JAPAN
Poo-powered bike unveiled
The nation’s best-known toilet maker, TOTO, yesterday unveiled a “poop-powered” motorcycle that can travel as far as 300km on a tank filled with animal waste. Billed as the world’s first waste-powered vehicle, the three-wheeler has a toilet in place of a regular seat and huge paper roll at the back. However, as a young female model climbed aboard for a test drive yesterday, the toilet giant was quick to point out that she would not supply the “gas.” “The biogas it uses as fuel is not made from human waste. It’s made from livestock waste and sewage,” company spokesman Kenji Fujita told reporters in a Tokyo suburb. The company — which makes toilets equipped with an array of features including heated seats, water jets with pressure and temperature controls, and ambient background music — has no plans to commercialize the motorcycle.
UKRAINE
Tymoshenko appeal denied
Kiev’s high court yesterday upheld former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s conviction and seven-year jail sentence for abuse of power linked to a disputed 2009 gas deal with Russia. “The judicial panel has ruled that the appeal filed by Tymoshenko is not subject to approval,” judge Olexander Elfimov told the court. The ruling by the nation’s highest court means that Tymoshenko has now exhausted her domestic legal recourse and is free to appeal her full case before the European Court of Human Rights. About 100 supporters of the 2004 pro-democracy Orange Revolution co-leader waved Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party flags during a quiet rally held outside the Kiev courtroom.
JAPAN
War papers to be released
Russia will release documents concerning thousands of Japanese held in labor camps after World War II which may provide clues about how and where they died, the government said on Tuesday. The documents, which will be handed over next year, were expected to reveal details of prisoners of war taken to camps after the war ended, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. About 575,000 Japanese soldiers and others were taken to Soviet labor camps in Siberia and Mongolia after the war. Most eventually returned home, but roughly 53,000 people were believed to have died in the camps with the fate of about 18,000 others unknown. “By analyzing the data, the records may shed light on who died where and how,” a ministry official said. “It may say something about those who died while being transported between labor camps. This kind of data has never been made available before.”
CHINA
Academics slam English use
A group of academics has said English-language abbreviations which have become part of everyday life should be struck from the country’s top dictionary. A letter signed by more than 100 academics condemned the inclusion of terms including NBA and WTO in the latest edition of the nation’s most authoritative dictionary, the Global Times daily reported yesterday. Acronyms and other abbreviations derived from English are widely used in the country, where millions of basketball fans refer to their favorite league as the NBA, rather than Mei Zhi Lan, the official Chinese translation. English abbreviations for international bodies such as the WTO are also widely used, while PM2.5, a measure of air pollution, has become a familiar term among urban residents, who are increasingly concerned about air quality.
UNITED STATES
Posh area to be sprayed
One of New York’s most expensive neighborhoods will be sprayed this week with pesticide to combat the West Nile virus, officials said on Tuesday. The city regularly sprays against the mosquito-borne disease, which has seen a surge in outbreaks this year. Tomorrow’s is notable because it will target Manhattan’s prestigious Upper West Side neighborhood and parts of Central Park. The Department of Health said in a statement that trucks would spray “a very low concentration” of pesticide and that “when properly used, this product poses no significant risks to human health.” However, it also urged people to stay indoors during the spraying and to remove clothes and children’s toys from outside. At least 41 people have died from the disease this summer, health officials said.
UNITED STATES
Bus-size tennis racket built
Talk about having a big serve: Wacky New Yorker Ashrita Furman has just built a tennis racket the size of a bus. Furman, who holds the record for the most Guinness World Records at one time — currently 151 — hopes his mammoth wooden racket will soon join the list. The contraption is an exact copy of the wooden one used by Billie Jean King in the 1970s, when she reigned over women’s tennis at tournaments like the US Open that kicked off in New York this week. The laminated wooden head, brown grip, red trim and inscriptions are a perfect match. The only difference is that the racket measures 15.2m in length and has a head 4.9m wide. Strings are made of water hose. “It’s 22.2 times bigger and done to scale,” Furman said. “We did try to display it at the US Open, but we were told that because it’s over 10 feet [3m] high, it’s considered a building.”
ARGENTINA
Argentines win world tango
Argentine dancers Facundo de la Cruz and Paola Sanz have won the ballroom competition at the 10th World Tango Championship, beating out 42 pairs of finalists from around the globe. “This is a magical moment,” Sanz, 29, said late on Monday. “My grandfather listened to a lot of tango, and I started to dance at free classes in my province” of Chubut, she said. Facundo de la Cruz, 26, originally from the province of Cordoba, said he learned to tango at first to be with his girlfriend. “I never listened to it,” he said, but it “quickly became a passion.” Forty-one other couples, including Belgians, Canadians, Russians, Americans, Japanese and contestants from across Latin America, performed in the finals at Buenos Aires’ Luna Park stadium, before 6,000 people. Buenos Aires Culture Minister Hernan Lombardi said the couple would travel to Paris at the end of the year before heading on to Japan, another world tango capital, for 40 days.
GERMANY
WWII bomb detonated
Explosives experts detonated the remains ofa 250kg World War II bomb in Munich on Tuesday evening, the DAPD news agency cited a police spokesman as saying. Still, burning debris caused fires in several nearby buildings that had been evacuated after the bomb was discovered on Monday in Schwabing District. Efforts to defuse the bomb failed and experts decided to pack it with explosives and detonate it rather than risk an uncontrolled explosion. Allied airplanes dropped millions of tonnes of ordnance on Germany during World War II in an effort to cripple the Nazi war machine. Tens of thousands of unexploded bombs are believed still to be lying in the ground in the country.
A feud has broken out between the top leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on whether to maintain close ties with Russia. The AfD leader Alice Weidel this week slammed planned visits to Russia by some party lawmakers, while coleader Tino Chrupalla voiced a defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The unusual split comes at a time when mainstream politicians have accused the anti-immigration AfD of acting as stooges for the Kremlin and even spying for Russia. The row has also erupted in a year in which the AfD is flying high, often polling above the record 20 percent it
Ecuadorans are today to vote on whether to allow the return of foreign military bases and the drafting of a new constitution that could give the country’s president more power. Voters are to decide on the presence of foreign military bases, which have been banned on Ecuadoran soil since 2008. A “yes” vote would likely bring the return of the US military to the Manta air base on the Pacific coast — once a hub for US anti-drug operations. Other questions concern ending public funding for political parties, reducing the number of lawmakers and creating an elected body that would
The latest batch from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s e-mails illustrates the extraordinary scope of his contacts with powerful people, ranging from a top Trump adviser to Britain’s ex-prince Andrew. The US House of Representatives is expected to vote this week on trying to force release of evidence gathered on Epstein by law enforcement over the years — including the identities of the men suspected of participating in his alleged sex trafficking ring. However, a slew of e-mails released this week have already opened new windows to the extent of Epstein’s network. These include multiple references to US President Donald
CHARGES: The former president, who maintains his innocence, was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison for a failed coup bid, as well as an assassination plot Far-right former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro is running out of options to avoid prison, after judges on Friday rejected his appeal against a 27-year sentence for a botched coup bid. Bolsonaro lost the 2022 elections and was convicted in September for his efforts to prevent Brazlian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking power after the polls. Prosecutors said the scheme — which included plans to assassinate Lula and a top Brazilian Supreme Court judge — failed only due to a lack of support from military top brass. A panel of Supreme Court judges weighing Bolsonaro’s appeal all voted to uphold
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