■MALAYSIA
Jet engine stolen
Air force personnel stole a Malaysian fighter jet engine from a military warehouse to sell it on the black market abroad, news reports said yesterday. The security breach occurred more than a year ago while the engine was undergoing repairs, but only became public knowledge when the New Straits Times newspaper reported it on Saturday, citing information from unidentified officials. Defense Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said authorities were compiling evidence to prosecute those involved, including several low-ranking air force personnel and civilians, the national news agency Bernama and the Star newspaper reported. An “international company” based in Latin America bought the 50 million ringgit (US$14 million) engine “because the price was cheap,” Ahmad Zahid said. The engine, used for single-seat fighter and reconnaissance jets, is believed to have eventually ended up with a final purchaser in the Middle East, the New Straits Times said.
■INDIA
Transsexual queen crowned
More than 100 hopefuls vied on Saturday for the title of most beautiful transsexual at the country’s first such pageant for members of the marginalized community, an organizer said. The event in the southern city of Chennai was unique in a country where transsexuals live on the fringes of society, drawing 120 contenders between the ages of 20 and 35 from across India, a spokesman said. Kareena, a 25-year-old model from Mumbai walked away with top honors, while 23-year-old Romi, a beautician from the northeastern state of Manipur, was second. The pageant is the latest in a series of recent attempts to break down barriers. Last month, eunuchs — men who have been castrated — claimed victory in a long-standing campaign to be listed as “others,” distinct from males and females, on electoral rolls and voter identity cards.
■AUSTRALIA
WWII sunken ship located
A hospital ship torpedoed by the Japanese during World War II with the loss of 268 lives has been located in waters off the coast of the northern state of Queensland, the government said yesterday. The loss of the Centaur in 1943 while sailing to Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea was one of the nation’s great wartime disasters. Survivors and their relatives have long pressed for the wreck to be found, fearing salvagers would reach it first. Yesterday, it said the wreck’s location had been confirmed by a team led by US marine search expert David Mearns, whose other finds include HMAS Sydney, another wartime wreck. The wreck was finally found in an underwater gully, close to the site indicated at the time by the ship’s navigator, one of 64 on board who survived.
■MALAYSIA
Pangolins rescued
Wildlife authorities said they have rescued 130 pangolins and arrested two men attempting to smuggle the protected species, destined to be sold to restaurants and medicine shops. Officials from the Department of Wildlife and National Parks said the two men were detained at a cemetery in central Pahang state, national news agency Bernama said late on Saturday. “The cemetery is believed to be the transit point before the animals are taken to [southern state] Johor and illegally exported to China, Japan and Hong Kong,” state department head Khairiah Mohamad Shariff told Bernama. He added the 130 pangolins seized were worth 40,000 ringgit (US$11,500). Marine police on Thursday rescued 62 pangolins.
■RUSSIA
Stalin grandson files suit
A Moscow radio station says it is being sued by a grandson of the late Soviet dictator Josef Stalin who claims the station wrongfully dishonored his grandfather. The lawsuit is the second of its kind filed by Yevgeny Dzhugashvili. Ekho Moskvy radio said on Saturday the suit was filed against program host Matvei Ganapolsky, who read a phrase from a book saying Stalin had approved the shooting of children as young as 12. Ganapolsky added: “What kind of bastard would say even one word in his defense.” Stalin ordered the deaths of hundreds of thousands of citizens during the purges, but is revered by many for turning a struggling nation into a superpower. Dzhugashvili lost a similar libel case in October.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Divorce vouchers offered
Not exactly festive, but proving popular, a law firm is offering an unusual present for unhappy married couples this Christmas — divorce gift vouchers, a report said on Thursday. Lloyd Platt & Co in London said it has received hundreds of enquiries since putting the vouchers on sale last month. Offering couples half-hour or hour-long advice sessions with a lawyer, the firm has sold 54 vouchers in three weeks, the Daily Telegraph said. The firm is calling the vouchers this year’s “must have” present. “Christmas can be a very stressful time for families as we have always seen by the huge increase of people seeking advice in January,” senior partner Vanessa Lloyd Platt told the newspaper.
■GEORGIA
Two killed in demolition
Two people were killed during the demolition of a Soviet-era World War II memorial in Kutaisi. One of those who died was an eight-year-old girl, chief prosecutor Murtaz Zodelava told reporters in Tbilisi. The government is destroying the 46m monument to make room for a new parliament building. Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement this week the demolition is disrespectful to the memory of war veterans.
■IRAN
Three jail officials charged
The judiciary has charged three jail officials with the murder of three pro-reform dissidents detained after the disputed June 12 presidential election, student news agency ISNA reported on Saturday. Thousands of people protesting against the conduct of the election were arrested and some were beaten in detention. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered the closure of Kahrizak detention center in southern Tehran in July, after two detainees at the center died in hospital. “Some 12 officials at Kahrizak detention center have been charged. Three of them have been charged with murder,” ISNA said.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Eurostar comment draws ire
Eurostar faced criticism on Saturday after its chief executive blamed a “warm tunnel” for events that left more than 2,000 passengers trapped overnight beneath the Channel. Travelers were stranded in the tunnel for up to 15 hours after four Eurostar trains broke down. A number of passengers suffered panic attacks or fainted as they waited for help. Passengers were further angered by reports that German model Claudia Schiffer, who was also on the train, was picked up by a car that drove to her carriage from the entrance of the tunnel. Richard Brown, Eurostar’s chief executive, said the problem was caused by a contrast between cold temperatures on the railways and a “warm” Channel Tunnel — a comment that drew disbelief from observers.
■HONDURAS
US official visits Zelaya
US Ambassador Hugo Llorens visited deposed President Manuel Zelaya in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa on Saturday as part of a bid to find a solution to the political crisis gripping the nation, an official said. Zelaya has been holed up at the embassy since September. “Hugo Llorens came to the embassy and told Zelaya he would travel to the United States for Christmas. Steps to resolve the crisis will follow,” Zelaya advisor Rasel Tome said. “Efforts are ongoing at the Central American level and in the Dominican Republican for a dialogue in a neutral environment.” Zelaya’s term official ends next month, when he is due to be replaced by Porfirio Lobo, who won election last month.
■BRAZIL
Centenarian plans skydive
A 100-year-old grandmother will experience gravity in a whole new way this Christmas when she takes the plunge out of an airplane to become the world’s oldest parachuter, local news site G1 reported on Saturday. Aida Mendes asked her grandson as a Christmas gift to help her arrange the jump which would get her into the Guinness World Records. Mendes was planning to leap from a plane above Macapa. “This is not my birthday present, it’s my Christmas gift,” Mendes, who turned 100 last month, was quoted as saying. “My grandson dared me, and I said ‘sure’ … Because I did a lot of sports as a young woman, I can really say that I am a 100-year-old with the body of a 50-year-old.”
■BRAZIL
Needle boy has first surgery
A two-year-old whose former stepfather subjected him to a ritualistic attack pushing 31 needles into the boy’s body is recovering from surgery without complications. Surgeons at Ana Nery Hospital in Salvador de Bahia on Friday successfully removed four sewing needles near the boy’s heart and lungs. It was the first of a series of operations to remove needles that were inserted up and down the toddler’s body, in what his former stepfather confessed was part of his revenge on his ex-wife. The needles — some measuring up to 5cm in length — are dispersed throughout the child’s body including his neck, torso and legs.
■UNITED STATES
Rapper’s concert reset
A Lil Wayne concert in Texas, postponed after authorities said they found marijuana on one of his tour buses, went on a day late. The Laredo Entertainment Center’s Web site said the show, originally scheduled for Friday, would take place on Saturday night. Two of the rapper’s buses were stopped in Falfurrias, southwest of Corpus Christi, and Lil Wayne and 11others were briefly detained. The case has been referred to the Brooks County Sheriff’s Office. Lil Wayne, whose real name is Dwayne Carter, is already facing a trial in March on felony drug possession and weapons charges in Yuma County, Arizona.
■MEXICO
‘Humilitating’ photos probed
The government has promised to investigate photographs showing the half-naked, bullet-ridden body of a drug kingpin covered in bloodstained money after he was killed in a gunbattle on Wednesday with marines. Interior Secretary Fernando Gomez-Mont said on Friday that the photographs of Arturo Beltran Leyva are humiliating and contradict the government’s public relations policy. Navy spokesman Rear Admiral Jose Luis Vergara said no marine had the picture or put the bills on Beltran Leyva’s body. He did not say who might have done it.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia