ITALY
Hospital boss in hot water
A hospital director sent a memo to doctors and nurses asking them not to snort cocaine while on duty, the ANSA news agency reported on Saturday. Giuseppe di Maria now faces possible disciplinary action following the memo sent to medical staff at the Santa Catarina Novella di Galatina Hospital near Lecce. The memo was sent after di Maria received anonymous tip-offs about the practice at the hospital, the report said. Social services chiefs have opened an internal inquiry into the affair and also referred it to the local prosecutor’s office. Director of social affairs Guido Scoditti said he had no choice but to pass the matter on to the authorities. “The director of the hospital has certainly made an error. He should not have sent this memo. He should have informed me directly ... The alleged consumption of cocaine in a hospital environment should certainly not be dealt with in this way,” he said.
POLAND
Group builds 9.5m snowman
A group has decided to make the most of winter, building a 9.5m snowman dubbed Milocinek, who wears a barrel for a hat and a road safety cone for his nose. A newspaper says several people labored for six days on their creation, which stands eye-level with surrounding two-story homes. The Web site of the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper says the snowman’s creators began their project out of boredom but became more ambitious as they went along. The snowman was completed on Friday near the town of Trzebnica. The newspaper’s Web site reported on Saturday that the snowman’s builders believe Milocinek is the largest snowman built in the country since winter weather set in more than a week ago.
UNITED KINGDOM
Santas invade London
Hundreds of people dressed as Santa Claus descended on London on Saturday, startling commuters and tourists with a tide of seasonal cheer. Red-suited Santas poured through busy Liverpool Street railway station before walking across the city to Trafalgar Square. Others converged on the central square from the west and south. People posted photos on Twitter of scores of Santas marching through the city and clambering onto the lion statues at the foot of Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square. Organizers of the annual “Santacon” festive flash mob said it was “a nonprofit, nonpolitical, nonreligious and nonsensical celebration of Christmas cheer, goodwill, and fun.” Similar events were scheduled for New York and Beijing.
UNITED KINGDOM
Branson to serve on flight
Virgin boss Richard Branson will serve as a flight attendant on an AirAsia X flight in February after losing a cross-dressing bet to rival Tony Fernandes, officials said yesterday. The two men laid the wager over whose Formula One team would place higher in this year’s rankings. Although both teams completed the season with zero points, Fernandes’ Lotus F1 team was placed ahead of Branson’s Virgin Racing by virtue of their better race finishing positions. “It’s confirmed February 21, 2011. Richard Branson will be a crew of AirAsia X,” Fernandes said in a Twitter post late on Saturday, adding that the flight will take off from London Stansted Airport, bound for Kuala Lumpur. Fernandes said last month seats on the flight will be auctioned off for charity. An AirAsia official said Branson would be required to wear makeup and high-heels, along with the regulation red stewardess outfit and would have to perform regular duties — including cleaning the toilets — during the flight.
ALGERIA
Army offensive kills 12
Security officials in the Kabilie region say at least a dozen armed Islamist insurgents have been killed in an army offensive triggered in part by reports of a meeting of local leaders of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Witnesses say helicopter gunships on Saturday bombed the area around Sidi Ali Bounab, 110km east of Algiers. The mountainous Kabilie region serves as a base of insurgents of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Several local security officials said 12 insurgents were killed in the offensive, which began on Thursday after word of a planned meeting of emirs from the Kabilie and Boumerdes regions.
UNITED STATES
Toddler stuck in toy crane
Authorities say a two-year-old girl spent 15 minutes stuck inside a toy crane vending machine in a Pittsburgh-area mall. Moon Run fire chief Paul Kashmer told WPXI-TV that the girl didn’t seem upset by the ordeal on Wednesday night in the food court at the Mall of Robinson, in Robinson Township. Kashmer says firefighters arrived to find “the cutest little girl in a pink outfit sucking her binky inside with the other toys.” The girl apparently climbed up the chute into which the coin-operated crane drops prizes. Kashmer used a tool to pry open a door on the machine to reach the girl.
UNITED STATES
Dylan lyrics go for a song
The hand-written lyrics of Bob Dylan’s iconic 1960s anthem The Times They Are A-Changin sold for US$422,500 on Friday, Sotheby’s auction house said. The two-page notebook manuscript — which had been expected to go for US$200,000 to US$300,000 — was snapped up by US collector Adam Sender, owner of the hedge fund Exis Capital, Sotheby’s said. The time-worn document features four verses of lyrics, without musical notation, written in pencil with “By Bob Dylan” scrawled at the top. Dylan, who turns 70 next year, still continues to record and perform.
UNITED STATES
Movie inspires bomb-making
A Kentucky man has pleaded guilty to making bombs, claiming he feared the end of the world after watching the disaster movie 2012. The Courier-Journal reports that James Byron Birkhead told federal agents he was making bombs to protect his family when the government fails and food riots occur. Agent Kevin Kelm, with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, says police were called to Birkhead’s home in Owensboro when a social worker sent to check on the well-being of Birkhead’s daughters heard that he was acquiring weapons. On Thursday, the 52-year-old pleaded guilty in the District Court in Owensboro to possessing and manufacturing explosive materials without a license. He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 4. The government has recommended a six to 12-month sentence.
HAITI
Palin visits charity projects
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin arrived in Haiti on Saturday with the Reverend Franklin Graham as part of a humanitarian mission by his Samaritan’s Purse relief organization. The potential US presidential candidate is expected to visit the Haitian capital and stop by cholera--treatment centers and other projects of Graham’s charity group. Her exact itinerary was not released for security reasons.
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
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
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