MALAYSIA
Media raises ‘Jewish’ threat
Government-linked media has claimed that foreign Jewish groups might try to meddle in the country by supporting an opposition-backed push to reform electoral laws. Political activists who recently staged a huge demonstration say the accusation is an irresponsible attempt to discredit them through appeals to religious prejudice. The Malay-language Utusan Malaysia newspaper said in an editorial yesterday that Malaysians “cannot allow anyone, especially the Jews, to interfere secretly in this country’s business.” It offered no evidence and named no specific group. Prime Minister Najib Razak’s administration cracked down on July 9 on at least 20,000 demonstrators who marched in Kuala Lumpur demanding more transparency in electoral laws.
AUSTRALIA
Hospital swaps newborns
Two mothers were mistakenly given the wrong newborns in a mix up which saw the infants breastfed and cared for by the wrong woman for about eight hours, the hospital said yesterday. The St John of God Hospital in Geelong blamed human error for the swap which was eventually detected by a family member. “Protocols are in place to ensure mothers are given their own baby, but it seems that in this instance human error was involved,” the hospital said in a statement. “Unfortunately, it seems the babies’ identification bracelets were not checked against the identification bracelets on their mothers.” The hospital is investigating the mistake and the women and babies were being tested for any infections they may have contracted as a result of the error on Friday.
CHINA
Iraqi prime minister visits
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was scheduled to meet Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) yesterday and President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) today. Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Hong Lei (洪磊) said the two nations have a traditional friendship, and that they aim to develop economic cooperation and cultural exchanges.
MARIANAS
Japanese musician dies
A Japanese rock musician who tried to hang himself after being arrested for unruly behavior on a flight to Saipan has died in hospital, reports said yesterday. Taiji Sawada, who was best known as the former bass player with heavy metal group “X,” died on Sunday when medics at Saipan’s Commonwealth Health Center turned off his life support, the Saipan Tribune reported. The Marianas Variety newspaper reported that Sawada, 45, had been in intensive care since July 14 after he tried to hang himself with a bedsheet in a jail. He had been arrested three days before for allegedly assaulting a female cabin crew attendant during a Delta Airlines flight from Tokyo to Saipan, court documents showed. The documents said the flight attendant went to the business class section after hearing banging and found Sawada struggling with a female passenger. She said a number of male passengers helped her subdue the musician and move him to another chair but he caused another commotion, punching windows and kicking seats, as the plane prepared to descend to Saipan. Eventually, the plane’s captain ordered Sawada to be placed in physical restraints and he was arrested after the flight landed, the court documents said. No reason was given for Sawada’s behavior.
ITALY
MP perks cause backlash
MPs are facing a backlash over multimillion-dollar perks, including trips to saunas and haircuts, while the rest of the nation faces charges designed to balance the national books. Two days after the parliament passed an austerity budget to keep the eurozone crisis at bay, hospitals were carrying out two of the budget’s key provisions — a new 10 euro (US$14) charge for specialist appointments and a 25 euro fee for emergency visits, part of a series of measures expected to cost families about 500 euros a year. However, critics said that as the budget was being debated last week, Freedom People party MPs quietly added amendments watering down proposed cuts to their own pay, currently 65,839 euros after taxes. A breakdown of the outlay on medical care published by newspaper La Repubblica on Sunday showed that Italy’s 630 MPs are racking up 3 million euros a year on dentistry, 257,000 euros on psychiatric bills and 204,000 euros on thermal baths.
RUSSIA
Girls urged to strip for Putin
An online campaign has been launched urging young women to support Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in a presidential vote by taking off their clothes, a lawmaker’s site showed on Sunday. Called “Putin’s Army,” it features a video of a blond student called Diana who struts along Moscow’s streets in high heels and a black suit before scrawling “I will tear my clothes off for Putin” on a white top in red lipstick and starting to undo her clothes. Inviting girls to strip for Putin for the chance of winning an iPad2, the campaign comes ahead of the presidential election in March next year. During the Soviet era, nudity in advertising was taboo, but has since become widespread, a fact that has outraged feminists who say it only intensifies an already sexualized culture where prostitution is common. In October, a band of journalism students posed in lingerie for a calendar for Putin’s 58th birthday.
HUNGARY
Last Habsburg’s heart buried
The heart of the last heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Otto Habsburg, was buried on Sunday in an abbey following lavish ceremonies in his honor. An urn holding the heart of Habsburg, who died earlier this month at his Bavarian home aged 98, was buried in a family ceremony at the Benedictine Abbey of Pannonhalma, a photographer said. Earlier on Sunday, a mass was organized in his memory at Saint Stephen’s Basilica in the heart of Budapest, in the presence of President Pal Schmitt and Prime Minister Viktor Orban. On Saturday, political leaders and European royalty paid their last respects to Habsburg as his body was buried at Vienna’s Imperial Crypt. Habsburg was a strong proponent of Europe and served for 20 years as a member of the European Parliament.
SOUTH AFRICA
Mandela celebrates birthday
Millions of children around the country sang Happy Birthday to former president Nelson Mandela yesterday to celebrate his 93rd birthday. More than 12 million school pupils sang a special version of the song, written for the anti-apartheid leader, before lessons began yesterday. Mandela Day, inaugurated in 2009 and falling on the anti-apartheid icon’s July 18 birthday, was conceived as an international day devoted to public service. People around the world have been asked to mark the occasion by devoting 67 minutes of their time to work in their local community — one minute for every year of Mandela’s public service.
PARAGUAY
Hotdog breaks record
There is a new hot dog in the Guinness Book of Records after a sausage in Asuncion claimed victory as the “world’s largest” at a record 203.8m long, event officials said on Saturday. Guinness representative Johanna Hessling, who traveled to the exhibition, confirmed that the sausage broke the previous record of 150m held by a Spanish encased meat. After being prepared by 245 people ,the 270-kilo sausage was cooked in a specially designed oven and cut into 2,000 pieces and served with bread, a spokesman for the “Expo 2011” in Asuncion said.
URUGUAY
Ex-dictator dies at 83
Former dictator Juan Maria Bordaberry, convicted of killing political opponents during his reign, died of respiratory failure on Sunday at age 83. Bordaberry, who was elected president in 1971 before dissolving congress and ruling by military-backed decree, was convicted last year. He was given a 30-year term and allowed to serve his sentence at his home due to health problems. Friends of the family and lawmakers from the center-right Colorado party, in which Bordaberry’s son Pedro serves as a senator, confirmed the death. A one-time cattle rancher, Bordaberry was president for about four years until he was replaced by the military.
CANADA
‘Cash Cab’ kills pedestrian
A replica taxi used in the Vancouver version of the TV game show Cash Cab struck and killed a pedestrian after finishing production for the day. Vancouver police said a 61-year-old man from Surrey, British Columbia, died in a hospital shortly after being struck by the mock yellow cab late Friday night in the city’s Downtown Eastside District. Police did not immediately release the victim’s identity. The accident happened as a producer was driving the replica cab back to a storage facility after filming for the day had been completed, said Andrew Burnstein, president of Castlewood Productions, which produces the show’s Canadian version. Police constable Lindsey Houghton said the circumstances leading to the accident were still being determined and no charges have been filed so far.
ECUADOR
Liquor banned after deaths
Authorities have banned the sale of alcohol in a community where 19 people died after drinking bootleg liquor. Public Health Minister David Chiriboga said 102 people had been treated for intoxication from adulterated alcohol in the coastal municipality of Urdaneta in Los Rios Province, where eight were initially reported dead. Chiriboga said on Sunday the death toll had risen to 19 and police had seized 28 containers each with 55 gallons (208 liters) of alcohol contaminated with methanol.
CANADA
Five injured in concert
The main stage at Ottawa Bluesfest collapsed on Sunday night during a Cheap Trick concert as a severe thunderstorm sent the musicians and thousands of fans running for cover. At least five people were injured, one seriously. Cheap Trick’s band members got off the stage safely, but witnesses said they were thrown off their feet. “Everyone is okay and we are so lucky to be alive and hope that all the fans are okay too,” the band said in a message posted on Facebook. Video of the Bluesfest site posted on YouTube within minutes of the storm’s passing showed a stage that had crumpled and collapsed over electronic equipment. Twisted shards of metal jutted out from the stage, which stood several stories tall before it was destroyed.
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