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■ CHINA

Lip-synching to be punished

Singers who lip-synch will be punished for “cheating the public,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. A draft set of rules for commercial performances published on its Web site stipulates that artistes must not “use pre-recorded songs or music to replace live singing or instrument playing” to “cheat the public.” Those who are caught in the act will be punished, the rules say, without specifying what the penalties will be. “We’re seeking input from the public about this regulation,” said a spokeswoman for the ministry, who did not want to be named.



■HONG KONG

Two more ill from melamine

Two more children have fallen ill after eating Chinese-made products tainted with melamine, authorities said, as high levels of the toxic chemical were found in fish feed. The two girls, both aged four, were found to be suffering from kidney stones. They had a history of eating Chinese-made milk products and biscuits, the Centre for Health Protection said. “The products concerned were earlier found by the Centre for Food Safety to have been adulterated with melamine, a chemical that can cause kidney stones leading to renal failure,” said the statement, issued on Wednesday.



■THAILAND

Market blast wounds 13

A blast wounded 13 people in Bangkok early yesterday when assailants hurled an explosive device at market vendors who had gathered to protest a rent hike by new managers of the government-owned facility, police said. The blast occurred in the Thai capital at around 1am when some protesters were sleeping in makeshift tents and others had gathered outside, police Colonel Sutip Palitkusontap said. Two of the protesters remained hospitalized with serious injuries, but the rest have been released, said Surachet Sathitniramai at the Narenthorn Medical Center.



■JAPAN

Blaze hits nuclear plant

A fire broke out at a nuclear power plant in Onagawa yesterday, injuring one worker but causing no radiation leak, the operator said. Firefighters put out the fire after about an hour after white smoke was spotted coming out of the reactor, which was already shut for a regular check-up, Tohoku Electric Power said. “One worker sustained minor burns but was not exposed to radiation,” a company spokesman said, adding there was no leak to the outside environment.



■MALAYSIA

Authorities seize lizards

Authorities have seized thousands of protected lizards, owls and other creatures, many of them dead and destined for restaurant kitchens abroad, a wildlife official said yesterday. Authorities saved some 7,000 live clouded monitor lizards and seized meat of some 1,000 owls, some sun bears, pangolins and other protected animals during the raids last week, said Misliah Mohamed Basir, deputy director of the Department of Wildlife and National Parks.



■PAKISTAN

Gunmen kidnap diplomat

Gunmen kidnapped an Iranian diplomat after killing his guard yesterday in Peshawar, a day after a US aid worker was shot dead in the city, officials said. The Iranian diplomat was driving on a narrow bridge when two armed men blocked his way with their car and opened fire, said Banaras Khan, a police investigator in Peshawar who cited a witness. He said the Pakistani guard was killed,and the attackers dragged the Iranian into their vehicle before fleeing.

■ UNITED KINGDOM

Sperm shortage reported

The country is facing a sperm donor shortage after reversing confidentiality laws and limiting the number of women who can use sperm from one donor, fertility experts warned on Wednesday. In 2005, officials changed the law protecting anonymous sperm donors and allowed children to learn the identity of donor fathers — one reason, fertility experts say, there are fewer donors now.



■GERMANY

Ex-lover blows up building

A man charged with murder for causing a gas explosion that destroyed half an apartment building and killed his neighbor told a court on Wednesday he was only trying to kill himself because he was lovesick. The 22-year-old on trial in Moenchengladbach said he had opened the natural gas taps in his apartment intending to commit suicide after his girlfriend broke up with him. When the 17-year-old later arrived to pick her belongings up from his apartment, she unwittingly lit a cigarette that ignited the gas and blew up half of the building, injuring 15 people and killing a 45-year-old neighbor.



■EUROPEAN UNION

Ugly fruit is back

It’s time to welcome back the curvy zucchini, the mangled mushroom and other odd and ugly fruits and vegetables. The EU bid adieu on Wednesday to rules that have cemented its image as an ivory tower. Starting next summer, it will allow the sale of fruit and vegetables that may be crooked, bent or twisted but are fine for consumption. “This marks the new dawn for the curvy cucumber and the knobbly carrot,” EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said.



■UNITED KINGDOM

Child services under review

The government will review the practices at an embattled child protection service in north London following the horrific death of an 18-month-old boy, a minister said on Wednesday. Secretary of State for Children Ed Balls said he was ordering an independent inquiry into the case. He said its first report would be published in December. The baby’s mother, her partner and a house guest were all convicted of “causing or allowing” the child’s death and will be sentenced on Dec. 15. They each face a maximum jail term of 14 years.



■NETHERLANDS

Men jailed for HIV attacks

A court on Wednesday jailed three HIV-positive men for up to nine years for staging sex orgies at which they drugged men, raped them and injected them with HIV-contaminated blood. The two main accused, Peter Mulder, 50, and Hans Jurgens, 35, were jailed for nine and five years respectively, a spokeswoman for Groningen district court said. Mulder was also found guilty of rape, as was 49-year-old Wim Dekker, who was sentenced to 18 months in jail. The trio were arrested last year after 14 men — 12 of whom are HIV-positive or sick with AIDS — pressed charges.



■POLAND

Workers occupy PM’s office

Up to 200 workers occupied Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s office on Wednesday in a protest against plans to reform the pension system. “We are saying to the prime minister that a small group of rich entrepreneurs cannot dictate rules to the majority of working men,” Boguslaw Cietek, head of the WZZ Sierpien 80 labor union, told the TVP Info television channel. The workers demanded a meeting with Tusk but the prime minister was only due back in Warsaw later on Wednesday evening after a trip to Germany.

■ NICARAGUA

Election results face review

The election council agreed on Wednesday to a review of the Managua mayoral election results, but opposition party members who claimed fraud in the balloting demanded that international observers be present. The race for mayor of the capital was the most closely watched of 146 municipal elections considered a test for President Daniel Ortega, a leftist who has been fiercely critical of the administration of US President George W. Bush. Ortega’s Sandinistas won the most mayoralties in Sunday’s elections. The opposition Constitutionalist Liberal Party claims there was widespread fraud.



■UNITED STATES

Cat home after 13 years

A California couple recently had an unexpected reunion with an old housemate: their pet cat who went missing more than 13 years ago. The cat, named George, was last seen by Melinda Merman and Frank Walburg in 1995. He recently resurfaced when the manager of a mobile home park trapped the sickly feline and gave him to an animal hospital. A microchip implanted in George allowed him to be traced back to his owners. Merman says after George went missing she visited animal shelters in search of the gray, yellow-eyed cat, who now weighs less than half his original 6.4kg.



■MEXICO

Moderate heads leftist party

A moderate ex-senator was named head of the country’s embattled left-wing opposition party on Wednesday, in a blow to firebrand former presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. The country’s top electoral court ruled that Jesus Ortega won a highly contested vote to lead the Party of the Democratic Revolution after bickering over the result left it leaderless for most of this year. Ortega comes from the faction of the PRD most likely to negotiate with President Felipe Calderon’s conservative National Action Party, or PAN, in the divided Congress.



■CUBA

Fidel pens new book

Authorities on Wednesday presented a new book by Fidel Castro, who has not appeared in public since undergoing emergency intestinal surgery in July 2006. La Paz en Colombia, or Peace in Colombia, explores Cuba’s role in attempts to end Colombia’s civil war, which has raged for more than four decades. The 265-page book was presented during a Havana ceremony that Castro did not attend. The book contains documents pertaining to Colombia’s peace process, as well as Castro’s memories of the country. It includes his musings on a number of topics, including his opinion that Colombia’s problems with drug production and smuggling have been caused solely by demand in the US.



■CANADA

Another shoe discovered

The British Columbia Coroners Service is examining a left shoe found on the Pacific coast to determine if the remains in it are human and if the shoe is connected to five other feet found in the area. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Constable Annie Linteau said on Wednesday that a Richmond, British Columbia, couple found the New Balance shoe on Tuesday and called police. DNA tests are also being done, Linteau said. Five feet have mysteriously floated ashore in the area since last year, and a sixth foot was found across the border on the shores of Washington State’s Orcas Island in Puget Sound in August. A right-foot New Balance shoe — the only one belonging to a woman — was located May 22, on Kirkland Island in the Fraser River, not far from the site of Tuesday’s discovery.


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