FINLAND
Teddy tours take off
A company is offering teddy bear owners a chance to send their stuffed animals on own customer-designed adventures to the Arctic Circle. For between US$118 and US$172, Finnish Teddy Tours Lapland poses teddy bears on Arctic safari rides on horseback, walks in the snow and campfire picnics. The “tours” take about two weeks before the bear is returned to its owner with photos and a DVD of its adventures. Since Teddy Tours was founded last year, about 50 teddy bears have visited Rovaniemi, with most coming from Finland, Japan and Germany.
GAZA STRIP
Israeli strike kills five
An Israeli air strike killed five Palestinian militants on Saturday, Israeli and Palestinian officials said. The Israeli military said in a statement that its aircraft “targeted and identified hitting a squad of terror operatives who were preparing to launch rockets towards Israeli territory.” Palestinian hospital officials said the five were militants. The Hamas Islamist group, which rules the Gaza Strip, says it has tried to curb rocket fire at Israel, but smaller groups continue to carry the out such attacks. Palestinian sources later identified the gunmen as members of a small militant group, Ansar al-Sunna, who have an agenda of global jihad similar to that of al-Qaeda.
JAPAN
Dislike of China grows
The number of people who say they do not feel “friendly” toward China has hit an all-time high, according to a government poll published at the weekend. The annual survey, which questioned 3,000 people in October, found that 78 percent of respondents said they did not feel friendly toward China, up 19 points from last year and the highest rating since the poll began in 1978. A diplomatic row over disputed island territories earlier this year sent ties plummeting to their lowest level in years, sparking street protests on both sides.
FRANCE
Haitian kids to be adopted
More than 300 Haitian children are preparing to fly to Paris with their new adoptive families, just in time for the holidays. Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said on Saturday that 318 children had been cleared for adoption and were being allowed to leave Haiti, which is still reeling from a January earthquake and now experiencing a deadly cholera epidemic. Authorities chartered two airplanes so families can pick up the children. The flights will leave Paris tomorrow and on Thursday, Alliot--Marie said in a statement. The country’s embassy in Port-au-Prince — with support from Haitian authorities and the UN mission — will bring the children to meet the families before they all head to the airport, the minister’s statement said. On arrival in Paris, the families will be met by doctors and psychologists, along with administrators to help families through the adoption process.
NEPAL
Mahouts go on strike
Elephant drivers in the country’s top wildlife park have gone on strike to demand higher pay, industry officials said on Saturday. The drivers, or mahouts, are employed by the hotel industry to take tourists on elephant-back safaris in the Chitwan National Park, home to the endangered royal Bengal tiger, the rare one-horned rhino and other rare animals and birds. The drivers say they play a vital role in the tourist industry and want their monthly pay of 4,600 rupees (US$65) increased to 5,400 rupees. The 82 mahouts say their monthly pay is not enough to live on, where inflation stands at 10 percent.
UNITED STATES
Inmate threatens Obama
A career burglar from Pennsylvania is accused of writing a prison letter in which he threatened to kill President Barack Obama and eat his flesh. Secret Service agents say 32-year-old Gregory Dale Brockman also threatened first lady Michelle Obama and former president George W. Bush. Brockman pleaded not guilty to the charges on Thursday before a federal magistrate in Philadelphia. Prosecutors say Brockman told Secret Service agents that his anger stems from the US involvement in Iraq. Brockman is serving 30 months for burglary and other crimes.
UNITED STATES
Cat abuser faces court
A western New York man appeared in court on Friday to face animal cruelty charges, after trying to marinate his cat so he could eat it. Police discovered the cat in the trunk of a car being driven by Gary Korkuc, 52, when they pulled him over for running a stop sign in August, Buffalo Police spokesman Michael DeGeorge said. He fled to Maryland following his arrest, but was extradited back to Buffalo on Thursday. The animal was found in a liquid mixture of oil, crushed pepper, salt and other ingredients, and Korkuc told police it was in preparation for a meal. The male cat survived and has been adopted. Korkuc has been charged with felony aggravated cruelty to an animal and several traffic charges.
BOLIVIA
La Paz recognizes Palestine
President Evo Morales announced on Friday that he would recognize an independent and sovereign state of Palestine. Morales says he will send a letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announcing his decision and that in coming days “we also will send official statements to various international organizations.” Argentina, Brazil, Cuba and Venezuela have already recognized a sovereign Palestinian state with borders recognized prior to the 1967 Middle East War. Uruguay has indicated that it is poised to do the same.
ECUADOR
Vote on bullfighting planned
President Rafael Correa on Friday announced an upcoming referendum on bullfighting. “In response to the demand of thousands of young people who demonstrated outside the [presidential] palace, we will also consult with the Ecuadoran people to see if they agree with spectacles where animals are tortured like in bullfighting,” he said. Correa did not set a date for the plebiscite, but said it would be included in a referendum on constitutional reforms aimed chiefly at improving the penal system and government efficiency. He said it was up to the public “to decide if we should rid our territory of such anachronistic spectacles in the 21st century.”
UNITED KINGDOM
UN urged Mugabe to retire
The UN offered Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe a retirement package and safe haven overseas in 2000 if he agreed to stand down, according to a US diplomatic cable revealed by WikiLeaks and printed in the Observer yesterday. The offer was made by then-UN chief Kofi Annan, according to the memo, which cited the then-opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). “Kofi Annan, in the recent meeting in New York during the millennium summit. offered Mugabe a deal to step down,” said the September 2000 memo. “Although [the MDC source] said the MDC was not privy to the details, he surmised that Annan’s supposed deal probably included provision of safe haven and a financial package.”
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
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
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in