■AUSTRALIA
Rudd recalls flub
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has sought to make light of strained diplomatic relations with China by telling an anecdote about how sentiments can easily get lost in translation. Rudd, a Mandarin-speaking former diplomat and self-avowed Sinophile, told students at the Australian National University about an error he made as a junior envoy in Beijing. “Apparently, what I’d said as I sought to elevate his expression into a more classical form, was that China and Australia are currently experiencing fantastic mutual orgasm,” he said, delivering a speech late on Thursday. “Ever since then, our Chinese friends have remembered my visits to Beijing, [saying] ‘Ah, you were the one...,’” he said. “Perhaps that explains some of the challenges in our current relationship with the Chinese.”
■AUSTRALIA
‘Engineer’ sentence raised
A bogus aircraft engineer jailed for more than three years for faking his qualifications on Friday had his sentence increased for providing phony character references to the court. Timothy McCormack, who was described as a pathological liar by his own lawyer, posed as a licensed aircraft engineer checking planes leaving Sydney Airport for almost nine months before he was caught in July 2007. McCormack pleaded guilty but tried to convince the court to go easy on him with a series of fake character testimonials, including one from a football official and another from his school counselor, the AAP newswire reported. Sydney District Court judge Greg Woods on Friday added eight months to McCormack’s jail term for the references. Likening McCormack to the fictional character Walter Mitty, who is a hero in his own fantasy world, Woods said he had a “delusional presumption of fake seniority.”
■MALAYSIA
Pangolins rescued
Authorities yesterday said they have rescued nearly 100 pangolins and arrested a man attempting to smuggle the protected species, destined to be sold to restaurants and medicine shops. Officials from the Department of Wildlife and National Parks raided a house in northern Kedah state on Thursday and seized 98 of the animals, the department’s enforcement chief said. Three kilograms of pangolin scales were also found.
■CHINA
Nuclear work delayed
Work on two powerful new nuclear reactors was delayed by wet weather, the French companies building them said on Thursday, as campaigners claimed the project was likely to fall through. A spokesman for French nuclear group Areva said that a ceremony to pour the first concrete in the site of the third-generation European Pressurized Reactors had been postponed because of “two typhoons in the region.” “The pouring of the first concrete is due to happen soon” at the site in Taishan in Guangdong, he said. The French anti-nuclear campaign movement Sortir du Nucleaire said, however, that authorities were now likely to cancel the projects.
■PHILIPPINES
Madhatta Haipe extradited
An alleged member of a Muslim extremist group was extradited to the US to face charges of kidnapping four US citizens, US embassy statements said yesterday. Madhatta Haipe, also known as Commander Haipe, was sent to the US on Thursday to face charges of “hostage-taking” and other crimes. He could face life imprisonment, the embassy statements said.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Pop band Oasis splits
Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher said he’s leaving the pop band because he can’t work “a day longer” with his brother Liam. A statement from Gallagher on the band’s Web site says he was leaving the group “with some sadness and great relief.” The band was scheduled to play a festival in Paris on Friday, but didn’t take the stage. A message flashed to the crowd said “as a result of an altercation within the band, the Oasis gig has been canceled.” Gallagher’s statement sent “apologies to all the people who bought tickets” for the band’s remaining shows in France, Italy, and Germany.
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