SINGAPORE
British writer jailed
A 76-year-old British writer who published a book denouncing judicial hangings started a prison term yesterday for contempt. Alan Shadrake, who wrote about the use of hanging to execute drug traffickers and murderers in the city-state, turned himself in at the High Court. On Friday, he lost his appeal against a six-week sentence, the toughest ever imposed in the city-state for contempt. Shadrake could not afford to pay a S$20,000 (US$16,200) fine on top of the prison term, resulting in another two weeks in jail, taking the term to eight weeks in total.
AUSTRALIA
Meowing senator sparks row
A meowing senator touched off a political row in Canberra yesterday after his cat imitation directed at Finance Minister Penny Wong sparked accusations that the opposition behaved like sexists and goons, and were feral. Liberal Tasmanian Senator David Bushby meowed at Wong at a hearing when Wong — Australia’s first Malaysian-born and first openly gay Cabinet member — fought constant interruptions. A visibly livid Wong snapped: “Oh yes, why don’t you meow when a woman does that? ... The blokes are allowed to yell, but if a woman stands her ground, you want to make that kind of comment. It’s sort of schoolyard politics, mate.”
NEW ZEALAND
‘Wellywood’ put on hold
Wellington Airport yesterday said it had put plans for a giant “Wellywood” sign on hold amid a public backlash against the idea. The 8m sign across a hillside owned by the airport was designed as a Hollywood-style tribute to Wellington’s film industry, which has created films such as The Lord of the Rings. However, the plan generated a storm of protest when it was announced last month, with critics labeling the sign a derivative “try-hard” copy of the original. More than 26,000 people joined a Facebook page opposed to the sign, the city council passed a resolution condemning it and even Prime Minister John Key said he thought the airport had got it wrong.
NEW ZEALAND
Carotene replaces nicotine
Prisoners are reportedly being offered carrot sticks to help them overcome nicotine cravings as jails prepare to go smoke-free next month. A leaked internal memo from Invercargill Prison said prisoners were being supplied with two carrot sticks a day in an effort to help them quit smoking before the total ban comes into force on July 1, the Southland Times reported. The memo said one jumbo-sized carrot could yield 16 carrot sticks if cut into uniform size “to the best of our ability,” the newspaper reported on Tuesday. Corrections Association of New Zealand president Beven Hanlon said when he first heard about the scheme he thought it was a joke.
CHINA
Wen strips to undershirt
He may be approaching 70, but Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) stripped down to an undershirt and shorts to show off his basketball skills this week, earning rave reviews from an adoring public. Wen earned thousands of admiring messages on Web portal Sina.com after his turn at a Beijing elementary school, where he dribbled the ball between his legs and performed a series of lay-ups. It was a rousing performance from the 68-year-old Wen, albeit against children aged about 11 and with junior nets just 2.1m high. Wen looked trim in his Li Ning-brand sportswear, despite some heavy breathing after the game. He also underwent some training exercises with the kids during his visit yesterday.
UNITED STATES
‘Endeavour’ lands safely
The space shuttle Endeavour glided home for its final landing early yesterday and the conclusion of the next to last mission of the 30-year-old US shuttle program. Endeavour and its crew of six astronauts — five Americans and one Italian — made a nighttime touchdown at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center at 2:35am, NASA said.
RUSSIA
Suspected killer arrested
Security forces on Tuesday arrested the suspected triggerman in the 2006 killing of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was gunned down in the elevator of her Moscow apartment building. However, investigators have remained silent about who might have ordered the killing of Politkovskaya, a sharp critic of the Kremlin. The suspect, Rustam Makhmudov, was arrested in his native Chechnya and flown to Moscow, said the Investigative Committee, the top criminal investigation body.
UNITED STATES
Court turns down Black case
The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to hear an appeal by former media magnate Conrad Black to overturn his 2007 fraud conviction after a high court ruling last year that appeared to aid his case. The decision affirms a ruling by a appeals court in Chicago in October last year that upheld Black’s 2007 conviction on one count of fraud and one count of obstructing justice. In July 2007, Black and three other colleagues were found guilty of diverting US$3.5 million from the sale of stock of Hollinger to the Canadian press group Canwest, and of destroying documents in the sale.
UNITED STATES
Joplin missing drops to 10
The number of people missing from the massive tornado that hit Joplin, Missouri, has been whittled down to just 10, state officials said on Tuesday. The massive May 22 twister reduced much of the town to rubble, leaving at least 120 people dead as it tore apart homes, businesses, a hospital and a school along a 6km path of destruction. Although 146 sets of human remains were discovered, the final death toll may be lower because some of the partial remains “could be from the same individuals,” department of public safety spokesman Mike O’Connell said.
UNITED STATES
Political meddling claimed
Lawyers for a former Soviet officer facing charges that he conspired to sell weapons to a terrorist group say the case should be thrown out because the government used extreme political pressure to force Thailand to turn him over. In papers filed late on Friday and on Tuesday in District Court in Manhattan, the lawyers said the case against Viktor Bout was brought for “purely political reasons” after authorities realized the military continued hiring Bout’s companies to supply soldiers in Iraq even after he was banned in July 2004 by the Department of the Treasury from doing business with the government.
BRAZIL
Heists lead to cash shortage
Police have arrested nearly 30 people in connection with a series of ATM heists that have left some poorer parts of Sao Paulo with scant access to cash. Five current or former police officers were arrested in the sting on Tuesday — and investigators suspect another two dozen police could be involved. About 60 of the banking machines have been blown up, torched or otherwise broken into in the Sao Paulo metropolitan area in recent months.
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
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
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