■ South Korea
Sea name change proposed
South Korea has proposed calling the body of water between it and Japan the "Sea of Friendship" so as to end a naming dispute, a presidential official said yesterday. South Korea hotly contests the widely used name Sea of Japan for the body of water, saying the proper name should be the East Sea. It has launched government-backed campaigns in order to sway world opinion, and many atlases use both names.
■ China
Ill-gotten gains to be sold
The prosecutor's office in Anhui Province will auction the ill-gotten gains of six convicted corrupt officials, including a former vice governor who was executed for graft, Xinhua news agency said yesterday. The items include rings, earrings, necklaces, calligraphy and paintings, clothing, wine, watches, jade and bronze ware, golden Buddha figures and computers and printers, it said. No date was given for the auction, nor was the value of the goods made public.
■ China
Official criticizes Kadeer
Nuer Baikeli, a deputy Chinese Communist Party secretary in Xinjiang, has criticized Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer and the prominence she has found abroad since going into exile, the Beijing News reported yesterday. Kadeer's fight for her people's rights has led supporters to dub her the "mother of the Uighur people." Baikeli said using that title for Kadeer was "extremely preposterous" and "tarnishes the race," the report said. Baikeli also criticized her nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize, saying she had tried to disrupt the peace and stability of Chinese society, actions that "absolutely go against the intentions" of the award.
■ Australia
Parachutist plunges to death
A 27-year-old tourist from Iceland died after his parachute failed to open during a jump at a music festival, police said yesterday. The man -- whose identity was not immediately released -- suffered fatal head injuries after jumping from a helicopter at the Superfreak electronic music festival in the eastern town of Bonalbo late on Sunday, New South Wales state police said in a statement. Police said they were interviewing several witnesses who saw the man crash to the ground when his parachute failed to open. Investigations were continuing.
■ Japan
More elderly crime
Crimes committed by people 65 or older topped 10 percent of the total in 2005, a newspaper report said yesterday, amid the rapid aging of Japanese society. Elders accounted for 10.9 percent of recorded crimes in 2005, with 42,108 arrested that year, the Yomiuri newspaper said, citing National Police Agency research. The figure does not include arrests for on-the-job traffic accidents resulting in injury or death, it said. The number of elderly criminals was proportionate to 165 for every 100,000 people, the Yomiuri said. By comparison, in 1989 the rate was 46 to every 100,000, it said.
■ Malaysia
Monsoon causes flooding
Flooding from monsoon rains hit northern and eastern states as thousands of victims in a southern state waited for waters to recede in homes inundated weeks ago, news reports said yesterday. Villages and towns in Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah States began reporting floods following heavy rains over the weekend, with at least 600 people evacuated to relief centers so far, the Bernama national news agency reported. Eastern Sabah State on Borneo was also hit, and at least three houses were swept away in raging river waters that rose to dangerous levels, the Star newspaper reported.
■ Japan
Smaller group come of age
The smallest group of youths in nearly two decades to mark their transition into adulthood celebrated the occasion yesterday, amid growing concerns about Japan's low birth rate and rising elderly population. Coming of Age Day -- a public holiday -- traditionally honors those youths who turned 20 during the preceding year, the age of adulthood at which they can legally vote and drink alcohol. About 1.39 million Japanese reached that milestone last year, about 30,000 more than the smallest group on record did in 1987, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said in a recent statement. Hundreds of thousands of the newly arrived adults took part in ceremonies marking the event at city halls, temples and other public venues across the nation, including Tokyo Disneyland.
■ Thailand
Workers get `nap room'
A Bangkok municipal office has launched a new program to increase productivity: Lights go out just past noon and civil servants are invited to take an afternoon nap. Seeking to infuse city workers with a bit more pep, the Pathumwan district office in central Bangkok has set up a lunchtime "nap room" with soft music, sweet-smelling flowers and strict rules barring mobile phones and talking, said Surakiet Limcharoen, the district's top official who started the program. "I've been taking naps at lunchtime for a long time, and decided to introduce the project to my staff in November," he said.
■ France
Helicopter crash kills three
A helicopter crashed on Sunday on the garden terrace of a restaurant in southeastern France, killing three people on the ground and severely injuring a fourth, rescue workers said. The Alouette 2 aircraft slammed into the garden of the Chez Bob restaurant along a highway between the towns of Salin-de-Giraud and Arles, rescue workers said. One woman whose leg was severed in the crash was taken to a nearby hospital. Police were investigating. Four occupants of the helicopter were not injured, the officials said.
■ Congo
15 die in mine collapse
Fifteen bodies have been pulled from a diamond mine that collapsed in central Congo last week and further rescue efforts have been abandoned, officials said on Sunday. Three people were rescued soon after the mine in the town of Tshikapa caved in on Friday, said Mayor Mwamba Mutombo. He said they did not know if others were in the mine when it fell in but said hope of rescue had been abandoned after two days. Mutombo said the group appeared to have been teenagers who had been gone digging in the community mine with the hope that recent rains would uncover diamonds.
■ United States
New bat species discovered
A biologist at Chicago's Field Museum said he has discovered a new species of sucker-footed bat that is thriving in deforested areas of western Madagascar. Field researcher Steven Goodman said he found the bats, named Myzopoda schliemanni, on the island in 2003. Since then, researchers have studied skull measurements and other characteristics to verify the animal is a new, undiscovered species. Goodman's findings are published in the current issue of the journal Mammalian Biology.
■ Israel
Largest unmanned aircraft
The world's largest unmanned aircraft is being developed which will be used for long-range operations and destroying ballistic missiles as they are being launched, a security official said yesterday. The Eitan has been developed by Israel Aircraft Industries and has a wing span of 35m -- similar to that of a Boeing 737 passenger plane -- the official said. According to the Yediot Aharonot daily, the drone was designed for long endurance and high altitude flights and is equipped with an array of advanced cameras and missiles which allow it to identify and intercept long-range missiles as they are being fired on the ground. It will make its maiden flight in the coming days, the paper said.
■ Italy
Soccer tackles depression
A psychiatrist is obtaining startling results with patients suffering from schizophrenia and depression by enlisting them in a competitive soccer team. Mauro Raffaeli trains his players, many of whom cannot work and are on psychiatric medication, twice a week on a pitch on the outskirts of Rome. Of the 80 who have passed through the ranks since the team formed in 1993, over half have cut down their drug intake, but more importantly, more than half have returned to work. "Drugs you can often never get rid of, but reintegrating into society is as important," he said. Since the team was formed, 50 other squads of mental patients have sprung up around Italy, but Raffaeli's charges remain the benchmark.
■ United States
Famous bookstore closes
The final word has been written for one of New York City's most famous independent bookstores: closed. Coliseum Books, which opened in Manhattan in 1974 but struggled in recent years, shut its doors on Saturday. "It has been our pleasure to serve so many great readers for so many years," the store said on its Web site. "We urge you to continue supporting independent bookstores and, equally importantly, keep reading." Coliseum Books was once referred to on the business review Web site Citysearch as "the Cheers of bookstores (minus the beer)."
■ United States
Web surfers nab immigrants
A test run of a Web site allowing users to monitor the Mexican border helped authorities catch 10 illegal immigrants of the more than 12,000 who officials said were apprehended in November, a newspaper reported on Sunday. The El Paso Times obtained state reports about the results of the November trial of Governor Rick Perry's Texas Border Watch online camera program. Through a public records request, the newspaper also received a sampling of the 14,800 e-mails viewers sent through the Web site. The Web site also helped authorities make one drug bust and interrupt a smuggling route, the newspaper said.
■ United States
Bush Snr has hip replaced
Former president George Bush has been released from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, after undergoing successful hip replacement surgery, the clinic said. The 82-year-old former president was discharged from the clinic on Saturday, following the operation on his right hip that was performed on Wednesday, the Mayo Clinic said on its Web site. He traveled to the Mayo Clinic on Tuesday after delivering a eulogy at the Washington funeral of president Gerald Ford. Surgeons at the clinic replaced his left hip in 2000. Former first lady Barbara Bush also had successful hip replacement surgery at the clinic, in 1997.
■ United States
Former suspect can sue
A former suspect in a federal terrorism case who says he was mistreated while in jail can sue the county, a federal judge has ruled. Moroccan immigrant Karim Koubriti, 28, was held for three years in a Wayne County, Michigan, jail and claims he was strip searched, held in isolation for 23 hours a day and not allowed to exercise. US District Judge Bernard Friedman last week rejected the county's request to dismiss Koubriti's lawsuit, the Detroit Free Press reported on Sunday. No trial date has been set. "The decision means he'll get his day in court and his say at trial," said Koubriti's lawyer, Ben Gonek.
■ United States
Pluto gains respect
Pluto is finally getting some respect -- from wordsmiths. "Plutoed" was chosen 2006 Word of the Year by the American Dialect Society at its annual meeting on Friday. To "pluto" is "to demote or devalue someone or something" much like what happened to the former planet last year when the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union decided Pluto did not meet its definition of a planet. "Our members believe the great emotional reaction of the public to the demotion of Pluto shows the importance of Pluto as a name," said society president Cleveland Evans. "We may no longer believe in the Roman god Pluto, but we still have a sense of personal connection with the former planet."
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