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World News Quick Take

■SOUTH KOREA

Country free of bird flu

The government plans to declare the country free of bird flu this week, more than three months after a series of outbreaks led authorities to slaughter nearly 8.5 million birds, an official said yesterday. Kim Chang-seob, the Agriculture Ministry’s chief veterinary officer, said the declaration will be reported today to the Paris-based animal health organization known as OIE. The OIE has been at the forefront of global efforts to monitor and fight the H5N1 strain of bird flu, which scientists have tracked because they fear it may mutate into a human flu virus that could start a pandemic that would kill millions. Under the OIE’s regulations, a country can officially declare itself free of the disease if no new cases of bird flu have been found for three months.



■INDONESIA

Jail sentences reduced

The country yesterday marked its independence day with the reduction of jail sentences to tens of thousands of prisoners including convicted Australian drug traffickers. More than 55,000 prisoners who have completed at least one-third of their sentences were granted reductions ranging from several weeks or months. At least 5,700 inmates will walk free, said Untung Sugiyono, director-general of correctional institutions at the Justice and Human Rights Affairs Ministry. A three-month jail reduction was granted in the 20-year sentence imposed on Australian drug trafficker Schapelle Corby, the second time authorities had cut the 31-year-old’s sentence after it was reduced by three months in 2006. Corby is now expected to be freed by April 12, 2024, said Yon Suharyono, the head of the Kerobokan penitentiary where Corby is being held on Bali.



■NEPAL

Maoists to form government

The Maoists aim to form the nation’s first post-royal government this week, a party official said, marking a major step on their journey from rebel army to legitimate political power. The talks come after former guerrilla chief Prachanda — whose name means “the fierce one” — was overwhelmingly elected prime minister by lawmakers on Friday. Maoist spokesman Krishna Bahadur Mahara said that the ultra-leftists were negotiating with allied parties and hoped to form a government within days. “There’s an immediate need to bring all parties to a common consensus to take the country forward,” he said late on Saturday. Since the Maoists signed up for peace in 2006, the country has seen tumultuous change, with the rebels ending their bloody civil war, winning landmark polls and throwing out the monarchy.



■MYANMAR

Junta jails protesters

Military authorities have jailed five young activists for taking part in a small street rally marking the anniversary of a 1988 pro-democracy uprising, an opposition party member said yesterday. The five youth members of detained opposition leader Aung Sun Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party were arrested on Aug. 8 as they marched with 43 other people in western Rakhine State. The sentencing came before a visit to the country by Ibrahim Gambari, the UN’s most senior diplomat working to push the junta towards reform, who is due to arrive today for a five-day visit. He will likely be hoping for a more successful visit then his previous trip in March, which UN officials described as “disappointing” after the junta publicly rebuffed his calls for political reform.



■GERMANY

Gay monument vandalized

A monument dedicated to the thousands of homosexuals persecuted and tortured by the Nazis has been vandalized in Berlin less than two months after it was unveiled, police said on Saturday. The monument — a gray concrete slab that stands around 5m high — contains a window through which viewers can watch a video of a “never-ending” kiss between two men. The window had been smashed by unknown assailants, police said, adding the incident was being investigated. The monument is located in the heart of the capital close to the main Holocaust monument. Adolf Hitler outlawed homosexuality in 1936 and convicted around 50,000 people for “unnatural” behavior deemed unbecoming of the Aryan “master race.” It is estimated that the Nazis sent between 5,000 and 15,000 gays to concentration camps together with Jews, political opponents, gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses and others considered undesirable.



■GERMANY

Man claims data trove

A man who stirred furor by sending a CD to a consumer agency with personal and banking information of thousands of clients claims to have a trove of more data, a report to be published today said. “It was only the first chunk of data,” 36-year-old Detlef Tiegel said, in remarks cited by the Der Spiegel weekly. “In fact, I saved the addresses and banking information of 1.5 million clients.” Tiegel claims to have been given the CD by his boss, during a three-week stint working for a telephone center in the northern city of Luebeck. The public prosecutors’ office claims the center obtained the data illegally for business purposes.



■BELARUS

Political prisoner released

The nation’s highest profile political prisoner left jail on Saturday, his daughter said, as an unconfirmed news agency report said he had been given a presidential pardon. Opposition leader Alexander Kozulin was on his way home after being released, his daughter Olga Kozulina said. “We don’t know what has happened and under what conditions he has been released, but he is definitely coming home and I hope he is coming home for a long time,” Kozulina said. Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed official as saying Kozulin, a former presidential candidate, had been pardoned by President Alexander Lukashenko on Friday. Kozulin was jailed in 2006 after leading a protest against the heavily criticized election victory of Lukashenko, dubbed by Washington “Europe’s last dictator.” His release has been a key demand by Western powers, including the US, which has imposed economic sanctions against Lukashenko’s leadership. Diplomats say Lukashenko is seeking a positive appraisal from Western election observers. Lukashenko is accused by critics of suppressing opposition democracy campaigners and illegally changing the Constitution to prolong his 14-year rule.



■SWEDEN

Super texter wins race

Michael Phelps, swim your heart out. When it comes to text messaging, no one can beat My Svensson — at least on home ground. The 17-year-old student needed only 61 seconds to write a 141-character SMS message rich in crisp words and snappy punctuation to claim the Swedish text messaging championship, sponsored by a Swedish telecoms operator. “I was very tense in the finals when I realized how much money I could win,” said My, who plans to use her 25,000 kronor (US$3,900) prize for a holiday in France, the Dagens Nyheter newspaper reported on Saturday.



■UNITED STATES

Fake hand scares angler

A 12-year-old angler has returned from a Michigan river’s edge with a small scare and a big tale. Zack Bastian was fishing last week on the Grand when he saw what appeared to be a bobbing hand attached to an arm, WILX-TV said. Zack and his stepfather called police, only to learn it was fake and belonged to a local law enforcement agency’s dive team. The team’s commander, Sergeant Joe Brown, says he was surprised the weighted-down dummy resurfaced. Team members were unable to retrieve it after an exercise in June. Despite the adrenaline rush, Zack says he would rather be casting for bass or carp.



■UNITED STATES

Seven killed in fire

A fire ravaged a house in Memphis, Tennessee, yesterday, killing seven people — including five children — local media reported. Three children — boys aged 11 and 16, and a 17-year-old girl — suffered second-degree burns to their faces and hands, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported. Firefighters said those who were charred to death included a 38-year-old woman, an 18-year-old male, three girls aged nine, seven and four, and two boys aged five and one. It took 30 fire personnel about 20 minutes to get the fire under control and prevent it from spreading to other houses in the low-income neighborhood of Orange Mound.



■UNITED STATES

Schwarzenegger injured

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger pulled out of an environmental conference on Saturday to have his knee examined after injuring himself while exercising. The governor had been scheduled to co-host a climate change summit in South Lake Tahoe, but Senator Dianne Feinstein told the crowd on Saturday morning that Schwarzenegger had called her to say he couldn’t make it. He injured his knee while working out and it has been bothering him all week, Schwarzenegger spokesman Matt David said. A doctor was expected to examine Schwarzenegger’s knee for a possibly torn meniscus at the governor’s home in Los Angeles.



■GUYANA

Mystery disease sparks fears

The health minister said he worries that a disease that has killed 38 Warao Indians in Venezuela could cross the border. Leslie Ramsammy said he has contacted the Pan American Health Organization to help investigate the deaths. It is believed the Indians died from a form of rabies linked to vampire bats living in the Amazon jungle. “There is definitely a mystery illness out there,” Ramsammy said on Saturday. At least 38 Warao Indians have died since June last year — 16 have of them since the start of June this year, Venezuelan officials said.



■BRAZIL

Music legend passes away

Dorival Caymmi, one of the founders of modern Brazilian music, passed away on Saturday from multiple organ failure, surrounded by family and friends at his Rio de Janeiro home, at 94 years of age, local press reported. “We’ve lost the greatest professors of life,” said singer Tom Ze, who like Caymmi hails from the central coastal state of Bahia, where the sun-drenched lifestyle of fishing villages and sultry women inspired Caymmi’s more than 50 lifetime music albums. From his first and immediately popular song written at 16, O que a baiana tem?, Caymmi’s rhythmic style and deep, sultry voice were adopted by Bossa Nova singers and performed by Joao Gilberto, Tom Jobim and other greats.


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