JAPAN
Sega launches urinal games
An entertainment company has combined men’s obsession with video games with their perennial inability to aim straight to create a range of distractions in selected Tokyo urinals. Sega has installed the “Toylets” in male lavatories at four bars and games arcades in the capital. The games use pressure sensors attached to eye-level LCD screens that test users’ accuracy as they answer the call of nature. The four games include one in which the object is to spray the screen clean of graffiti. Another, Manneken Pis, named after the famous statue in Brussels, measures the volume of the urine stream. Splashing Battle, meanwhile, pits one user against another — though thankfully not directly — by challenging him to produce a more powerful stream than the previous visitor. In the fourth game, The North Wind and the Sun and Me, sensors control a digital wind blowing up a young woman’s skirt. The greater the stream’s intensity, the higher the skirt travels. The games sit (or stand) well with the country’s open attitude to all matters micturition. Children are raised on tales of ghosts who inhabit toilets, perhaps to encourage cleanliness, while girls are encouraged to keep on the good side of the female deity who supposedly resides in domestic WCs.
NEW ZEALAND
Police give up Segways
Police in Taupo have been forced to resume foot patrols after their futuristic Segway scooters were deemed illegal, reports said yesterday. Police had enthusiastically embraced the electric-powered devices, but had to abandon them after finding it was against the law to use them in public areas, national news agency NZPA reported. The local Rotary Club purchased two of the Segways, which were then loaned to police to make it easier for officers to conduct patrols. The two-wheeled scooters, which use gyroscopes and computers to remain upright and can reach speeds of up to 20kph, had proven popular with the community, Inspector Steve Bullock said. “They are a novel vehicle, I would liken them to a modern-day horse because they engender curiosity and people want to talk to you about them, which is what we want as a police organization,” he told NZPA. “We want to be more engaged with our community and be approachable and be a person rather than just a blue shirt.” Bullock said that because there was no separate vehicle classification for Segways, they fell into the same category as cars and had to be registered as roadworthy for use in public areas.
NEW ZEALAND
Villagers aid chopper rescue
A line scrawled by a villager in beach sand helped point airborne searchers to a downed helicopter pilot after his aircraft crashed yesterday into a bay on the northern coast, rescue officials said. The pilot, very cold and suffering “semi-shock,” but otherwise mostly unhurt, was winched from the water by a rescue helicopter two hours after witnesses heard his machine crash in a bay about 30km south of Whangarei Heads, Rescue Coordination Center spokesman Neville Blackmore said.
PHILIPPINES
Sixteen break out of jail
Sixteen inmates broke out of an overcrowded jail by sawing off their cell’s iron bars and climbing down a wall using blankets, authorities said yesterday. The authorities captured one of the fugitives within an hour of the escape on Wednesday night, but 15 others who have been charged with murder, robbery and drug trafficking remain at large, Cotabato Mayor Japal Guiano said.
SPAIN
Hotel is full of garbage
A new hotel has opened in the heart of Madrid proudly declaring that it’s complete rubbish. The walls of the Beach Garbage Hotel are strewn with detritus dragged up by the tide, recovered from landfills or snapped up at flea markets. Among the wall decorations are plastic drums, wooden frames, musical instruments, striped socks, tires, and children’s books. In the five rooms there are streetlights, wobbly sideboards, and torn Persian rugs, ready to welcome the lucky winners of a Facebook competition whose prize was a free stay. Out front, there is a small patch of sand and palm trees. The hotel is the work of German artist Ha Schult. “I created the Beach Garbage Hotel because the oceans of our planet are the biggest garbage dump,” Schult said. Rosa Piqueras, spokeswoman for the project, said the idea was to show something a little different from the ideal destinations touted by the tourism industry. “We wanted to show what our holidays could become if we don’t clean our beaches,” she said.
RUSSIA
Archpriest outrages women
Feminists expressed outrage on Wednesday after the country’s Orthodox Church proposed women dress more modestly and refrain from walking down the street “painted like a clown.” In a letter published by Interfax news agency on Tuesday, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin said: “We should create an all-Russian dress code … Either scantily clad or painted like a clown, a woman who counts on meeting men on the street, in the metro or a bar not only risks running into a drunken idiot but will meet men with no self-respect.” Last month Chaplin said women in mini-skirts were to blame if raped as they “provoke men.” His comments were widely condemned by the media on Wednesday.
BELGIUM
Politician quits TV show
An influential politician who was criticized for clowning on a racy TV quiz show while negotiations to form a permanent government for the country foundered said on Wednesday he was quitting the show. Bart De Wever, leader of the Dutch-speaking Flemish nationalist N-VA, said that taping the final of the show of The Very Smartest Human in the World no longer fit into his agenda. Negotiations for a new government are in their record seventh month and critics compared De Wever to the emperor Nero, who fiddled while Rome burned. In one episode of the show De Wever identified famous actresses from photos in which they accidentally had their nipples showing.
BRITAIN
No tweets please, we’re MPs
Members of parliament (MPs) have been banned from using Twitter while sitting in the chamber. Deputy Speaker Lindsay Hoyle gave the ruling on Wednesday after Labour MP Kevin Brennan complained during a debate that Julian Huppert of the Liberal Democrat party, was tweeting. Brennan protested that it was unfair of Huppert to make points about the debate via Twitter instead of giving his arguments inside the House of Commons chamber where other legislators could have the chance to rebut his points. “I am glad you have brought it to my attention. I am sure no honorable member will be tweeting from the chamber to let the outside world know what is going on,” Hoyle said. Guidelines issued in June last year only say that mobile phones should not be used in the chamber, but that hand-held devices to use e-mails are acceptable.
UNITED STATES
Burglars snort ashes
Burglars snorted the cremated remains of a man and two dogs in the mistaken belief that they had stolen illegal drugs, Florida sheriff’s deputies said on Wednesday. The ashes were taken from a woman’s home in the central Florida town of Silver Springs Shores on Dec. 15. The thieves took an urn containing the ashes of her father and another container with the ashes of her two Great Danes, along with electronic equipment and jewelry, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said. Investigators learned what happened to the ashes after they arrested five teens in connection with another burglary attempt at a nearby home last week. “The suspects mistook the ashes for either cocaine or heroin. It was soon discovered that the suspects snorted some of the ashes believing they were snorting cocaine,” the sheriff’s report said. Once they realized their error, the suspects discussed returning the remaining ashes, but threw them in a lake instead because they thought their fingerprints were on the containers, sheriff’s spokesman Judge Cochran said. Police divers were trying to recover the ashes. The suspects were jailed on numerous burglary and other charges.
UNITED STATES
Spider mailer pleads guilty
A German national who shipped hundreds of live tarantulas into the US through the mail has pleaded guilty to a federal smuggling charge, prosecutors said. In pleading guilty on Tuesday, Sven Koppler, 37, admitted mailing about 247 live tarantulas to federal agents in Los Angeles, who were posing as buyers as part of an investigation dubbed “Operation Spiderman.” Koppler further admitted sending the agents 22 Mexican Red-kneed tarantulas, a species of spider formally known as Brachypelma smithi that is protected under an international treaty. Koppler, who lives in Wachtberg, Germany, faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison when he is sentenced on April 11, US Attorney’s spokesman Thom Mrozek said.
UNITED STATES
Eatery serves lion tacos
A Tucson taco restaurant has already served up python, alligator, elk, kangaroo, rattlesnake and turtle. What’s next? Lion meat. Boca Tacos y Tequila said it’s accepting orders for African lion tacos, to be served starting on Feb. 16. Bryan Mazon said there are already a few reservations from curious customers. Mazon said his restaurant started offering exotic tacos on its menu every Wednesday about six months ago and has tried “just about anything we can get our hands on.” According to the Food and Drug Administration, lion and other game meat can be sold as long as the species isn’t endangered. The Arizona Daily Star said most of Boca’s exotic tacos range between US$3 and US$4. The lion tacos will cost US$8.75 apiece.
UNITED STATES
City rejects DUI postings
Police in Huntington Beach, California, will not be posting the mug shots of habitual drunken drivers on Facebook after all. The City Council late on Tuesday shot down a proposal by Huntington Beach Councilman Devin Dwyer that would have directed police to post photos of repeat driving under the influence (DUI) suspects online. He had wanted to “shame” people into changing their behavior. The police department opposed the move, saying it would alienate residents. Huntington Beach has a downtown packed with bars and is ranked top in the state for alcohol-related traffic fatalities.
‘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
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