■ SOUTH KOREA
Court upholds adultery law
The highest court upheld on Thursday a decades-old adultery law that could send people to jail for having an extramarital affair that critics said was anachronistic and infringed on personal freedom. The fourth appeal made to the Constitutional Court since 1989 was brought by the lawyers for a popular actress who was charged under the law when her TV personality husband filed a criminal complaint against her for having an affair with an opera singer.
■ HONG KONG
Magazine restricted
National Geographic, the magazine famous for providing schoolboys with their first glimpse of naked flesh, was banned yesterday from sale to minors. In what was believed to be a reaction to recent obscenity rulings in the former British colony, the latest edition of the magazine has gone on sale wrapped in clear plastic with a warning not to be sold to those under 18. The warning related to four computer-generated images of naked Neanderthal men and women that accompanied an article on a fossil discovery, a report in the South China Morning Post said.
■ MALAYSIA
Food vendor wins millions
A food vendor who had been playing the lottery for a decade has won the biggest ever jackpot of 20 million ringgit (US$5.7 million), reports said yesterday. The vendor and his wife were so astonished by their big win on the Toto lottery that they slapped each other to make sure they were not dreaming, the Star daily said. The couple planned to use the money pay off their debts, help out family members and make donations to charities, but would also treat themselves to a European vacation.
■ UNITED STATES
Liberian convicted
The son of former Liberian president Charles Taylor was convicted on Thursday of committing torture while in charge of a military outfit during his father’s regime. A jury in Miami convicted Charles McArthur Emmanuel on all counts of torture under a 1994 law allowing US authorities to prosecute anyone suspected of committing torture anywhere in the world. Emmanuel faces life imprisonment. Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 9. Emmanuel was head of a security unit that targeted opponents of his father, who ruled the country from 1997 to 2003 and faces war crimes charges in a UN court in The Hague, where he remains locked up. Emmanuel was born in the US while his father was attending college in Boston. He eventually returned to the US after his father fled Liberia.
■ GERMANY
Tempelhof closes
The last flight lifted off from Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport late on Thursday, bringing an end to an era of aviation that spanned World War II, the Cold War and the rebirth of the German capital. Shortly before midnight, a vintage DC-3 “Candy Bomber” and a Junkers Ju-52 — both from the 1930s — took off from the airport. Then the runway lights went black forever. The future of the site is uncertain. Tempelhof was the central point of a massive US-led airlift in 1948 when the Soviets blockaded all land and water traffic to Berlin in an attempt to squeeze the Western allies out of the city.
■ SOUTH AFRICA
Police seek private help
The police force will rope in private security firms to help deal with one of the world’s worst crime rates, Safety Minister Nathi Mthethwa said on Thursday. “Government has had extensive consultations with the private security industry to partner in the fight against crime,” he told journalists. He said the private security firms would “extend the arm” of the police, especially in suburbs with high rates of house robberies. Under a recently signed agreement with leading firms, authorities will give private security officers training on how to secure a crime scene, but they would not carry out police functions such as making arrests, he said.
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