NEW ZELAND
Airline cuts video
Air New Zealand said yesterday it was cutting an in-flight safety video showing an All Black rugby player Richard Kahui refusing to kiss a gay flight attendant after complaints it could spur gay suicides. The flag carrier said a university professor, whom it did not name, had raised concerns the homosexual rejection could lead to gay male suicides. The light-hearted video shows All Blacks running through safety procedures for passengers boarding Air New Zealand flights. The offending scene had All Black pin-up Kahui posing for photographs with female flight attendants then shaking his head, holding up his hands and refusing to pucker up when Will Coxhead points to his cheek hoping for a kiss. Coxhead said he was “absolutely gutted” at the complaints over a scene he described as a bit of fun. “I’m proud to be gay, proud to be an Air New Zealander and extremely proud of my role in the safety video,” he said.
CHINA
Cambodian PM visits
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has arrived for an official visit that’s expected to culminate in the signing of 15 agreements. Hun Sen said prior to his departure that the deals include the creation of a coal-fired power plant in a coastal province. Chinese companies have invested in Cambodia in fields such as energy and agriculture. Hun Sen is scheduled to meet Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) and Wu Bangguo (吳邦國), chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, during his five-day stay.
INDONESIA
Radical cleric charged
Prosecutors promised a swift trial of radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir after police charged him yesterday with inciting others to commit terrorist acts, a crime carrying the death penalty. “We want to try him very quickly,” South Jakarta prosecutors office chief Mohammed Yusuf told reporters after the aged extremist presented himself under tight security to hear the indictment. Dozens of heavily armed police and two armored vehicles were on hand as the alleged spiritual leader of Indonesian jihad was transferred from his prison where he has been on remand since August. The indictment charges Bashir, whose anti-Western tirades and conspiracy theories have made him a figurehead for local extremists, with multiple crimes under the anti-terror law.
MALAYSIA
Anwar may sue: lawyer
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim yesterday moved to stem the impact on his sodomy trial of US cables released by WikiLeaks claiming he had sex with a male aide in a honey trap set by enemies. Anwar’s lawyer, Sankara Nair, said he would file a complaint with the court hearing Anwar’s sodomy case over articles in the local media that could affect the former deputy prime minister’s ongoing trial. Most newspapers in the country carried the allegations on their front page with influential Malay daily Utusan running a headline stating: “Singapore spy agency verifies sodomy act.” “The Australians said that Singapore’s intelligence services and [former prime minister] Lee Kuan Yew (李光耀) have told ONA [Office of National Assessments] in their exchanges that opposition leader Anwar ‘did indeed commit the acts for which he is currently indicted,’” a leaked US State Department cable from November 2008 read. “ONA assessed, and their Singapore counterparts concurred, ‘it was a set-up job and he probably knew that, but walked into it anyway.’”
IATLY
Alleged gang rounded up
A gang that robbed at least 50 tourists in Rome after offering them drugged wine at a gay bar has been rounded up after allegedly killing a middle-aged American. Police suspect that Kelly Cullen, 56, who was found dead on Nov. 14 in the Colle Oppio park overlooking the Colosseum, was one of the victims of the gang, which preyed for months on foreigners mingling in the street outside the nearby Coming Out bar. The gang, comprising two Romanians and an Egyptian, started offering the wine spiked with benzodiazepine to tourists this summer. As their victims began to lose consciousness, the gang would guide them into the park and strip them of their valuables. Up to 25 Americans were robbed, as well as British, Spanish, Swiss and German drinkers. Working on a tip-off from bar staff, undercover police spotted the gang at work on Nov. 16. “It was a quiet night and they left empty handed, so we arranged for a ‘random’ identity check, far from the bar, by police who confiscated their bottle of wine, which was positively tested for the drug,” police official Tiziana Lorenzo said. “The gang did not suspect a thing and two nights later they were back at the bar and we arrested them as they escorted a drugged Swiss man in the direction of the park.”
UNITED KINGDOM
Gilmour’s son arrested
Police arrested the son of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour on Sunday after he was photographed climbing a war memorial during violent student protests on Thursday. Pictures of 21-year-old Charlie Gilmour swinging from the national flag on the Cenotaph ran in many newspapers. Police said a 21-year-old man was arrested Sunday on suspicion of violent disorder, theft and “attempted criminal damage of the Union flag on the Cenotaph.” Police do not usually name suspects until they are charged. Charlie Gilmour issued a public apology on Friday, saying he felt “nothing but shame” for his behavior. A 17-year-old turned himself in at a London police station on Sunday and was arrested on suspicion of violent disorder. Police have made a total of 36 arrests over the protests and have released photos of 13 other people they want to question.
NETHERLANDS
Latvian arrested for abuse
A 27-year-old man who worked in nursery schools in Amsterdam and hired himself out as a babysitter has confessed to multiple counts of sexual abuse of children, prosecutors said on Sunday. “The suspect said he had abused tens of young children,” an Amsterdam court statement said. “He is also suspected of having produced and distributed child pornography.” The suspect, originally from Latvia, was arrested on Tuesday after a tip-off from the US authorities. He had worked for Amsterdam nursery schools between February 2007 and January, the court said. His wife, a 37-year-old local woman had also been taken into custody on suspicion of possession of child pornography, but was not for the moment suspected of child sexual abuse.
UNITED KINGDOM
Cardle wins ‘X Factor’
Matt Cardle won The X Factor on Sunday, pipping Rebecca Ferguson in the final poll in the ITV show watched by millions. Cardle, 27, sang Many of Horror by Scottish band Biffy Clyro in the final, a track which will now be released as a single. Cardle, from Colchester in Essex, was the bookmakers’ favorite ahead of the show. Ferguson, 24, performed Distant Dreamer by Welsh singer Duffy in her last performance. Teenage boy band One Direction finished third.
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