THAILAND
Kissing record broken
A kiss lasting nearly two-and-a-half days propelled one determined couple to a new record for the world’s longest smooch on Valentine’s Day, organizers in Bangkok said yesterday. Hospital security guard Ekkachai Tiranarat, 44, and 33-year-old housewife Laksana locked lips for 58 hours, 35 minutes and 58 seconds, smashing last year’s Guinness World Record by more than eight hours. The romance of the clinch may have been marred by competition rules requiring contestants to remain on their feet throughout, slurp food and liquids through a straw and even go to the toilet while continuing to press their lips together. The “kissathon” ended shortly before midnight on Valentine’s Day, with the male couple who won last year unable to maintain their smooch, collapsing just two minutes before Ekkachai and Laksana.
SERBIA
Sabotage plot uncovered
Police said they have uncovered a plot to sabotage a government plane while it carries top officials. The police said in a statement released on Thursday that “certain criminal clans” and individuals with access to the government aircraft planned to sabotage the plane during a foreign trip by President Tomislav Nikolic, Prime Minister Ivica Dacic or his first deputy Aleksandar Vucic. The sabotage “would cause limited damage and after takeoff would bring down the plane,” the police statement said. The three top officials continued with their flights. No other details of the alleged plot were given. Dacic used a French-made Falcon government jet for his visit to Ireland on Thursday.
UNITED STATES
App offends Chubby Checker
Rock ’n’ roll legend Chubby Checker is twisting mad over a software application that allowed women to estimate the size of a man’s penis based on his shoe size. The singer, whose real name is Ernest Evans, filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Hewlett-Packard and Palm Inc in federal court in Fort Pierce, Florida, on Tuesday, saying that the app “adversely affects Chubby Checker’s brand and value.” The app, which was called “The Chubby Checker,” was an unauthorized use of Checker’s name and trademark, the lawsuit alleges. “He’s hurt,” Checker’s attorney Willie Gary said. “He worked hard to build his name and reputation over the years.” The app is no longer available. Checker, who is 71 and lives in Pennsylvania, is seeking a half-billion dollars in damages and restitution.
PARAGUAY
Ex-president to do DNA test
Former president Fernando Lugo will have to undergo court-ordered DNA testing, after a judge ruled in favor of a woman who says he fathered her 11-year old son, court officials said on Thursday. Sources said the family court judge in Ciudad del Este has set March 7 as the date for the DNA test. “I am very happy about the decision of the judge, after four years” of wrangling in court, said the child’s mother, Benigna Leguizamon. Lugo, a former Roman Catholic bishop, was ousted from the presidency in June last year. He was impeached by the Senate just months before the end of his four-year term over his handling of a land dispute. Leguizamon claims Lugo fathered the boy during his time as bishop of San Pedro state, where she worked as his house cleaner. Lugo has admitted to fathering two other children from different mothers, and there is at least one more woman in addition to Leguizamon who has claimed that he is the father of her child.
BANGLADESH
Doraemon gets the boot
Japanese manga cartoon Doraemon has been banned from TV screens over fears that youngsters who are hooked on the Hindi-dubbed version are struggling to learn their native Bengali. Bangladeshi Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu told parliament on Thursday that television channels which have been screening Doraemon had been sent official notifications ordering them to take the series off air. “The government doesn’t want children’s educational atmosphere to be hampered by Doraemon,” the minister said. The ban comes after several local dailies called for a ban on the cartoon, worried that Doraemon addicts were speaking Hindi to each other instead of Bengali. Shahriar Alam, a ruling party lawmaker, had last week demanded that television stations should only be allowed to air foreign cartoons if they are dubbed in Bengali.
NICARAGUA
Five hundred say ‘I do’
A public square became an improvised wedding chapel on Thursday for 550 couples who took their marriage vows en masse on Valentine’s Day. Mass weddings have become a tradition in the Nicaraguan capital of Managua since they began a decade ago. Sponsored by the government and a radio station, and broadcast on television, the ceremony in the Plaza Maya featured brides in white dresses and grooms in suits. Bride Lilieth Obando said that the mass ceremony was a big help for couples like her and groom Leoncio Martinez. They had lived together for two years, but did not have the money for a private wedding.
ARGENTINA
Bride marries sister’s killer
A woman tied the knot on Thursday with a man convicted of killing her twin sister. No one from the family of 22-year-old bride Edith Casas attended the civil ceremony in the town of Pico Truncado. Afterward, a group of around 20 people threw rocks and eggs at groom Victor Cingolani, who is serving a 13-year sentence for killing the sister, a fashion model named Johana, in 2010. Cingolani was out on a day pass to get married and escorted by prison guards and riot police. “I want to start a family with Victor because I love him. He is innocent,” the bride said before the ceremony. The wedding had been planned for December, but a judge blocked it, pending a psychiatric evaluation of Edith Casas at the request of her mother. However, Judge Marcelina Orellana ultimately let the nuptials go ahead, ruling there was no evidence that the bride had any psychiatric disorder. The father was disconsolate. “For me, they are both dead. Johana is with God and Edith with the devil,” Valentin Casas said.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in 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
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was