NEW ZEALAND
Inquest told of Coke habit
An inquest has been told a woman’s 10 litre a day Coca-Cola habit may have contributed to her death, reports said on Friday. A coroner’s inquest was told Natasha Harris, a 30-year-old mother of eight from Invercargill in the south, who died in February 2010, drank huge amounts of the caffeinated beverage, Fairfax Media reported. It said pathologist Dan Mornin told the inquest that he believed Harris died from cardiac arrhythmia and was also suffering from low potassium levels and caffeine toxicity. Mornin testified her excessive soft drink consumption probably contributed to her medical condition, along with poor nutrition, Fairfax reported. Harris’ partner, Christopher Hodgkinson, said she was addicted to Coke and the dead woman’s mother-in-law, Vivien Hodgkinson, had called for soft drinks to carry health warnings, Radio New Zealand reported. “The first thing she would do in the morning was to have a drink of Coke beside her bed and the last thing she would do at night was to have a drink of Coke ... she was addicted to Coke,” Christopher Hodgkinson said.
SOUTH KOREA
Japan looks to joint action
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has sent a letter to South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on efforts to coordinate policies towards North Korea, a presidential spokeswoman said on Friday. The letter was delivered by Japan’s Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Tsuyoshi Saito when he visited the presidential Blue House on Friday before an upcoming three-way summit including China next month, she said. It also reviewed achievements at last month’s summit on nuclear security which was hosted by Seoul. The spokeswoman denied a Japanese media report that the message touched on the issue of Korean women who were forced into sexual slavery for Japanese troops during World War II. Saito met Chun Young-woo, senior presidential secretary for foreign affairs and security, and exchanged views on next month’s tripartite summit in Beijing.
CHINA
Fishermen set free
Beijing said authorities have released 21 Vietnamese fishermen whom they had detained for more than a month on a disputed island in the South China Sea. The official Xinhua news agency said late on Friday that according to the South China Sea Fishery Bureau, the fishermen were released after they guaranteed in writing not to “infringe on China’s maritime rights, especially fishing, in its territorial waters.” Chinese security forces intercepted the fishermen’s two boats in early March near the Paracel Islands (西沙群島), which are also claimed by Taiwan. Vietnam had said the arrests of the fishermen violated Vietnam’s sovereignty over the island chain and demanded their release.
INDONESIA
Quake hits off Papua
A powerful earthquake hit waters off eastern Indonesia yesterday, sending panicked residents running from their homes, offices and schools. There was some damage, but no immediate reports of injuries. The US Geological Survey said the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 and hit 83km off Papua Province. It was centered just 30km beneath the ocean floor. Children in the town of Manokwan, closest to the epicenter, were seen running from their schools screaming. Streets also filled with those escaping shaking buildings. “I ran out of my house with my kids as soon as I felt the tremors,” said Pinta Uli, a mother of two, adding that they saw one street lamp topple to the ground.
UNITED KINGDOM
E-mail blunder shocks 1,300
Workers at investment firm Aviva Investors got a shock on Friday when the company accidentally sent an e-mail with leaving instructions intended for one departing employee to the entire worldwide staff of 1,300 people. The firm’s human resources department realized its mistake and recalled the offending message 25 minutes later and soon afterwards sent out another e-mail apologizing to staff for the error, company spokesman Paul Lockstone said. The e-mail was a standard message sent to people leaving the company, covering things such as handing back company equipment and confidentiality rules, and did not tell recipients they were fired, Lockstone said. Aviva Investors said in January it would shed about 160 jobs, about 12 percent of its global workforce.
IRAN
Russia, China want drone
The semi-official Fars news agency says Russia and China have asked Tehran to provide them with information on a US drone captured by the Islamic Republic in December. The Thursday report quotes Ahmad Karimpour, an adviser to the defense minister, as saying Tehran has received requests for many countries for information on the RQ-170 Sentinel, but Moscow and Beijing have been the most aggressive in their pursuit of details on the drone. He did not elaborate.
UNITED STATES
Alleged hacker extradited
A man has been brought to New York from Estonia to face charges he steered millions of computers worldwide toward certain Web sites and advertisements. Anton Ivanov was extradited on Thursday to face an indictment returned in November. It accuses him of conspiring with at least six others to digitally hijack Internet searches and re-route computers to specific Web sites. Prosecutors say Ivanov and others infected more than 4 million computers in more than 100 countries. The US government says they received millions of dollars when Web sites and their advertisements were visited by users of infected computers.
LIBYA
Prosecutor claims evidence
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court says Tripoli has evidence linking a son of deposed ruler Muammar Qaddafi to recruiting mercenaries and executing people. Luis Moreno-Ocampo told reporters on Thursday Libyan prosecutors have evidence backing the court’s reports that Seif al-Islam Qaddafi supervised and helped bring in foreign mercenaries, as well as evidence linking him to executions. He said the government has until the end of this month to present its case to the court to push for its demand to try him.
SERBIA
Giuliani to help nationalists
Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani plans to become an adviser to nationalists who were once allied with the late president Slobodan Milosevic if they win next month’s election in Belgrade. Giuliani said on Friday that he and his consulting company would be advising Serbian Progressive Party officials on how to run the capital if they take power in the May 6 vote. “I’ve seen cities turn around,” Giuliani said at a joint press conference with top Serbian Progressive Party officials. “I am very excited at helping you do that.” The party is challenging the ruling pro-EU coalition at the polls, accusing the current government and the Belgrade city authorities of corruption and poor economic policies.
UNITED STATES
Penny bought for US$1.15m
When is a penny worth US$1.15 million? When it is a rare experimental penny minted in 1792. The unusual coin was auctioned off on Thursday at the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center in suburban Chicago. Officials with Heritage Auctions say Kevin Lipton of Beverly Hills, California, bought the penny on behalf of a group of unnamed investors. The winning bid was US$1 million, but the investors also must pay the auction house’s 15 percent commission. The coin is made from copper and encases a small plug of silver. The silver was added to make the penny heavier, said Todd Imhof, executive vice president of Heritage Auctions. “After 200 years, we can only account for 14 of these,” said Imhof, who added that the penny was never actually put into circulation.
PANAMA
President denies bribery
President Ricardo Martinelli has denied his government received bribes from a fugitive linked to a sex and corruption case involving former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. Newspaper editor Valter Lavitola, arrested in Naples this week upon his arrival from Argentina, is under investigation for having allegedly bribed Panama officials, Italy’s Corriere della Sera has reported. Lavitola, who was arrested in connection with a ring accused of supplying prostitutes to Berlusconi, allegedly handed members of the Panama government suitcases full of cash to secure construction contracts for third parties. Martinelli adamantly denied the accusations, calling them a “journalistic invention aimed at tarnishing my image and the image of Panama,” during a press conference late on Thursday.
PERU
Mine is viable: president
Peru’s president says the country’s biggest mining project, which has been on hold due to protests, is viable and will meet environmental requirements. President Ollanta Humala said on Friday that residents near the Conga gold and copper-mining project would be ensured an ample water supply. Protesters backed by the regional governor say they fear the mine will harm their water supplies. The mine is majority owned by US-based Newmont Mining Corp. Humala asked that the mine not use two of four lakes that were originally going to be destroyed as part of the mining operation. That was a recommendation made by experts. He says the project should provide more water to local reservoirs and that his government will invest about US$1.8 billion in infrastructure in the northern region of Cajamarca.
UNITED STATES
Journalists harassed online
The newspaper USA Today said on Friday an editor and reporter probing Pentagon propaganda efforts have been targeted by an online “misinformation campaign.” Fake Twitter and Facebook accounts have been created under the names of the reporter and editor with postings denigrating their professional reputations, according to the daily. The timing of the online harassment coincided with stories by Pentagon correspondent Tom Vanden Brook, who has written about the military’s “information operations” program that spent large sums on marketing campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. The program has faced criticism in and outside the Defense Department as “ineffective and poorly monitored,” the paper said. The false online accounts, including a fake Wikipedia entry, started appearing only days after the reporter first contacted Pentagon contractors for the story, the newspaper wrote.
‘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