FRANCE
Cruise firm’s fuel sparks trial
The US captain of a massive cruise ship yesterday faced trial in Marseille, accused of using fuel with sulphur levels above European limits as the city grapples with the polluting effect of its drive to increase boat tourism. The Azura is one of the largest in a fleet operated by P&O Cruises, whose parent company, Carnival, is also being charged. A spot check onboard the Azura in March found that it was burning bunker fuel containing 1.68 percent sulphur, above the 1.5 percent limit. The captain faces up to one year in prison and a 200,000 euro (US$229,761) fine.
UNITED KINGDOM
Drugs on campus is ‘insane’
Buckingham University plans to take the unprecedented step of asking incoming students to sign a contract pledging that they will not take drugs on campus in an attempt to become the nation’s first “drug free” campus. The school already allows police sniffer dogs on campus to deter drug use. Vice chancellor Sir Anthony Seldon announced the plans in a column in the Daily Mail, saying that it is “insane” to allow the taking of drugs on university campuses to continue. Buckingham would not focus on expulsion, but instead adopt a compassionate policy to deter drug taking, he said.
UNITED STATES
Coaches charged after brawl
Two Illinois youth football coaches are facing felony charges after police say a fight broke out between coaches and parents following a game and one coach displayed a gun. Indiana residents Terrance Morris, 43, and Devorah Clark, 39, were being held on Sunday in the Winnebago County Jail. Police said that Morris and Clark are coaches for the Calumet City Thunderbolts, which played the Rockford Renegades in Rockford on Saturday afternoon.
UNITED STATES
Limo crash kills newlyweds
Two pairs of newlyweds, four sisters from one family and two brothers from another, were among the 20 victims when a stretch limousine taking passengers to a surprise birthday party crashed in upstate New York. Erin and Shane McGowan were just starting a life together after five months of marriage, the Times Union of Rochester reported. The McGowan’s were a part of a party of 17 young adults who climbed into a stretch limousine to celebrate friend Amy Steenburg’s 30th birthday, the paper and other media reported. The limo crashed into an unoccupied parked car and hit two pedestrians, killing them, before coming to a rest in a shallow ravine, officials said.
UNITED STATES
Apple denies backdoor leak
Apple’s top security officer on Sunday told Congress that it had found no sign of suspicious transmissions or other evidence that it had been penetrated in a sophisticated attack on its supply chain. Apple vice president for information security George Stathakopoulos wrote in a letter to the Senate and House of Representatives commerce committees that the company had repeatedly investigated and found no evidence for the main points in a Bloomberg Businessweek article published on Thursday, including that chips inside servers sold to Apple by Super Micro Computer Inc allowed for backdoor transmissions to China. “Apple’s proprietary security tools are continuously scanning for precisely this kind of outbound traffic, as it indicates the existence of malware, or other malicious activity. Nothing was ever found,” he wrote.
AUSTRALIA
DUI costs marine his job
The head of a contingent of US Marines based in Darwin was relieved of his command after police caught him driving under the influence (DUI), US Marine Corps First Lieutenant Jose Uriarte said yesterday. Colonel James Schnelle was relieved of his duties “due to a loss of trust and confidence” immediately after reporting the Sept. 30 incident to superiors, the spokesman told reporters. Schnelle had been drinking at an Irish-themed bar until the early hours when he was pulled over and breath-tested, Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) said. Police found him over the legal alcohol limit and he walked the 3.4km home, ABC said. While he pled guilty in court, he was not convicted, but fined A$500 (US$353), it said.
BANGLADESH
Controversial law signed
President Abdul Hamid yesterday signed into law a controversial act that local media organizations fear could cripple press freedom and curb free speech. “The president has given his assent to the Digital Security Act today, making it law,” presidential press secretary Joynal Abedin said. Parliament passed the act on Sept. 19, combining the colonial-era Official Secrets Act with tough new provisions such as allowing police to arrest individuals without a warrant.
PAKISTAN
Court hears Christian’s plea
The Supreme Court yesterday began hearing the final appeal of a Christian mother on death row for blasphemy, a case which could see her become the first to be executed under the controversial laws. Asia Bibi has been on death row since 2010. The allegations against her date to 2009, when she was working in a field and was asked to fetch water. Muslim women she was working with allegedly objected, saying that as a non-Muslim she was unfit to touch the water bowl. The women went to a cleric and accused her of blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammed.
SRI LANKA
Lawmaker arrested, bailed
A Tamil lawmaker who called for the return of the outlawed Tamil Tiger rebels because she said they were better at enforcing law and order than the police was arrested yesterday. In a speech earlier this year, Vijayakala Maheswaran, who represents Jaffna, said there was less violence against women and children in areas controlled by the Tigers before they were crushed in May 2009. She was released on half a million rupee (US$2,900) bail and a hearing was scheduled for Dec. 7.
CAMBODIA
Hun Sen defies EU warning
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Sunday took a defiant stance for national sovereignty following the EU’s announcement on Friday that it would ramp up trade pressure on Phnom Penh over human rights concerns. “I say it again and again: Don’t exchange national sovereignty with aid, don’t exchange the peace of the country with aid,” he told Cambodians studying in Tokyo.
INDIA
Actress files complaint
Actress Tanushree Dutta, whose allegations of sexual harassment by a Bollywood star is sparking a string of similar #MeToo claims has filed a formal complaint, police said on Sunday. She first alleged in 2008 that Nana Patekar behaved inappropriately toward her during the making of a film, but she did not make a formal complaint. Dutta repeated the allegations in a recent interview and on Saturday went to the police to officially report the sexual harassment claims.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia