilgrim. For 2,500 euros (US$3,169), Pilgrim Gil will make the journey in your place -- and send you a certificate stamped along the way to prove he walked your every step. Carlos Gil, 42, who owns a small computer company, took up this medieval practice four years ago when he suddenly "felt an urge to walk to Fatima" and said charging each client was simply a way to keep doing what he loves. Gil begins his seven-day journey to Fatima on foot from his home in Cascais about 160km from the shrine. It takes him another six days to walk back.
■ Kazakhstan
Minister not amused by film
The country will probably not show a film poking fun at the former Soviet republic, foreign minister Kasymzhomart Tokayev said, adding that he did not find it funny. Tokayev told a German newspaper he hoped German cinema-goers would also keep straight faces when Sacha Baron Cohen's satirical film in which he plays fictional Kazakh television reporter Borat opened in their cinemas yesterday. Asked by the Bild newspaper if he had had been able to laugh at the snippets of the film Borat he had seen, the minister said: "Honestly, no."
■ Rwanda
Seventy police fired
The government has fired 70 police officers for neglect of duty and seeking bribes, a top commander said on Wednesday. "We want to build a police institution devoid of corruption and corrupt tendencies," Mary Gahonzire, the deputy commissioner general of police, told reporters. "This group [of officers] failed to adhere to this principle and that is why they have been dismissed." The nation fired more than 100 police officers last year, including senior commanders, in a similar drive to root out graft in the force. Donors have praised Kigali's tough line on corruption.
■ United States
`Distinguished white lady'
Words that might describe Madonna: diva, maverick, humanitarian. But in a language spoken widely in Malawi, her name takes on a new -- and unintentionally funny -- meaning. "People started to say my name and they had never heard of Madonna," the 48-year-old singer, talking about her recent visit to Malawi, said during an interview on Tuesday. "In Chichewa, the word `madonna' means `distinguished white lady,' so I think they got very confused," she said.
■ United States
Golf club for kids opens
Children as young as five could soon be working on their swing and practicing bunker shots at a New York club being billed as the country's first golf course for kids. The six-hole course, complete with training green, chipping area and practice bunker, is due to open for up-and-coming golfing prodigies in Brooklyn late next year. "Who knows? This may be the training ground for the next Tiger Woods," New York mayor Michael Bloomberg quipped on Wednesday, unveiling the US$6 million club which is being funded by a combi-nation of public and private money.
■ United States
Lawyer in OBL mask arrested
A Maine attorney who released information in 2000 about President George W. Bush's drunken driving conviction was arrested on Tuesday after he dressed up as al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and waved a fake gun at traffic. Police in South Portland, Maine, arrested Thomas Connolly, 49, and charged him with criminal threatening. He was released on bail, local officials said. Lieutenant Todd Bernard said the police department received calls about a man wearing Middle Eastern garb and a bin Laden mask and carrying fake dynamite standing along an interstate highway. When police arrived, they saw Connolly holding a gun.
■ United States
Hitler costume angers school
A New York schoolboy was removed from class after turning up for lessons dressed as Hitler in what he thought was a harmless Halloween prank, the New York Post reported on Wednesday. The 16-year-old walked through the school gates in jackboots and tell-tale moustache but managed to convince teachers he was dressed as Charlie Chaplin before removing his jacket and bowler hat to reveal an Iron Cross and swastika armband. His school, pulled aspiring comedy writer Walter Petryk out of class and ordered him to change, or spend the day in a school office. The Monty Python fan refused and was later picked up by his mother.
■ United States
William Styron dies at 81
William Styron, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist whose explorations of the darkest corners of the human mind and experience were charged by his own near-suicidal demons, died on Wednesday in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. He was 81. Styron's daughter, Alex-andra, said the author died of pneumonia. Styron had been in failing health for a long time. His obsessions with race, class and personal guilt led to such tormented narratives as Lie Down in Darkness and The Confessions of Nat Turner, which won the Pulitzer despite protests that the book was racist and inaccurate. His best-known work was Sophie's Choice, the award-winning novel about a Holocaust survivor.
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