■RUSSIA
Putin wants pig fat
Strongman Vladimir Putin made clear on Friday in typically vivid terms what he wanted from Ukraine, inviting the country’s new leader to export pig fat to Russia, but keep political instability at home. Speaking before reporters as he met Putin, Ukraine’s new President, Viktor Yanukovych, complained about the political chaos in his country in recent years and told the Putin: “I don’t wish it upon you.” Not missing a beat, the president-turned-prime minister smiled and said: “Send us your salo instead,” referring to a lard delicacy associated throughout the ex-Soviet Union with Ukraine. Putin also joked about the preemptory congratulations he sent to Yanukovych in Ukraine’s disputed 2004 presidential election, a hugely embarrassing blunder considered a factor that helped spark the Orange Revolution.
■PHILIPPINES
Child hero rescues brother
A six-year-old girl rescued her baby brother from a fire in a central province despite suffering serious burns herself, local newspapers reported yesterday. Virginia Rojo carried her four-month-old brother Joren out of their shack on the island of Negros on Feb. 28, shielding the child with her own body as flames licked her face, the Philippine Daily Inquirer said. The girl was asleep when the fire engulfed her home. “Jesus told me to wake up and save my baby brother,” the newspapers quoted her as saying. Although the brother was unharmed, Virginia suffered burns to her face and hands. Authorities said a stray cigarette butt may have ignited the wooden shanty where the two children were sleeping.
■CHINA
Tiger kills animal keeper
An animal keeper has died after being bitten by a tiger at the Shanghai Zoo. Chinese state media say the man in his 50s was found in critical condition in the tiger’s cage yesterday morning and died soon afterward. It was not clear what he was doing in the cage. A man answering phones at the zoo confirmed the death, but said he had no details. Calls to the zoo’s main office were not answered.
■INDONESIA
Earthquake causes panic
A magnitude 6.5 undersea earthquake shook the western shore of Sumatra island on Friday, causing panic but no casualties or damage, an official said. The quake struck late at night 119km southeast of Pagai Selatan, an island off the western coast of Sumatra, Meteorology and Geophysics Agency official Gian Ginanjar said. The quake struck 10km beneath the Indian Ocean bed. There was no tsunami potential, he said.
■AUSTRALIA
Freak storm hits Melbourne
A violent storm with hail-stones the size of golf balls brought Melbourne to a standstill yesterday, as rains elsewhere threatened to inundate a rural town. The storm, which hurled 19mm of rain in just 18 minutes on the country’s second-biggest city, flooded streets and forced the cancellation of horse races and an Aussie Rules match. Residents reported seeing hail-stones 5cm across, blanketing the city in scenes reminiscent of snow. As forecasters warned of further Melbourne storms, emergency services in the northeastern state of Queensland warned that the worst floods since 1890 could engulf about 80 percent of the rural town of St. George. About 40 of the town’s 2,800 residents have already been forced into a makeshift evacuation center with the nearby Balonne River expected to peak at a record 13.5m following heavy rains.
■EGYPT
Mubarak undergoes surgery
President Hosni Mubarak was to undergo an operation on his gall bladder in Germany yesterday, state television announced on Friday after the veteran leader complained of pain. State television announced on Thursday that Mubarak would undergo medical tests in Heidelberg “following complaints of gall bladder pain” while in Germany for talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel. The health of Mubarak, who turns 82 this year, is usually a taboo subject in the country he has ruled since 1981.
■IRAQ
Car bomb kills pilgrims
A car bomb exploded in the holy city of Najaf yesterday, killing four Iranian pilgrims a day before a national election, officials said. The explosion gutted at least two tour buses parked at a garage near the revered Imam Ali shrine, which draws millions of Shiite Muslim faithful from Iraq and Iran each year. Louay al-Yassiri, a member of the local provincial council, said that in addition to the Iranian pilgrims killed, the blast wounded seven people, including three Iraqi police. At least 45 people have been killed over the past few days as the election campaign drew to a close, some of them members of the security forces who were voting early.
■GERMANY
Police discover sex toy
A woman phoned police after hearing “suspicious noises” in her flat, but much to her embarrassment officers found the source was a vibrator, authorities said on Friday. The noise was so loud and strange, even over the telephone, that police in Bochum decided to send a patrol car around to the “scene of the crime,” a statement said. “Daringly, and with the occupier’s permission, one of the officers opened the drawer of a wardrobe where the noise was coming from. Underneath some clothes he found a very personal, battery-operated object, which had obviously switched itself on ... The tenant’s face abruptly changed color.” Police then “wished her a nice evening and left,” the statement said.
■SPAIN
Fire kills Chinese boys
Two boys of Chinese origin, aged three and five, died on Friday in an apartment fire in Zaragoza, Spanish media reported. The children’s grandmother and father were injured in the blaze while their mother escaped unharmed, public radio RNE reported citing local officials. Investigators are trying to determine what caused the fire to break out in the fifth floor apartment in Spain’s fifth-largest city.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Soldier jailed for refusal
A soldier was jailed for nine months by a military court on Friday for refusing to serve a second tour in Afghanistan. Lance Corporal Joe Glenton was also stripped of his rank in the court martial hearing in Colchester, southeast England, after admitting going absent without leave in 2007. The 27-year-old — who later went on to campaign against the Afghanistan conflict — had served a seven-month tour of duty in the violence-scarred country in 2006. However, Glenton failed to return to barracks as scheduled in June 2007, and remained absent for more than two years until he turned himself in to military authorities, prosecutor Tim Backer said. His defense counsel said Glenton was ordered back to Afghanistan after only nine months out, while military guidelines advise at least an 18-month break from the frontline.
■UNITED STATES
Radicalization a worry
The top diplomat in Pakistan said the administration of President Barack Obama did not know how many Americans might have disappeared overseas to train with al-Qaeda or other terrorist groups. The number is not thought to be large, but Ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson outlined a possible “nightmare scenario” — people holding US passports receiving terrorist training, then returning legally to commit violent acts. She said in a speech on Friday to the Pacific Council in Los Angeles that the government was working with Pakistan and other governments to figure out how to identify such people. She said afterward “there are more out there than we know about.”
■CANADA
No change to anthem
Canadians basked in glory hearing their national anthem played a record 14 times at gold medal ceremonies at the Vancouver Winter Olympics, but they raised an outcry when the Conservative government surprised everyone by announcing it was considering changing a lyric to O Canada. Just two days after sparking the furor, the government announced on Friday that it has withdrawn its request to parliament to consider changing a line in the anthem to make it more gender inclusive. The government says it will no longer seek to have the lyric “in all thy sons command,” adopted under 1980 legislation, replaced with the original 1908 line, “in thou dost us command.”
■MEXICO
Son admits seeking money
A man claiming to be the son of the deceased founder of an influential Roman Catholic order admitted on Friday that he had sought US$26 million to keep quiet about his father’s incest. Raul Gonzalez Lara, the alleged son of Marcial Maciel, the founder of the conservative Legionnaries of Christ, said he asked the group for the money to remain silent about sexual abuse allegations against his father. He said he asked for US$10 million to keep quiet about abuse against his brother, and another US$10 million to keep quiet about nine years of sexual abuse against himself, in an interview on MVS radio. The remaining US$6 million corresponded to an inheritance that Marciel had promised in a bid to “buy our silence,” Gonzalez Lara said.
■UNITED STATES
No oath, no conviction
A Michigan man sent to prison for 15 years is getting a new trial after the judge failed to do a routine procedure — ask the jury to take an oath. Timothy Becktel was sentenced in 2008 for assault with intent to murder. But his appellate lawyer successfully argued that the verdict should be thrown out because the jury didn’t swear to return an honest decision based on law and evidence. The Michigan Court of Appeals said on Friday it must erase the verdict to preserve the fairness and integrity of the judicial system. Assistant prosecutor David King says his office might appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court.
■BRAZIL
Bossa Nova founder dies
A founder of Bossa Nova music has died after fighting prostate cancer. He was 80. Pianist Johnny Alf was called the “true father of Bossa Nova” by Ruy Castro, who wrote a definitive history of the music. Alf widely influenced later stars. A statement from a hospital near Sao Paulo says Alf died on Thursday evening of multiple organ failure. Alf was born Alfredo Jose da Silva on May 19, 1929, in Rio de Janeiro.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in 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
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was