■SOUTH KOREA
Florist held for pruning ads
Prosecutors have arrested a florist for pruning his rivals’ business by clicking repeatedly on their online ads. The Seoul prosecutors’ office said yesterday that the man, surnamed Jeong, was charged with breaking laws on promoting communication networks and protecting information. Victims claim Jeong, 44, caused 500 million won (US$376,000) in losses to rival florists, the office said. Companies pre-pay portal operators a fee which dwindles each time an ad is clicked. When the fee is used up, the ad disappears. Jeong is also suspected of launching denial-of-service attacks, in which a flood of messages forces a targeted Web site to shut down. Prosecutors said they were questioning four other florists for allegedly colluding with or funding Jeong.
■AUSTRALIA
Disaster musical panned
A survivor of the gold mining disaster that gripped the world two years ago said yesterday that a musical in Melbourne called Beaconsfield: A Musical in A-Flat Minor was disrespectful to a workmate who was crushed to death in the rockfall. “It’s better off being left alone,” said Todd Russell, who was trapped with another miner for 14 days. “People are trying to get along with their lives, trying to move forward, and they just keep using this tragedy of ours.” Director Dan Ilic said the musical was more about the reporters who covering the story than the disaster itself.
■PHILIPPINES
Manila protests BBC sketch
The government has protested a popular BBC comedy sketch in which a Filipino maid was told to have sex with a neighbor, officials said yesterday. Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Esteban Conejos said the Philippine embassy in London sent letters to the BBC and the Press Complaints Commission, to protest “this slur on our domestic workers” in Britain. Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo also summoned the British Ambassador Peter Beckingham to discuss the matter, he said. Representative Risa Hontiveros demanded an apology from the BBC. She described the Sept. 26 episode of the TV show Harry and Paul, starring British comedians Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse, as “revolting and disgusting” and called it an “insensitive and racist attempt to satirize a scene of exploitation.”
■MALAYSIA
Anwar ad criticized
A huge cutout of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim in a suburb just outside Kuala Lumpur has drawn fire as idolatrous and a waste of public funds, the Star newspaper reported yesterday. The 12.2m high image shows a smiling Anwar waving and bedecked with symbols of his opposition alliance. “It can deviate the Muslim’s faith,” said Asri Zainul Abidin, an Islamic scholar. “I don’t blame Anwar because it was not him who put up the cutout, but his supporters should not idolize [him] too much.” The cutout was put up by the municipal council on Sept. 28 at a cost of 5,000 ringgit (US$1,435) to wish people a happy end to Ramadan.
■MALAYSIA
Refugee kills himself, wife
A Filipino refugee living in Sabah blew up himself and his wife, leaving their 13 children orphaned, the Star reported yesterday. Babin Isang, 35, had gone to see his wife Indak Musa, 35, on Monday to persuade her to come home after she left him to stay with her sister more than a month ago. Babin was heard shouting at his wife when the blast went off, the Star said. Indak was believed to have threatened to divorce her husband.
■ISRAEL
PR firm hired over image
Officials have hired a British public relations (PR) firm to re-market it to the world, and the company is in the final stages of preparing to launch the new image, the Ha’aretz daily reported on Monday. “Our research shows that Israel’s brand is essentially the conflict,” Ido Aharoni, the foreign ministry official in charge of the program, said. “Even those who recognize that Israel is in the right are not attracted to it, because they see it as a supplier of bad news. The conclusion is that it is more important for Israel to be attractive than to be right,” he said.
■RWANDA
Woman elected speaker
The country’s parliament, the first in the world with a female majority, voted a woman legislator as speaker on Monday. The appointment of Mukantabana Rose will enhance the east African nation’s reputation as a bastion of women’s empowerment in a continent where men normally dominate the power-circles. Women hold 44 of 80 seats, making it the first country in the world where men are outnumbered in parliament, the Inter-Parliamentary Union says. Rose, from a small opposition party, beat a male candidate for speaker, Mukama Abbas, by 70 votes to 10.
■ISRAEL
Scent technique discovered
Scientists said on Monday they have discovered a way to genetically enhance the scent of flowers, a development that could also be used to breed extra-tasty fruits and vegetables. “Recent developments will help to create flowers with an increased scent as well as producing new scent components,” Alexander Vainstein, the head of a team of scientists at Hebrew University, said in a statement. Vainstein said his team had enhanced the scents of some flowers by a factor of 10 and caused them to give off their fragrance day and night. The intensity of a flower’s scent usually depends on a range of natural factors, including the time of day, the plant’s age and the weather.
■DENMARK
Royal referendum slated
Voters are to vote in June in a referendum on the order of succession to the throne, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Monday. The referendum was set for June 7 in connection with the elections for the European Parliament. “We want equality in Danish society, also concerning the Danish throne. As things stand today, boys precede girls. We feel that girls should have equal rights,” Rasmussen told reporters. The change will apply in future since Crown Prince Frederik’s oldest child, Prince Christian, was born before his sister, Isabella. Christian — born October 15, 2005 — is second in line to the Danish throne after his father. Crown Prince Frederik met his wife, Australian-born Crown Princess Mary, at a Sydney pub during the 2000 Olympics. They were married in 2004.
■AUSTRIA
Elderly cyclist hit by car
And you thought Lance Armstrong was tough? Austrian authorities say a 108-year-old cyclist was hit by a car while biking across a busy street in Vienna — and she suffered only a few bruises. Police say the woman had been pedaling her bike across the bustling Praterstrasse when a car pulled away early from a stop light and struck her in the crosswalk. Officials say the woman was taken to a hospital for examination but suffered only bruises in Monday’s accident.
■UNITED STATES
Bride and groom back
California health officials say the words “bride” and “groom” will reappear on all marriage license applications issued starting on Nov. 17. In a notice posted on its Web site, the California Department of Public Health says it is making the change because many couples still wanted the option of identifying themselves in traditional terms. When same-sex marriage became legal in the state on June 16, the department issued new gender-neutral marriage forms with the words “Party A” and “Party B” where “bride” and “groom” used to be.
■GUATEMALA
Shooter releases hostages
A man shot and wounded a security guard and held 40 people hostage at a call center on Monday but surrendered to police after a five-hour siege. Police said the 29-year-old man threatened to blow up the call center on the fifth floor of a Guatemala City building with an explosive device he was carrying. Police negotiators persuaded the man to free his hostages and give himself up. They said the man, Luis Fernando Escobar, had a “sentimental” problem and had demanded to see his former wife’s boyfriend who worked at the call center.
■UNITED STATES
Fairgoers catch toddler
Authorities say patrons at a carnival in Florida caught a toddler whose mother was forced to drop her when a ride stranded them 9m in the air. Authorities say the “Crazy Bus” ride started to move as passengers were exiting on Saturday night at a carnival about 10km south of Daytona Beach. Sherri Pinkerton had to dangle by one hand while holding her toddler in the other arm. She then dropped the girl, who was caught by fairgoers. Firefighters used a ladder to rescue Pinkerton from the ride.
■UNITED STATES
Mom guilty of murder
A California mother was convicted of second-degree murder on Monday for driving her teenage son and his friends to a fatal fight with a rival gang. Eva Daley, 31, had been charged with first-degree murder but the jury opted for the lesser conviction after deliberating for more than two days. She faces 15 years to life in prison when she is sentenced on Nov. 4. Her co-defendant, Heriberto Garcia, was also convicted of second-degree murder for fatally stabbing 13-year-old Jose Cano near a Long Beach skate park in June last year. Garcia, one of the passengers in Daley’s vehicle, is 17 but was tried as an adult. Five other teenagers, including Daley’s son, admitted a manslaughter charge in juvenile court and could remain in state custody until age 25. The case of another youth is still pending in juvenile court.
■UNITED STATES
Dead POWs may get award
An estimated 17,000 deceased US prisoners of war could be awarded Purple Hearts under a new Defense Department policy announced on Monday. Purple Hearts are awarded to soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines wounded by enemy action. The medals have been denied in the past to POWs who died in captivity if it could not be proven they had been wounded or killed by the enemy. The revised policy the Pentagon announced on Monday presumes such deaths were the result of enemy action unless compelling evidence is presented to the contrary. The new policy is retroactive to Dec. 7, 1941 — when Japanese aircraft attacked Pearl Harbor, the department said in a statement on Monday. Posthumous awards can be made to a family member or other representative of the deceased service member.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of