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World News Quick Take

■NEW ZEALAND

UN grants seabed rights

The UN has recognized New Zealand’s right to an area of seabed six times the size of its land mass, Prime Minister Helen Clark said yesterday. The 1.7 million km² area lies within the country’s continental shelf but outside its exclusive economic zone. The UN agreement gives Wellington the rights to resources on or under the seabed, but not to those — such as fish — in the waters lying outside its exclusive economic zone. A continental shelf boundary with Australia has already been agreed although other boundaries with Fiji and Tonga to the north are still to be finalized.



■SOUTH KOREA

Lee rides bicycle to work

President Lee Myung-bak rode his bicycle to work and commuters took free public transport yesterday as the country joined in World Car-Free Day to help the environment. “President Lee and all his secretaries will use their cars sparingly throughout the day,” an official at the presidential office told Yonhap news agency. Lee used a minivan to get to Seoul Station and then took a train to attend a provincial event. His secretaries took buses or subway trains for their morning commute, the official said. World Car-Free Day is simultaneously observed in numerous cities as part of an international initiative to help the environment.



■SOUTH KOREA

Golf memberships seized

The government went after suspected tax cheats on the weekend by taking away their memberships in pricey golf clubs, saying if they can afford the clubs then they should be able to pay their fair share in taxes. Golf club memberships are beyond the reach of most citizens, with entry into mid-level clubs costing about US$200,000 to US$300,000 and membership for top clubs costing as much as US$1 million. On the weekend, the government seized 960 memberships, the tax service said in a news release. If the tax agency cannot reach a settlement on back taxes with a suspected tax cheat, it sells the confiscated memberships to the public to generate cash.



■JAPAN

Activists protest US warship

Activists prepared large protests to meet the arrival of the USS George Washington aircraft carrier, which is to dock just south of Tokyo on Thursday to become the first nuclear-powered carrier with its home port in Japan. Organizers said yesterday they planned to hold demonstrations throughout the day, both onshore and on boats in the harbor around the US naval base at Yokosuka, where the George Washington is to arrive. Masahiko Goto, a local lawyer who has led opposition to the deployment, said a few hundred people were expected to join in protests as the ship arrives, and another 2,000 were to gather near the base that night. The George Washington can carry a crew of up to 5,600 and 70 aircraft.



■CHINA

Astronauts prepare mission

Astronauts readying for the next leap into space have arrived at the launch site of the Shenzhou VII craft, official media reported, as enthusiasm grows over the Olympic host nation’s next attention-grabbing feat. The Shenzhou VII is set to blast off on a Long March rocket later this week for China’s third manned spaceflight. It will carry three astronauts, including one aiming to make China’s first space walk. Three candidate astronauts and three back-ups in case of last-minute changes arrived at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the remote northwest on Sunday, Xinhua news agency reported.



■SOMALIA

German, Somali wife freed

A German national and his Somali wife who were kidnapped over the weekend in the northern breakaway state of Puntland were released yesterday, officials said. “The German and his wife were released and are back in [the port city of] Bossaso now. Local elders and officials in the regional administration helped his release,” Puntland presidential adviser Bile Mohamoud Qabowsade said. General Ali Said, who led mediation efforts, said the two were released “without preconditions.” The pair’s vehicle had been intercepted as they were driving in Bossaso on Saturday evening and taken into mountainous areas in eastern Bossaso. Officials said the German national, whose name could not immediately be confirmed, had been staying in Bossaso for several weeks.



■TURKEY

Babies’ deaths probed

Thirteen newborn babies died in 24 hours at a state hospital in the western Turkish city of Izmir and an investigation is under way, a senior official told the Anatolia news agency yesterday. “The number of babies that have perished has increased to 13. We are looking into the deaths,” said Mehmet Ozkan, the head of the local health directorate. A detailed statement could be made later in the day, he added. Local newspapers reported that the babies, all prematurely born and underdeveloped, died at the Tepecik hospital on Saturday and Sunday, and suggested that an infection was to blame.



■GERMANY

Reformation celebrated

The town where Martin Luther tacked his 95 theses to a church door launched on Sunday a decade of celebrations leading up to the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and US Lutheran bishop Mark Hanson addressed a congregation on Sunday in the church where Luther began his protest against the Roman Catholic Church in 1517. Hanson said there were 68 million Lutherans around the world today. Schaeuble told the congregation that the celebration of Luther’s legacy provided a chance to advance tolerance between Christians and Muslims in Germany. Wittenberg chose to start celebrating this year because it is 500 years since Luther moved into a monastery on the edge of town.



■GERMANY

Official supports Afghan aid

German troops ought to assist Afghan forces cracking down on drug gangs, Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung said in a radio interview on Sunday. “I have the impression that some of the attacks carried out on the German army also have that sort of background,” said Jung on Deutschlandfunk public radio, charging that opium exporters were financing terrorism in Afghanistan. “We’ll make clear that we want to support the Afghan armed forces battling the drug world.” He was referring to a parliamentary vote expected to be held in Berlin on Oct. 16 or Oct. 17 on extending authorization for the German troops in Afghanistan and raising the contingent’s from 3,500 to 4,500 personnel.



■LESOTHO

Huge diamond found

Gem Diamonds Ltd found a 478-carat white diamond at its Letseng mine in Lesotho, which it said ranked as the 20th-largest rough diamond ever found. The gem was discovered on Sept. 8 and has “no inclusions visible in its rough form,” London-based Gem said in a statement distributed yesterday by the Regulatory News Service.





■MEXICO

Drug cache found on trawler

Just over 2.7 tonnes of cocaine were discovered aboard a shrimp trawler off the Pacific coast of Chiapas, officials said on Sunday. The navy spotted the Juan Alejandro on Wednesday, and an inspection of the vessel led to the discovery of 3,100 packets of cocaine in a water reservoir, the Attorney General’s office said. The six-member crew was arrested.



■UNITED STATES

Bacon brings in the hogs

Jolee Bacon really sizzles when it comes to hog-calling. She took first place on Saturday in the competition at the Nez Perce County Fair in Lewiston, Idaho. She has raised several champion pigs for 4-H contests. Bacon says she calls pigs every morning and night with her nine-year-old daughter, Jacey. Bacon won the crown over as she started her hog call with a few loud snorts and a long, drawn-out “sooey.”



■HAITI

Mourning period declared

President Rene Preval announced three days of national mourning on Sunday for victims of four hurricanes and tropical storms that have ravaged the nation in recent months. He ordered the flags at government buildings to be flown at half-staff beginning yesterday, while national radio stations were to play somber music. The storms killed 326 people and caused millions of dollars in damage. “By observing the days of national mourning, we will honor the memory of these victims and express solidarity with their suffering family members,” Preval said.



■UNITED STATES

Stevens trial set to open

The corruption trial of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens was scheduled to begin on Monday only steps from the US Capitol. Stevens, a Republican, is charged with lying in Senate financial disclosure records about hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts and home renovations he received from VECO Corp. On Friday, he urged people to reserve judgment until all the evidence is in: “I have said I am innocent of the charges against me, and I think the trial will show that.” Stevens, 84, says he paid every bill he received and has pleaded not guilty to all seven counts. The senator has pushed to get his trial completed before Alaskans vote on Nov. 4 on his re-election. His trial is expected to last about a month.



■INDIA

Warner Bros loses suit

A New Delhi court yesterday dismissed a petition by Hollywood studio Warner Bros against the makers of Bollywood film Hari Puttar over its title, a lawyer for the Indian producers said. Warner Bros, which owns the rights to the hugely successful Harry Potter movies, took the producers to court over the film’s title, saying it sounded too similar to the name of their young wizard hero. “The case has been dismissed. The court said that Warner Bros had known the title of the film since 2005,” lawyer Pratibha Singh said. The film was due to open earlier this month, but its producers delayed its release due to the legal row. Hari Puttar, a comedy about a 10-year-old Indian boy whose family moves to England.



■UNITED STATES

Sharpton prays with inmate

Georgia death row inmate Troy Anthony Davis, who faces lethal injection today for the murder of a Savannah police officer, prayed with civil rights activist the Reverend Al Sharpton on Saturday night. Sharpton said Davis, 39, was “surprisingly upbeat.” Davis has claimed he is innocent in the shooting death of officer Mark MacPhail, who was killed on Aug. 19, 1989.
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