■ Japan
Aso to visit Eastern Europe
Foreign Minister Taro Aso will visit Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia next week to strengthen diplomatic ties with Eastern Europe, the foreign ministry said yesterday. Aso will meet with his counterpart in each of the four countries during a weeklong trip starting on Tuesday, during which Japan will congratulate Romania and Bulgaria on their recent accession to the EU, it said. His visit to Hungary is the first visit by a Japanese foreign minister in 12 years, it said.
■ United States
Plain soap proves effective
Washing hands with plain soap and water is as effective as using the expanding range of sanitizers or antibacterial soaps if done correctly and often, according to a new US report. Anthony Komaroff, editor of the Harvard Health Letter, said studies have shown that washing hands with soap and water for just 15 seconds removes 90 percent of bacteria -- but many people do not wash their hands often enough or dry them thoroughly.
■ Mexico
Legislator shot dead
Assailants ambushed and shot dead a state legislator who was driving to a radio and television station for an interview in the Pacific resort city of Acapulco, city officials said. Jorge Bajos Valverde, a member of the National Action Party of President Felipe Calderon, was blocked in his path by a white van without number plates in the center of the city, said Gloria Mendez, a spokesman for Acapulco's Public Safety Department, on Thursday. Assailants stepped out of the van and shot the legislator several times killing him instantly, Mendez said. The motive for the attack was not clear, she said.
■ United States
Woman sues Oprah's studio
A woman sued Oprah Winfrey's studio, alleging she was injured in a rush for seats during a taping of the talk show host's syndicated TV show. Tayna Milner said she was pushed down stairs between a waiting area and audience seating at Harpo Studios on April 11, according to the lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court. Her lawsuit accuses the studio in Chicago's West Loop neighborhood of failing to properly control the crowd, which caused Milner to fall and suffer unspecified injuries, the Chicago Tribune reported on its Web site. Milner is seeking more than US$50,000 in damages, the court brief said.
■ Chile
Court drops charges
A court has dropped charges against Augusto Pinochet's widow and two of his children who had been indicted as accomplices of the late dictator over alleged tax evasion and the use of false passports. Lucia Hiriart and two of Pinochet's daughters, Lucia and Veronica, together with his long-time secretary, Monica Ananias, were cleared by the Santiago court of appeals. The decision not to prosecute follows a three-year investigation into the use of the now-defunct Riggs Bank in Washington and several offshore investment trusts by Pinochet, who died last month aged 91, his children and aides.
■ United States
Small towns revolt
Hundreds of rural communities that were purged from the official state map of Georgia have won their cartographical places back after a "peasants' revolt." Residents of hamlets and villages with names such as Hopeulikit, Po Biddy Crossroads, Roosterville and Bill Arp were outraged when the state's transport department announced it was "decluttering" its map for its next reprinting this summer. But in a victory for community activism, transport officials have been forced into an embarrassing U-turn that will see the names of 488 of Georgia's smallest communities restored. "We're glad they've seen the light," said Dennis Holt, who led a campaign to have the name of Hickory Level, a small town in northern Georgia of just 1,500 people, put back on the map.
RSS