■AUSTRALIA
Powerboat to hunt whalers
A super-fast, space-age powerboat that scythes through waves and smashed the round-the-world record is set to be unleashed on Japanese whalers next month, activists said on Friday. The tri-hulled, kevlar-and-carbon vessel, which can manage speeds up to 50 knots (93kph), will chase the controversial boats during their annual hunt in seas south of Australia. The futuristic Ady Gil, formerly known as Earthrace, jetted round the world in just under 61 days last year, two weeks faster than the previous record circumnavigation. Campaign spokesman Paul Watson said the boat would pursue the Japanese harpoon boats and stop them from killing hundreds of whales each year.
■PAKISTAN
Five killed in bombing
At least five people were killed and 25 injured in a suspected car suicide bombing near a police check post in the northwestern region yesterday, officials said. A suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden car when the policemen tried to conduct a search in Pusht Khara area in Peshawar. An official at the police control room in the town said at least two policemen were among the dead. TV footage showed three damaged vehicles, with the road littered with debris. It was the fifth bombing in five days in Peshawar.
■HONG KONG
Jolly cops face discipline
A policeman and policewoman on Friday faced possible disciplinary action after posing for jokey Facebook photos while on duty. The pair, who were on bicycle patrol in the Tai Po district at the time, posted 37 pictures of themselves on Facebook, making faces at the camera in some of the shots. Both were carrying service revolvers, and some observers have criticized them for being clearly off guard when they were supposed to be on patrol. A police spokesman said an internal inquiry had been launched into the incident but the two officers had not been suspended.
■NEW ZEALAND
Lawmaker urged to quit
Maori Party leaders on Friday urged one of its lawmakers, Hone Harawira, to quit after he accused the nation’s white majority population of “raping our land and ripping us off for centuries.” Pita Sharples, co-leader of the party, told a press conference that Harawira’s comments in an e-mail to a Maori elder were riddled with obscenities and had provoked hundreds of protests to the party leaders. Harawira’s e-mail replied to a message from an elder asking who had paid for his wife’s unscheduled trip with him to Paris when the legislator was supposed to be leading a parliamentary delegation to the EU in Brussels. Harawira responded by asking him if he was buying into “that white-man bulls...,” adding that “white motherf...ers have been raping our lands and ripping us off for centuries.”
■AUSTRALIA
Snail named after Irwin
A scientist has paid an unusual tribute to late conservation star Steve Irwin by naming a rare species of snail crikey steveirwini. Queensland Museum scientist John Stanisic said khaki colors on the stripy tree snail reminded him of the trademark shirt and shorts worn by Irwin, who died in a freak stingray incident in 2006. Stanisic said crikey steveirwini’s name and precarious habitat would also draw attention to the effects of climate change. “So far it has only been found in three locations, all on the summits of high mountains in far north Queensland and at altitudes above 1,000 meters, which is quite unusual for Australian land snails,” he said.
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