SINGAPORE
Lee KuXUL3an Yew’s wife dies
The wife of the city-state’s first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew (李光耀), died yesterday at age 89, the Prime Minister’s Office said. Kwa Geok Choo (柯玉芝), who had been bedridden for over two years, unable to speak or move, passed away at 5:40pm in her home. Her husband, Lee Kuan Yew, 87, the architect of modern Singapore, has been in hospital since Wednesday for a chest infection. However, he was shown in good spirits on Friday in his hospital room. Lee is credited with transforming Singapore from a swampy Third World sea port into a First World financial dynamo.
UNITED STATES
Bin Laden behind plots: US
Counter-terrorism officials say they believe that senior al-Qaeda leaders, including Osama bin Laden, are involved in the latest terror plots against European cities. The multi-pronged scope of the emerging plan — which aimed to launch coordinated shooting sprees or attacks in Britain, France and Germany — is an al-Qaeda hallmark. One US intelligence official added, however, that the details of how the plan was directed or coordinated by the group’s core leaders is not yet clear.
THE NETHERLANDS
Anti-Islam MP faces trial
Anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders, set to become a shadow partner of the next coalition government, goes on trial in Amsterdam tomorrow for inciting hatred against Muslims. The controversial politician with his signature shock of blonde-dyed hair risks up to a year in jail or a 7,600 euro (US$10,471) fine, according to prosecutors, for calling Islam “fascist” and likening the Koran to Hitler’s Mein Kampf. Wilders, 47, will stand trial on five charges of giving religious offense to Muslims and inciting hatred and discrimination against Muslims and people of non-Western immigrant origin, particularly Moroccans. Wilders campaigns for a stop to Muslim immigration, banning the construction of new mosques and a tax on headscarves.
SOUTH AFRICA
Charity trustee facing charges
A former trustee of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund is facing criminal charges after supermodel Naomi Campbell told a war crimes tribunal she gave him three alleged blood diamonds in 1997, prosecutors said. Jeremy Ractliffe, who admitted he had the stones after they came under scrutiny at the war crimes trial of former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor, has been charged with illegal possession of uncut diamonds, South Africa’s national prosecuting authority said on Friday. Campbell told judges she gave the three uncut diamonds to Ractliffe to “do something good with.” The day after her testimony, Ractliffe confirmed he had kept the stones.
UNITED KINGDOM
Police pay review launched
The government said on Friday it was launching the most comprehensive review of police pay and conditions in more than 30 years to maximize value for money in tough economic times. Home Secretary Theresa May said “nothing would be off limits” in a re-evaluation of roles, pay, pensions and work conditions. She said detailed scrutiny of practices aimed to inject a dose of modern management thinking into the running of the 43 forces in England and Wales. In July police watchdog Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and the Audit Commission said better procurement, more collaboration between forces and reforming old-fashioned shift patterns to meet demand could save £1 billion (US$1.6 billion)
NORWAY
Oil firms resist US pressure
Major European oil firms resisted pressure from the US on Friday to stop doing business with Iran, in spite of Washington’s drive to isolate Tehran over a nuclear program the West suspects is aimed at making bombs. France’s Total said it was still buying Iranian crude as it was not illegal under new UN sanctions, Norway’s Statoil said it was providing Iran with technical assistance and Italy’s Eni said it would exit Iran only when existing deals expire. The US had said on Thursday that all three, as well as Royal Dutch Shell, would abandon their Iranian activities voluntarily to avoid US sanctions. US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg said on Thursday the firms “have provided assurances to us” that they have stopped or are in process of stopping activity in Iran and would not undertake new deals that may be sanctionable.
UNITED STATES
New US$100 bill delayed
The Federal Reserve said on Friday that the Feb. 10 release of the new high-tech US$100 bill had been postponed because of printing troubles, adding that it would announce a new date as soon as possible. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing said the new bills, which have been redesigned with sophisticated elements aimed at thwarting counterfeiters, had come out of some of initial printing runs with unwanted creases. Officials unveiled the redesigned US$100 bill in April. Benjamin Franklin is still on the C-note, but he has been joined by some snazzy new features. Those include a disappearing Liberty Bell in an inkwell and a bright blue security ribbon that is composed of thousands of tiny lenses. Those lenses magnify the objects underneath them to make them appear that they are moving in the opposite direction from the way the bill is being moved.
UNITED STATES
Michigan official under fire
An assistant attorney general in Michigan has taken a personal leave of absence and may be disciplined for his online attacks on a gay campus leader at the University of Michigan. The official, Andrew Shirvell, has drawn national attention — and calls for his ouster — because of his attacks through his personal blog on the student, Chris Armstrong, who is believed to be the first openly gay president of the university’s student assembly. Shirvell has called Armstrong a racist with a “radical homosexual agenda.” Shirvell will face a disciplinary hearing when he returns to work, a spokesman for the attorney general said on Friday. Armstrong, 21, has filed for a personal protection order against Shirvell, saying Shirvell took pictures outside his house at 1:30am. University officials and students have come together to support Armstrong. The university has banned Shirvell from campus, and its president, Mary Sue Coleman, called his behavior reprehensible.
FRANCE
Interpol raids counterfeiters
Police taking part in an operation against illegal counterfeiting in 13 Latin American countries have arrested 600 people and seized US$50 million in fake goods, international police agency Interpol said on Friday. The counterfeit articles ranged from car parts to soft drinks and falsely branded designer clothes, and included sub-standard toys that pose a health risk to children. The raids were launched under Interpol’s Operation Jupiter against counterfeiting in 12 countries in South America as well as Panama, which has seized goods worth an estimated US$340 million since 2005 and helped dismantle criminal gangs smuggling guns and narcotics.
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
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
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not