CANADA
MP downed by tight pants
Opposition MP Pat Martin on Thursday offered up one of the most original excuses ever heard for hurriedly running out of the House of Commons during a vote: His new cheap pair of underpants was too tight. Martin, of the New Democratic Party, bolted as MPs began to rise one by one to vote. He later blamed his departure on an unwise purchase at a local store. “They had men’s underwear on for half price and I bought a bunch that was clearly too small for me. I find it difficult to sit for any length of time,” he told the chamber to guffaws and applause from fellow legislators. He did return in time to cast his vote.
UNITED STATES
Second-warmest January
Last month was the second-warmest January on record globally, behind 2007, with temperatures 0.77°C above the average for the 20th century, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. Meteorologists calculated that temperatures last month in the US was 1.6°C warmer than normal, making it the 24th warmest January since 1880, even though there were record snowfalls in parts of the US northeast. China had its warmest January since it started keeping records in 1961, with last month 1.9°C warmer than normal. Some areas in southern Siberia and far eastern Russia were more than 5°C warmer than normal for January. Parts of Norway were 5°C to 7°C warmer than normal, while eastern Austria was 3.8°C warmer than normal. Northern Australia, eastern Canada and parts of southern and eastern US were cooler than normal, but not too much cooler.
UNITED STATES
Giulani softens Obama jab
It may be as close as Rudy Giuliani will come to a retraction. The former New York City mayor called Bloomberg Politics’ With All Due Respect on Thursday to try and walk back comments he made a day earlier at New York’s 21 Club where he said: “I do not believe, and I know this is a horrible thing to say, but I do not believe that the president loves America.” When pressed over whether he stood by his remarks about Obama’s love of the country, Giuliani softened his tone. “Well actually, if I could express it more clearly, what I mean is he doesn’t express it,” Giuliani said. “I shouldn’t say that the president does or does not love anything. I don’t know, I’m not a psychiatrist, and he doesn’t have one and he doesn’t need one.” However, he added that Obama “seeks to criticize [the US], more than uplift it, and doesn’t get the notion of American exceptionalism.”
COLOMBIA
US missionary released
A judge on Thursday said there was not enough evidence to keep a US missionary jailed after he was arrested over suspected links to Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas. Russell Martin Stendal, 59, a Christian missionary who is a longtime resident of Colombia, was detained on Wednesday at police headquarters in Bogota. He turned himself in after learning of his arrest warrant. Prosecutors said they had been investigating Stendal over suspicions that he provided logistical support to the FARC, but a judge on Thursday ruled that the case against Stendal was not currently sufficient to warrant his detention, and ordered his release. An official in the prosecutors’ office had earlier said that Stendal helped set up secret stations to care for wounded and sick fighters, and a police report said he was accused of providing “electronic and communications” support to the group.
INDIA
Corporate spy arrests made
Police yesterday said they have arrested six people, including a senior journalist, on charges of stealing top-secret documents from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and selling them on to energy companies. The arrests follow a major police sting operation to trap those responsible for taking the secret government documents, which police said were sold to energy companies and consultancies. The men, who also include two government employees, are alleged to have used duplicate keys and forged identity cards to gain access to the ministry at night and photocopy documents related to high-value bids and pricing policies. Police did not name the companies involved.
THAILAND
Law regulates surrogacies
Parliament has passed a law that bans foreigners from seeking surrogacy services to end a “rent-a-womb” industry that made the kingdom a top destination for fertility tourism. The law stipulates that surrogate mothers must be Thai and over 25. “Thailand and its women’s uteruses will no longer be a hub” for surrogacy, National Legislative Assembly member Wallop Tungkananurak said. Under the new law, only Thai couples or those where at least one partner comes from kingdom will be eligible to use surrogates. They will have to prove that they are unable to bear children and have no relatives to act as surrogates on their behalf.
TURKEY
Ankara still eyes China deal
Minister of National Defense Ismet Yilmaz on Thursday said the country does not plan to integrate a new missile defense system with NATO infrastructure and officials said a US$3.4 billion deal with China was still under consideration. The government chose China Precision Machinery Import and Export Corp as a preferred bidder in 2013, prompting Western concern about security and the compatibility of the weaponry with NATO systems. Yilmaz, in a written response to a parliamentary question, indicated Ankara planned to go ahead with the Chinese system, saying no new offers received. However, other government officials later made clear that did not mean a final decision had yet been reached.
JAPAN
Red Army member arrested
A member of the Red Army guerrilla group, who was released from prison in exchange for hostages held in a 1977 plane hijacking, was arrested yesterday when he arrived at Narita International Airport. Tsutomu Shirosaki, 67, was deported from the US after serving a prison term, public broadcaster NHK said. He is wanted on suspicion of attempting to set fire to a hotel room in Jakarta in 1986 in an attempt to destroy evidence related to mortar attacks on the US and Japanese embassies in Indonesia.
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