■BRAZIL
Ad urges peeing in showers
New TV ads are encouraging people to save water by urinating in the shower. The environmental group SOS Mata Atlantica says the campaign uses humor to persuade people to reduce flushes. The group says if a household avoids one flush a day, it can save up to 4,380 liters of water annually. The ad features cartoon drawings of people from all walks of life — a trapeze artist, a basketball player, even an alien — urinating in the shower. The ad ends with: “Pee in the shower! Save the Atlantic rainforest!”
■MEXICO
Officials sorry for mass raid
The government has apologized to Roman Catholic officials and parishioners after storming a church during Mass to arrest a drug suspect. But the Public Safety Department is standing by the decision to launch the raid, saying it was necessary to avoid a violent confrontation or escape. Federal police arrested Miguel Angel Baeza, an alleged high-ranking lieutenant in La Familia drug cartel, during a church service in drug-plagued Michoacan state on Sunday.
■CANADA
Father sorry for son driving
A Quebec father who posted a YouTube video of his seven-year-old son driving the family car now says he regrets letting his little boy get behind the wheel. The man said he had erred but didn’t deserve so much harsh criticism. He said the video was shot two years ago. In the video, the dad rides in the front passenger seat with his camera in hand and proudly delivers play-by-play as his son Samuel cruises down a country road.
■HAITI
Minimum wage doubled
Lawmakers voted to more than double the minimum wage on Tuesday night after long hours of debate and clashes between police and protesters, who complained they can’t feed and shelter their families on the current pay of about US$1.75 a day. The plan adopted fell short of the US$5 wage demanded by the demonstrators, although it would more than double the minimum pay to about US$3.75 a day.
■ANTIGUA
Mountain named for Obama
The island’s highest mountain officially became “Mount Obama” on Tuesday as the small Caribbean nation celebrated the US president on his birthday and saluted him as a symbol of black achievement. Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer presided over the re-christening ceremony at the base of the mountain, unveiling a stone sculpture and plaque honoring the president as an inspiration.
■UNITED STATES
Madoff spending limited
The wife of convicted fraudster Bernard Madoff must give a monthly accounting of her spending to a court-appointed trustee, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. Ruth Madoff, who gave up her claim to Madoff’s US$80 million estate and instead has kept just US$2.5 million, would have to report any spending over US$100 to the trustee seeking to regain funds of investors bilked by her husband. She was sued last week, with the court-appointed trustee for her husband’s bankrupt investment company saying that she in the last six years had received US$45 million, which should be returned to the firm for compensation of fraud victims in the case. The agreement that requires her to report her spending habits came as part of that lawsuit, the newspaper reported.
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