■ MALAYSIA
God is not Allah, paper told
A Catholic weekly newspaper has been told to drop the use of the word "Allah" in its Malay language section if it wants to renew its publishing permit, a senior government official said yesterday. The Herald, the organ of Malaysia's Catholic Church, has translated the word "God" as "Allah," but this is erroneous because Allah refers to the Muslim God, said Che Din Yusoff, a senior official at the Internal Security Ministry's publications control unit. "Christians cannot use the word Allah. It is only applicable to Muslims. Allah is only for the Muslim god. This is a design to confuse the Muslim people," Che Din said.
■ INDONESIA
Officials fix slogan slip-up
A new tourism campaign got off to a rocky start after embarrassed officials acknowledged that a key slogan was ungrammatical and ordered it corrected. "Visit Indonesia 2008. Celebrating 100 Years of Nation's Awakening" has been printed on billboards, government Web sites and emblazoned on the sides of aircraft belonging to the national airline, Garuda. A ministry of culture and tourism official said the phrase would be changed to "celebrating 100 years of national awakening."
■ MALAYSIA
Thai border bridge opened
Malaysia and Thailand yesterday opened a second bridge across their border as part of efforts to spur commerce between Muslim communities on both sides, which some hope will subdue an Islamic insurgency in southern Thailand. The 9.2 million ringgit (US$2.8 million) bridge project connects Jeli in northeast Kelantan state to Ban Buketa in Narathiwat Province in southern Thailand, national Bernama news agency said.
■ CHINA
Human trafficking rising
Trafficking in women and children is on the rise in China, authorities said yesterday as they unveiled a five-year plan to combat the problem. The nationwide campaign, to begin next year, will seek to step up monitoring as well as help victims, a circular posted on government Web sites said. Under the plan, local government departments will be required to close unlicensed job and marriage agencies. Transport departments must also step up monitoring at railway and bus stations, ferry docks, airports and entertainment venues to prevent women and children from being kidnapped.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Brown's rating hits new low
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's popularity has dropped to an all-time low, a YouGov poll in the Daily Telegraph showed yesterday. Brown's government has been hit by a series of scandals in recent months, from a banking crisis to the losses of millions of Britons' personal data, as well as rows over donations to his Labour Party. The poll showed that some 60 percent of respondents were "dissatisfied" with his performance, compared with 48 percent in October, and just 27 percent in July, while 51 percent rated it as poor or very poor. His government's approval ratings also fell to 22 percent, from 32 percent before the last general election in May 2005.
■ FINLAND
Firefighters calm anaconda
Firefighters called to help a pet owner with his agitated and aggressive anaconda succeeded in taming the dangerous beast by spraying foam on it, news agency STT reported on Thursday. The 3.3m-long reptile, which was apparently hungry after fasting for four months, attacked its owner as he tried to remove it from its terrarium to move to a new apartment. The snake also attacked a veterinarian who tried to inject it with a sedative. The firefighters cooled the snake's temper by emptying the contents of a fire extinguisher into its terrarium. Ten minutes later, it was easily lifted into a bag and moved to its new home.
■ SWITZERLAND
Christmas `thief' arrested
It wasn't global warming or political correctness that chased away reindeers and snowmen in the village of Birr. Police identified the alleged culprit on Thursday as a 49-year-old woman who stole Christmas decorations from gardens in her picturesque town and packed them into bags. Passers-by caught the woman in the act on Wednesday and stopped her until police could arrive, authorities said. Police visited the woman's house and found a "significant" stash of Christmas ornaments, including illuminated reindeers, plastic snowmen and miniature figurines. The woman, who is accused of committing a number of heists throughout the region, was not identified because of privacy laws.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Recycled gifts to top 73m
Britons are set to recycle 73 million unwanted gifts this Christmas, passing on presents worth an estimated £264 million (US$526 million). Some 53 percent of people receive an average of three unwanted Christmas gifts, and almost half of these are given to someone else, a survey for Citi shows. Women are the most prolific recyclers, with nearly half admitting to giving second-hand gifts compared with only two-fifths of men. But 37 percent of the 1,000 people polled said they only pass on "nice" presents.
■ CANADA
Dalai Lama `not a call girl'
When Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper tried to explain in a year-end
interview why he'd met the Dalai Lama in his Ottawa office, it was clear he wanted to show respect for the exiled Tibetan leader. Unfortunately, it didn't quite come out that way. "I met the Dalai Lama in my office but I meet everyone in my office. I don't know why I would sneak off to a hotel room just to meet the Dalai Lama. You know, he's not a call girl," Harper told OMNI television. He quickly added: "As I say, he's a respected international spiritual leader."
■ CANADA
Sexual abuser sentenced
A man who sexually abused his four-year-old daughter live on the Internet so another man could watch was sentenced to four years in prison. The father, whose name was not released to protect the identity of his daughter, was arrested in October last year, just hours after he used a Webcam to expose his daughter to another man -- who was actually an undercover police officer -- during a chat room conversation. The father from St. Thomas, Ontario, pleaded guilty in October to seven criminal charges. The four-year sentence handed down Thursday takes into account time already served, which means he will serve another 20 months and will then be on probation for three years.
■ UNITED STATES
Spears' book canceled
A Christian publisher said on Wednesday it has called off a parenting book written by Lynne Spears, the mother of troubled pop star Britney Spears and her pregnant 16-year-old sister, Jamie Lynn. "We have postponed the book indefinitely," said Lindsey Nobles, spokeswoman for Tennessee-based Thomas Nelson. Nobles did not give a reason for the decision, which followed news on Tuesday that Jamie Lynn Spears was three months pregnant. The working title for the book was Pop Culture Mom: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World. Described by the publisher as "a parenting book that's going to have faith elements to it," it had been set for publication on Mother's Day in May next year.
■ UNITED STATES
KITT up for auction
An original KITT -- the talking car that helped David Hasselhoff escape bad guys on the 1980s TV series Knight Rider -- is up for sale on eBay. The black 1984 Pontiac Trans Am is being sold to satisfy the debts of a slain real estate developer, whose killing last year is unsolved. Boats, cars and other items owned by car aficionado Andrew Kissel already have been sold after creditors said he owed US$30 million. One bid -- for the US$20,000 minimum -- had been posted on eBay as of Thursday. Patrick Gil, administrator of Kissel's estate, said: "My understanding is that there were only four of them made specifically for the television series. I expected some Knight Rider lovers to jump on it."
■ BRAZIL
Cleric ends hunger strike
A Roman Catholic bishop on a hunger strike for 23 days to protest against an irrigation project ended his fast on Thursday after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said construction will go forward. Brazil's largest public works venture is set to pump water from the Sao Francisco River through 700km of canals to people and farms in the arid and poor northeast, where Lula was born. Bishop Luiz Cappio, hospitalized since Wednesday, began the hunger strike on Nov. 27 in a bid to block the project that he and other critics say is too expensive and would benefit wealthy landowners more than poor peasants.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
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
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