RUSSIA
Geocentrism still popular
Does the Sun revolve around the Earth? One in every three Russians thinks so, a spokeswoman for state pollster VsTIOM said on Friday. A survey released this week said 32 percent of Russians believed the Earth was the center of the solar system; 55 percent thought all radioactivity was manmade; and 29 percent believed the first humans lived when dinosaurs still roamed the Earth. “It’s really quite amazing,” spokeswoman Olga Kamenchuk said of the survey that polled 1,600 people last month. “All of them [the questions] were absolutely obvious ... the data speaks of the low levels of education in the country.”
FRANCE
Official to snub Mexico fest
Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said on Friday she planned to snub the yearlong festival celebrating Mexican culture because of a court case that has strained bilateral ties. Alliot-Marie’s move follows a Mexican appeals court’s decision on Thursday to uphold the conviction of Frenchwoman Florence Cassez, imprisoned in Mexico for kidnapping. Cassez has been convicted and sentenced to 60 years in prison over her involvement in three 2005 kidnappings.
ITALY
Liz Taylor hospitalized
Elizabeth Taylor has been hospitalized for treatment of congestive heart failure. Her spokeswoman, Sally Morrison, said on Friday that the Oscar-winning actress was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center within the past couple of days. The 78-year-old Taylor is being treated for symptoms caused by congestive heart failure, a condition she disclosed in November 2004. Morrison said it’s unknown how long she might be in the hospital. She said Taylor’s family appreciated the support from fans, but asked for privacy to allow the medical team space to do its work.
AFGHANISTAN
Taliban attack kills three
Three people were killed and 26 wounded yesterday in an attack claimed by the Taliban on police headquarters in the city of Kandahar. A hit squad stormed a wedding hall across the road at about midday and opened fire on the police building amid reports of a total of up to six explosions in Kandahar. A reporter at the scene saw attackers firing rocket-propelled grenades, AK-47 assault rifles and machine guns from the sixth floor of the wedding hall at the police headquarters. He later said that police had entered the building and there had been two loud explosions. Zalmai Ayubi, a spokesman for the governor of Kandahar, said three people, including two policemen, had been killed in the violence and 26 injured. The wounded included nine children, he added.
UNITED NATIONS
US envoy slams UN critics
The US government has stepped up a campaign in defense of the UN, which has become a key Republican target in Congress. US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice condemned critics who have called for US funds to be held back, while also attacking the world body for picking up “bad habits,” including mismanagement and corruption. Rice on Friday gave the first of a series of speeches around the US, two days after administration supporters defeated a House of Representatives bill demanding repayment of surplus contributions to a UN fund. Republicans have singled out US payments to the UN as part of their demands to get tough on cutting the massive US budget deficit.
UNITED STATES
Rat delays flight
Alaska Airlines had to delay a flight about to leave Seattle-Tacoma International Airport when a rat was seen scurrying in the cabin. The airline said the flight from Seattle to Denver had just pulled away from the gate on Thursday morning when the little stowaway was spotted. The 737 jetliner returned to the terminal and passengers and crew boarded another plane about 90 minutes later. Airline spokeswoman Bobbie Egan said the plane wouldn’t be returned to service until maintenance workers made sure the rat didn’t damage equipment or chew any wires — and an exterminator certifies the plane is rodent-free.
UNITED STATES
Bug your love with roach
If lingerie is too intimate and dinner out is too expensive, the Bronx Zoo suggests another Valentine’s Day gift: a Madagascar hissing cockroach. Spokesman John Calvelli says: “Nothing says forever like a cockroach.” The Wildlife Conservation Society runs the New York City zoo and is raising funds by offering the public the chance to name the huge roaches. In return for each name, it’s asking for a US$10 donation. Calvelli says about 1,700 cockroach names were bought in the first two days of the promotion. The zoo says naming a roach will honor a sweetheart’s resourcefulness and resiliency. As the zoo puts it: “Flowers wilt. Chocolates melt. Roaches are forever.”
UNITED STATES
Robber told: ‘We’re closing’
A would-be bank robber was foiled after a teller shut the security door and told him the bank was closing. Cranston police told the Providence Journal that it happened on Thursday at about 7pm, closing time at a Citizens Bank counter inside a grocery store. Major Robert Ryan said the man gave the teller a note written on a ripped paper plate that said: “This is a robbery.” The teller put down the security curtain, told the man the branch was closing and closed the security screen door. Ryan says the man walked quickly away, empty-handed. Police are looking for the man.
UNITED STATES
Prison Facebook ban mulled
Prisoners in South Carolina caught with banned cellphones, which are often tossed over a prison fence to them, can face solitary confinement and loss of visitation and canteen privileges. However, those caught updating their status on their Facebook page, by cellphone or any other means, might soon be looking at 30 extra days behind bars and a US$500 fine. Representative Wendell Gilliard has introduced a bill that would make it unlawful for an inmate to be a member of any Internet social--networking site and penalize the offense. Earlier this month, a local newspaper detailed the profiles of South Carolina prison Facebookers such as Anthony “Tony” Enriquez, 34, serving life without parole for murdering a man he robbed of a pack of cigarettes. The newspaper quoted a friend of Enriquez’s victim who was shocked to find the killer on Facebook.
CHILE
Quake hits year after disaster
A powerful earthquake struck on Friday off the coast, throwing a scare into residents nearly a year after a massive temblor and tsunami wreaked death and destruction in the same region. The strong quake was followed within hours by several aftershocks and two more big temblors, magnitude 5.9 and magnitude 6.1 in the same area, the US Geological Survey said. The survey initially reported a magnitude 7.0 quake, and later revised that to 6.8.
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
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
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