INDIA
Doctors exploit poor women
Doctors in Chhattisgarh State performed hysterectomies on poor village women without a valid medical reason in order to claim money from a national insurance scheme, the state’s health minister said on Wednesday. Under the program launched in 2008, doctors can claim up to 30,000 rupees (US$540) to treat poor families, providing a safety net to help pay for expensive hospital surgeries, but critics say the program was exploited by unscrupulous doctors. “The women were deliberately ill-advised by doctors, who removed their uterus to get money,” Chhattisgarh Health Minister Amar Agrawal said. “As per my information, the doctors have so far managed to make roughly 2 crore [10 million] rupees in recent months by removing uteruses without any valid medical reasons.” The state government examined 1,800 hysterectomies performed in the impoverished state as part of an investigation into the alleged scam.
INDONESIA
Poaching suspect arrested
Police said they have arrested a man suspected of being part of a ring that poaches and trades in endangered animals. National police spokesman Colonel Boy Rafli Amar said yesterday that the man identified only as Feri was arrested on Tuesday at his house in Jakarta’s Depok suburb. Police believe he is a taxidermist. They seized at least 25 stuffed animals, including 14 Sumatran tigers, a lion, three leopards, three bears and a tapir from his house. They also found two sacks full of tiger pelts, the heads of a tiger and three deer. The suspect faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to almost US$11,000.
GERMANY
Sleepy hamlet owed trillions
The sleepy hamlet of Mittenwalde could become one of the richest towns in the world if Berlin were to repay it an outstanding debt that dates back to 1562. A certificate of debt, found in a regional archive, attests that Mittenwalde lent Berlin 400 guilders on May 28, 1562, to be repaid with 6 percent interest per year. According to Radio Berlin Brandenburg, the debt would amount to 11,200 guilders today, which is roughly equivalent to 112 million euros (US$137 million). Adjusting for compound interest and inflation, the debt now lies in the trillions. Historian Vera Schmidt found the debt slip in the archive, where it had been filed in 1963. Though the seal is missing from the document, Schmidt said that she is certain the slip is still valid. “In 1893 there was a debate in which the document was examined and the writing was determined to be authentic,” Schmidt said. Schmidt and Mittenwalde Mayor Uwe Pfeiffer have tried to ask Berlin for their money back, but to no avail.
UNITED KINGDOM
Olympic con man jailed
A man who deceived 75 children in Britain by promising them the opportunity to take part in the closing ceremony of the Olympics has been jailed for two years, police said. “Children as young as nine were left devastated by the actions of this man, whose fraudulent plan could never succeed,” police said in a statement. Stephen Moonesamy, 35, was arrested after approaching three dance schools and recruiting children between the ages of nine and 18 to perform at the closing ceremony. Prosecutors said he charged each child for taking part and built up an elaborate operation by training the dancers, securing equipment and gaining sponsorship. “His project was pure fantasy — based on a lie that grew larger and larger over time,” the Crown Prosecution Service said.
AUSTRIA
Centuries-old bras found
A revolutionary discovery is rewriting the history of underwear: About 600 years ago, women wore bras. The University of Innsbruck said on Wednesday that archeologists found four linen bras dating from the Middle Ages in a castle. Fashion experts described the find as surprising, because the bra had commonly been thought to be only little more than 100 years old as women abandoned the tight corset. Instead, it appears the bra came first, followed by the corset, followed by the reinvented bra. One specimen in particular “looks exactly like a [modern] brassiere,” said Hilary Davidson, fashion curator for the London Museum. Although the linen garments were unearthed in 2008, they did not make news until now, said Beatrix Nutz, the archeologist responsible for the discovery. Researching the items and carbon dating them to make sure they were genuine took some time. “We didn’t believe it ourselves,” she said in a telephone call from Innsbruck. “From what we knew, there was no such thing as bra-like garments in the 15th century.”
CANADA
MacKay’s wife attacked
The Iranian-born activist wife of Defense Minister Peter MacKay has been targeted by what the media described as offensive Twitter messages for her challenge of the Tehran regime. A message from the account of New York-based author and journalist Hooman Majd, said to be sympathetic to Iran, said: “Fucking a Canadian minister doesn’t make you Canadian, azizam [sweetheart]. Come back to papa.” Nazanin Afshin-Jam, a former beauty queen and human rights activist who married MacKay in January, denounced the “serious” slight as “offensive” in an interview with the daily Ottawa Citizen. The message followed Afshin-Jam’s calls last week for the government to shutter Iran’s embassy in Ottawa over reports that diplomats were using cultural outreach programs to recruit expatriates “to be of service to our beloved Iran.”
UNITED STATES
Karaoke leads to shooting
A California man is accused of shooting his 50-year-old son because he didn’t like his country karaoke singing. A Shasta County judge on Tuesday ordered 70-year-old William Henry Oller Sr to stand trial on attempted murder and assault charges in the January shooting, the Record Searchlight of Redding reported. The newspaper said William Carr Oller Jr, 50, suffered a gunshot wound to the arm and other injuries. Defense attorney Aaron Williams said there was no evidence to show the shooting was intentional, and his client may have acted in self-defense when he was approached by his son. The name of the song that may have sparked the shooting remained a mystery.
UNITED STATES
Shipwreck yields treasure
A deep-sea exploration company said it had recovered about 43.5 tonnes of silver from a British cargo ship that was sunk by a torpedo during World War II. Florida-based Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc said on Wednesday it was the heaviest and deepest recovery of precious metals from a shipwreck. The haul comes from the SS Gairsoppa, which was hit by a German U-boat about 483km off Ireland’s coast. It sits 4,700m deep. So far, workers have brought up more than 1,200 silver bars, or about 1.4 million troy ounces (43.5 tonnes). As of midday on Wednesday, it was worth about US$37 million. The company is under contract by the British government and will get to keep 80 percent of the haul after expenses.
As the sun sets on another scorching Yangon day, the hot and bothered descend on the Myanmar city’s parks, the coolest place to spend an evening during yet another power blackout. A wave of exceptionally hot weather has blasted Southeast Asia this week, sending the mercury to 45°C and prompting thousands of schools to suspend in-person classes. Even before the chaos and conflict unleashed by the military’s 2021 coup, Myanmar’s creaky and outdated electricity grid struggled to keep fans whirling and air conditioners humming during the hot season. Now, infrastructure attacks and dwindling offshore gas reserves mean those who cannot afford expensive diesel
Does Argentine President Javier Milei communicate with a ghost dog whose death he refuses to accept? Forced to respond to questions about his mental health, the president’s office has lashed out at “disrespectful” speculation. Twice this week, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni was asked about Milei’s English Mastiff, Conan, said to have died seven years ago. Milei, 53, had Conan cloned, and today is believed to own four copies he refers to as “four-legged children.” Or is it five? In an interview with CNN this month, Milei referred to his five dogs, whose faces and names he had engraved on the presidential baton. Conan,
French singer Kendji Girac, who was seriously injured by a gunshot this week, wanted to “fake” his suicide to scare his partner who was threatening to leave him, prosecutors said on Thursday. The 27-year-old former winner of France’s version of The Voice was found wounded after police were called to a traveler camp in Biscarrosse on France’s southwestern coast. Girac told first responders he had accidentally shot himself while tinkering with a Colt .45 automatic pistol he had bought at a junk shop, a source said. On Thursday, regional prosecutor Olivier Janson said, citing the singer, that he wanted to “fake” his suicide
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed his pledge to replace India’s religion-based marriage and inheritance laws with a uniform civil code if he returns to office for a third term, a move that some minority groups have opposed. In an interview with the Times of India listing his agenda, Modi said his government would push for making the code a reality. “It is clear that separate laws for communities are detrimental to the health of society,” he said in the interview published yesterday. “We cannot be a nation where one community is progressing with the support of the Constitution while the other