■ Australia
Corpse-kicking case folds
An Australian soldier accused of kicking a corpse while serving in East Timor was cleared of the charge yesterday as the prosecution case collapsed because witnesses failed to appear in court, officials said. The unidentified Special Air Services soldier had been charged with mistreating a corpse at the village of Suai on Oct. 6, 1999, when an SAS patrol taking West Timorese people to the border was ambushed. The defense department said Saturday the prosecution presented no evidence at the trial and the magistrate returned a finding of not guilty.
■ Malaysia
Comedy gets ministerial nod
The Malaysian government has finally given the nod for cinemas to screen Hollywood comedy Bruce Almighty despite a minister's complaints that it was against Islamic beliefs. The movie was set to debut in cinemas here on Thursday but was postponed after minister for religious affairs, Abdul Hamid Zainal Abidin, said the movie, in which star Jim Carrey is given divine powers and challenged by God to do a better job of running the world, was "not appropriate." "We cannot equate ourself with God almighty even as a joke," he said. But a home ministry official told yesterday's The Star newspaper that the government had given the go-ahead for the movie to be screened.
■ India
Student survives initiation
An Indian student was stripped, paraded naked, stabbed and beaten in a gruesome college initiation ceremony in the the eastern state of West Bengal, it was reported yesterday. "Ragging" or a rite of passage for new students is common in most Indian colleges. First year student Sandipan Bandopadhyay's nightmare began on Tuesday when he was accosted by a group of 20 senior students at the Jalpaiguri Engineering College. They allegedly tied a collar around his neck, forced him to strip and then paraded him naked on campus, New Delhi Television reported. The seniors then stabbed him and beat him with iron rods and bicycle chains. Bandopadhyay survived and managed to escape from campus.
■ Yemen
Beggar has cell phone
A man begging at a mosque in Yemen was exposed as being less destitute than he pretended when his cell phone started ringing at the wrong moment. The Yemeni news agency Saba said the embarrassed man beat a quick retreat after worshippers heard his phone ring inside his bag. There are only about five telephones, both land-lines and cell phones, for every 100 people in Yemen, one of the poorest Arab countries.
■ Vietnam
Adulterer's names published
Fretting over the erosion of traditional values, officials of a city in communist Vietnam are to publicly expose anyone caught having an affair. District police chief Tran Dinh Thich from the central city of Danang said the names of people caught in adulterous acts would be displayed in media. Police and local government will regularly inspect "resting houses," or cheap motels that rent rooms by the hour, to "wipe out the social evils" that have aroused public concern, he was quoted as saying in the Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper. State employees violating the rules will be reported to their offices. Thousands of "resting houses" have sprung up around Vietnam to cater for unmarried couples.
■ Israel
Hezbollah attacks must stop
Israel told the UN on Friday that raids on northern Israel by Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon threatened to stoke regional tensions and undermine Middle East peace efforts. "This latest escalation in Hezbollah attacks confirms that the terrorist organization, and its sponsoring states, continue to seek to destabilize the region, despite Israel's withdrawal from South Lebanon over three years ago," Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman wrote UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. His letter warned Syria and Lebanon that Israel would have "no option but to take the necessary measures to protect its citizens" unless they restrained Hezbollah from further attacks.
■ United States
Flight crew break bones
Two flight attendants suffered broken bones when a Midwest Airlines plane plunged in severe turbulence and they slammed into the cabin roof and floor. The plane, which departed San Francisco on Thursday morning, was forced to make an emergency landing in Denver. It arrived in Milwaukee on Friday afternoon. One attendant broke her leg, while the other's pelvis was broken in several places. Passengers helped them by making a makeshift splint for the leg and collecting pillows and blankets.
■ Germany
Blimp bumps balloon
A fiery collision between a commercial blimp and a hot-air balloon lighted up the skies over this Baltic Sea port overnight, police said Saturday. Spectators in the town square in Rostock watched in horror as the blimp's gondola snagged the top of the balloon, causing the canvas to rip and the balloon to begin to descend. As the balloon captain and his two passengers worked frantically to drop ballast, flames from the hot-air jet ignited the balloon envelope. The 43-year-old balloonist managed to bring his burning craft down to a hard but safe landing in the square in front of Rostock Town Hall, eliciting cheers of relief from onlookers.
■ Germany
Brewers reassure drinkers
German brewers are reassuring thirsty consumers there is no imminent danger of beer running out despite rumors that surging demand in the summer heat has exceeded the supply. "Brewers are working around the clock. Overtime is common, people are working weekends, and breweries are on triple shifts," said Erich Dederichs, managing director of the German Beer Brewers' Association. Bremen-based Becks announced delivery delays earlier this week and several newspapers have run front-page stories forecasting a drought of the nation's favorite drink.
■ United States
Swindler pleads guilty
A Frenchman who appropriated the Rockefeller name and swindled the rich from The Hamptons to Hong Kong out of more than US$1.5 million pleaded guilty on Friday to four counts of grand larceny in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, New York. In a plea agreement, the man, Christopher Rocancourt, 36, admitted that he ingratiated himself among the well-to-do in the Hamptons during the summer of 2000, then conned several residents out of US$188,000. Rocancourt lived the life of a wealthy businessman. He promised acquaintances large loans and easy money if they would give him cash up front.
■ United States
Bush speaks on California
US President George W. Bush edged into California's turbulent recall campaign Friday, saying that movie actor Arnold Schwarzenegger would make a good governor. White House officials have taken pains to stress that Bush will stay out of the recall campaign against Democratic Governor Gray Davis, and Bush asserted that "the people of California will sort all this out ... I think it's interesting ... I'm a follower of American politics," Bush said of the race.
■ United States
Dog kills baby; runs wild
A two-week-old boy was fatally mauled by his family's pit bull terrier, authorities said. The mother left the infant in a swing in a second-floor bedroom and went downstairs to her front door to talk briefly with a neighbor Friday, said police Major Fred Bealefeld III. When she returned, the baby was injured. The boy was pronounced dead at a hospital, said fire department spokesman Kevin Cartwright. The dog apparently left the house after the attack, and when police responded, they found a "large, vicious pit bull" running around the street, Bealefeld said.
■ Australia
Dali-Disney film wins prize
A long-lost seven-minute animation by Salvador Dali and Walt Disney, which took 57 years to complete, has taken the top prize at an Australian film festival. Fragments of the unfinished film Destino along with story boards, sketches and an original score were painstakingly put together by a team assembled by Disney's nephew Roy Disney after they were discovered in the studio's vaults. Disney now hopes that Destino, which fended off almost 90 entries to take the Melbourne International Film Festival's Grand Prix for Best Short Film late on Friday, will be considered for an Academy Award nomination, and it is looking at ways of releasing the animation commercially. "If you saw it, you'd say this is what I'd imagine Dali paintings to look like if they came to life," said a Disney executive.
■ United States
Elderly woman beaten
An aide in an Arkansas nursing home allegedly beat an 81-year-old woman with brass knuckles because she had been "disrespectful," police said on Friday. The victim, Willie Mae Ryan, was in critical condition at a hospital near the nursing home in Fordyce, a small town about 110km south of Little Rock, they said. An affidavit filed by sheriff's detectives charged that Ryan was beaten on July 30 in her room at the Dallas County Nursing Home by Gayla Wilson, 44, who used brass knuckles.
■ South Africa
AIDS policy reversed
The South African health minister reversed the government's long-standing AIDS policy yesterday by announcing her support for the use of anti-retroviral drugs in public hospitals. The statement by Manto Tshabalala-Msimang is expected to bring cabinet approval for a phased introduction of the drugs. South Africa has the world's highest number of AIDS cases, estimated at nearly 5 million, one in nine of the population, and the government's reluctance to approve anti-retrovirals has attracted considerable criticism. Tshabalala-Msimang was jeered at a national AIDS conference earlier this week, and activist groups have conducted civil disobedience campaigns to press for the drugs to be made available to all in need.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
Africa has established the continent’s first space agency to boost Earth observation and data sharing at a time when a more hostile global context is limiting the availability of climate and weather information. The African Space Agency opened its doors last month under the umbrella of the African Union and is headquartered in Cairo. The new organization, which is still being set up and hiring people in key positions, is to coordinate existing national space programs. It aims to improve the continent’s space infrastructure by launching satellites, setting up weather stations and making sure data can be shared across
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