■ GERMANY
Fish sex is electric business
Sex among electric fish in the Congo River is a rather charged business, a new study reporting on an unusual experiment showed. Mormyrids are fish that use low-voltage discharges from an electrical organ to hunt for food. Intrigued as to how these unusual creatures locate each other for reproduction in almost zero visibility, a German team replicated the mood for mormyrid love in a tank on the outskirts of Berlin. “All males showed a kink in their anal fin base indicating sexual maturity,” the study recounted, a touch breathlessly. The females, were placed at night in the middle of a large tank with a small zone at either end that was sectioned off with a grill. The results of the study showed that the females showed the same interest in the right electric signals as they did for a male from their own species, suggesting that — as in human love — it’s the electricity that counts.
■ NEW ZEALAND
Hand wash plea fails to wash
A surgeon who blamed the alcoholic hand wash he used to scrub up after operations for failing a breathalyzer test was convicted yesterday of a drunk-driving charge, news reports said. Ian Denholm, 53, head of orthopedic surgery at Wairarapa Hospital, north of Wellington, said he had only two glasses of wine and blamed an extraordinary ability to absorb alcohol in the hand wash gel because of eczema for putting him over the limit. His not guilty plea failed to wash with Judge Stephen Harrop at the Wellington District Court who fined him NZ$500 (US$275) and banned him from driving for six months.
■ NETHERLANDS
Internet baby placed in care
A Belgian baby bought over the Internet for adoption by a Dutch couple must be placed in the temporary care of the Dutch authorities, a court ruled on Thursday. Media reported that the couple bought the boy in July from a Belgian couple in Ghent. One TV report said between 5,000 and 10,000 euros (US$6,450 to US$12,900) was paid. The Dutch couple denies buying the baby, saying on Dutch TV that they only paid the pregnancy costs incurred by the parents. The court said the couple had broken the laws for adopting foreign children and had to hand the baby over to child welfare authorities.
■ MALAYSIA
Christian sues government
A Christian is suing the government for allegedly violating her religious rights after airport officials seized Christian educational CDs that she brought from Indonesia, the woman’s lawyer said. Customs authorities confiscated eight CDs from Jill Ireland when she flew back to Kuala Lumpur on May 11 after a trip to Jakarta, her lawyer Annou Xavier said late on Thursday. The Home Ministry informed her in a letter that the CDs were seized mainly because their cover titles contained the word “Allah,” which is prohibited in non-Muslim religious material, Xavier said.
■ FRANCE
Sikh loses license battle
The European Court of Human Rights on Thursday dismissed a case brought by a French Sikh man who wanted to wear a turban on his driving license photograph in breach of French rules. Shingara Mann Singh, 52, a French national, lost a series of appeals in France against the refusal by authorities to issue a new license with a photograph of him wearing a turban. In a statement, it recognized that the rule on photographs “amounted to interference with the exercise of the right to freedom of religion,” but judged that this was justified.
■ MEXICO
‘Good Samaritan’ robbed
A driver got himself into a sticky situation when he pulled over to help a woman whose pickup appeared to have broken down by the highway. Anadel Carrizales was driving on Wednesday near Monterrey when a blonde woman in a black miniskirt motioned for him to pull over. Once he had stopped, the woman walked up and told him an accomplice was pointing a gun at him, said David Perales, a spokesman for state investigators. She then tied him up with packing tape, super-glued his hands to the steering wheel of his truck and demanded money. Carrizales didn’t have any cash, but the woman took his credit cards and fled. With his motor still running and his hands glued to the wheel, Carrizales managed to drive a few kilometers down the road until he found a police officer to help him.
■ NETHERLANDS
No home for ex-alderwoman
A former businesswoman of the year who later served as alderwoman of the city of Rotterdam was found to be homeless after checking herself in at a local night shelter, the daily newspaper Metro reported on Thursday. Rabella de Faria has lived on the streets most of this year but is now staying with friends, Rotterdam city councilor Driesch Mosch told Metro. De Faria, 48, was the city’s alderwoman for security and public health between 2002 and 2004. After her resignation as alderwoman in 2004, de Faria could not find a new job. She lost her home after her husband divorced her.
■ GERMANY
Boy crashes teacher’s car
An eight-year-old schoolboy who wanted to complain to his mother about being sent out of class took his teacher’s car and crashed it, police said. The boy, banished from class for disrupting a lesson, pinched the 40-year-old teacher’s car key when she was not looking and managed to start up her compact car, accelerating and putting the vehicle into first gear. “The little fellow drove for about 25m before crashing into a Volvo, also parked in the car park outside the school,” a police spokesman in the city of Zwickau said on Thursday.
■ UNITED STATES
‘Pumpkin’ moves to Disney
Better to be the main attraction than the main dish. “Pumpkin” the turkey was honored as the grand marshal of Disneyland’s Thanksgiving Day parade on Thursday, a day after being pardoned by President George W. Bush at the White House. The 20kg tom and National Turkey Federation chairman Paul Hill then flew first-class from Washington to Los Angeles. After the parade, Pumpkin and his backup bird, “Pecan,” moved into their winter residence next to the theme park’s seasonal display of live reindeer. The two turkeys will live out their days at a coop for celebrity turkeys at Disney’s Big Thunder Ranch.
■ IRAN
Court orders man be blinded
A man who blinded a woman with acid after she spurned his marriage proposals will also be blinded with acid under the nation’s Islamic law, the Etemad-e Melli newspaper said on Thursday. The court made the ruling on Wednesday based on the system of qisas, or fair retribution, Etemad-e Melli said. The man identified as Majid proposed several times but was spurned by the woman, identified as Ameneh, it said. In revenge, he threw acid in her face as she left her work in 2004, it said. Ameneh traveled to Spain for surgery to reconstruct her face but efforts to restore her sight failed. On return from Spain, she asked the court for retribution, the newspaper said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese