JAPAN
Haircutting laws relaxed
The nation has relaxed laws on haircutting to allow barbers and stylists in areas affected by the earthquake and tsunami to clip and style at evacuation shelters or makeshift shops, a report said yesterday. The current law bans barbers and beauticians from cutting hair anywhere other than authorized shops, apart from for housebound customers or weddings. The government has relaxed the regulations for a period of about two years starting this month, the Yomiuri Shimbun said. Many hairdressers’ shops were damaged or destroyed in the March 11 quake and tsunami. The measure covers barbers and beauticians who cannot run their businesses as before or who are living in shelters due to the quake, the paper said.
EAST TIMOR
Refugee center in doubt
Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao said yesterday he opposed an Australian proposal to establish a regional refugee center in the country. “I have never accepted it,” he said on the sidelines of a ruling party conference in Dili. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard raised the idea last year as a way of stemming the flow of asylum seekers who travel via Indonesia to northern Australia in rickety boats. Her government says negotiations are ongoing. The only person in the tiny country who has spoken in favor of the idea is President Jose Ramos-Horta. A spokesman for the president said any such center would have to be established with the backing of ASEAN, which East Timor is hoping to join and the UN.
SAUDI ARABIA
Media restrictions imposed
King Abdullah has imposed new media controls and threatened hefty fines and closure of news organizations allegedly undermining national security, press reports said yesterday. Under a decree issued on Friday, the media will be prohibited from reporting anything that contradicts the Islamic Shariah law or serves “foreign interests and undermines national security.” The decree requires publishers to stick “to objective and constructive criticism that serves the general interest,” media reports said, adding that violators face fines of up to 500,000 riyals (US$133,000). In addition to a threat to close publishers who violate the decree, the authorities can also ban a writer for life from contributing to any media organization.
SOUTH KOREA
Live-fire exercises scheduled
The nation’s military will stage live-fire artillery exercises in the coming week on two frontline islands including one hit by deadly North Korean shelling in November, a news report said yesterday. A defense ministry spokesman said that regular military exercises would be carried out on the two islands, but declined to give further details on the timing or whether live-fire drills will be carried out. Dong-A Ilbo daily said marine troops will fire K-9 self-propelled howitzers, Vulcan cannons and 81mm mortars deployed on Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong islands, both located near the tense Yellow Sea border. About 10 US military regiment and battalion commanders will attend the exercises as observers, it said. In November, North Korea responded to a South Korean live-fire artillery drill from Yeonpyeong Island by shelling the island, killing four people. Tuesday’s drills will be the second live-fire exercise on the two islands this year. The previous drills passed without incident despite threats from the North to hit back.
SPAIN
City restricts swim suit use
Tourists in Barcelona who wander off the beach onto the streets in just their swim suits — or even less — will now face stiff fines. The city hall voted on Friday to ban “nudity or virtual nudity in public places” and limit swim suits to swimming pools, beaches, adjacent roads and beach walks. Nudists who stray off their designated areas of the beach will be subject to fines of 300 euros to 500 euros (US$450 to US$750). Those who wander into the streets in bikinis, swimming trunks or swimsuits face fines of 120 euros to 300 euros. Authorities in the city, where the port and the beach areas are adjacent to the historic old town, earlier this year put up posters discouraging such behavior.
? MEXICO
Teen denied royal wedding
Estibalis Chavez staged a hunger strike and flew twice to London in her quest to see Britain’s Prince William and Kate Middleton tie the knot. However, there was no fairy tale ending on Friday for the teenager, whose widely publicized desperate quest drew both sympathy and scorn from her countrymen. Chavez, 19, said British immigration officials in London turned her away at the airport on Thursday, saying she didn’t have enough money for a safe place to stay for her trip. Officials gave a similar reason for deporting her when she first tried to enter the UK on April 22. “They didn’t let me enter because they thought I was crazy,” Chavez said by telephone on Friday from Spain. Chavez staged a hunger strike outside the British embassy in Mexico City for 16 days in a failed bid to wrangle an invitation to the wedding.
UNITED STATES
Tobacco firms win lawsuit
Philip Morris USA and other major tobacco companies won a lawsuit on Friday filed by 37 Missouri hospitals seeking more than US$455 million for treating sick smokers. Philip Morris USA was one of six tobacco companies involved in the lawsuit. The hospitals had claimed cigarette companies delivered an “unreasonably dangerous” product. They were seeking reimbursement back to 1993 for treating sick smokers who had no insurance and did not pay their bills. A call to the attorney representing the hospitals, Kenneth Brostron, was not immediately returned. Philip Morris USA and Lorillard Inc were supportive of the verdict. “The jury agreed with Philip Morris USA that ordinary cigarettes are not negligently designed or defective,” Murray Garnick, Altria Client Services senior vice president and associate general counsel, said in a statement.
UNITED KINGDOM
Royal Wedding takes race
It was a good day for a royal wedding, even on one of the nation’s horse tracks. The aptly named Royal Wedding won a race at Fontwell on Friday, with the 4-1 shot holding off Take A Mile to win by 12 lengths just hours after Prince William married Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey. The Nick Gifford-trained horse won at Fontwell in February and was invited back to race on the same day as the royal nuptials. “It’s been the plan to run for about two months and we are delighted it’s all worked out,” Gifford said. “I’m delighted and a bit relieved he won after we’ve had so much publicity. We just didn’t want him to do anything stupid like fall at the first [fence] or anything like that.” Bookmakers weren’t quite as happy, however, saying they had been showered with bets on the popular horse.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of