Thu, Aug 14, 2003 page7

• World News Quick Take

  • AGENCIES
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  ■ New Zealand

  Praying doctor in hot water

  A doctor who used prayer and alternative medicine exploited a patient for money and was guilty of professional misconduct, the Medical Practitioners' Disciplinary Tribunal found. Dr. Richard Gorringe of the North Island city of Hamilton could be banned from practising medicine as a result. One patient told the tribunal that Gorringe raised his hands over her and said, "Lord God Almighty, strike the bacteria from this woman's body." He said the prayer had killed a rare bug she had and then charged her for medicine to remove the "dead" bug from her system. Gorringe said in yesterday's New Zealand Herald that he would appeal the finding and said experts who gave evidence at the hearing did not understand his treatment.

  ■ Cambodia

  King says sorry for criticism

  King Norodom Sihanouk has apologized to his son after heavily criticizing him and his party for its humiliating loss in last month's general election. Prime Minister Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party won the July 27 polls and is expected to take 73 of the 123 seats in the National Assembly when official results are announced next month. The royalist FUNCINPEC party led by Sihanouk's son, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, came in third and is projected to win 26 seats, down from 43 in the last elections.

  ■ Vietnam

  Miss Vietnam missing

  The sensational mystery of missing Miss Vietnam took a new twist yesterday when local media reported she had contacted them to say she was not kidnapped, but on holiday recovering from exam stress. The disappearance of Vietnam's first-ever Miss World contender has captivated the communist country, which only last year officially recognized the national beauty pageant. At least five official newspapers featured the story with competing explanations as to where the beauty queen might be and why. Pham Thi Mai Phuong, 18, disappeared last week and her family said they believed she was kidnapped.

  ■ Japan

  `Loanshark king' busted

  Japanese police have arrested the country's "loan shark king" in a crackdown on the rapidly expanding illegal moneylending industry. Police suspect that Susumu Kajiyama is behind a network of more than 1,000 moneylending rings that have channelled billions of yen into the coffers of the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's most powerful underworld organization. Hours after Kajiyama, 53, turned himself in to police in Tokyo, dozens of riot police raided the headquarters of Goryo-kai, a smaller gang whose boss is suspected of helping Mr Kajiyama earn ¥10 billion (US$85 billion) over three years for their Yamaguchi-gumi bosses.

  ■ Cambodia

  Khmer Rouge files secured

  Thousands of documents alleging atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge have been dispatched to the US, Britain and France, after a series of security threats, officials said yesterday. Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) said 70 percent of evidence collated by the center for use in the pending genocide trial was now safely secured in those countries. He said the Cambodian government had warned him that threats from members of the former Khmer Rouge had been received and the documents were sent to the United States, Britain and France for safe keeping.

  ■ Canada

  Ottawa implements Kyoto

  Canada announced its first steps toward implementing the Kyoto Protocol, pledging Tuesday to spend C$1 billion (US$720 million) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Initial measures of an overall plan first made public last year include incentives for people and businesses to reduce their dependence on energy. The package is expected to cut Canada's emissions by up to 20 megatons a year, far short of the Kyoto treaty's requirement of a 240-megaton reduction by 2010. Another series of more comprehensive measures -- including binding deals with large industrial emitters and tough fuel-efficiency standards for new cars -- are under negotiation.

  ■ European union

  Greenhouse gases targeted

  The European Commission on Tuesday unveiled tough proposals to cut emissions of particularly potent greenhouse gases by a quarter before 2010, in the fight against global warming. To meet commitments under the Kyoto protocol, the commission proposed phasing out fluorinated greenhouse gases found in everyday objects, including fridges, fire extinguishers, air conditioning units, double glazed windows, running shoes, aerosols and car tires. The three gases targeted have a "high global warming potential because they trap more heat and last longer [than chlorofluorocarbons] in the atmosphere," the commission said.

  ■ Germany

  Another brick in the wall

  They spent 40 years trying to tear it it down, but a German artist now wants to rebuild the entire Berlin Wall for its 45th anniversary in 2006, coinciding with the city holding the football World Cup. Christof Blaesius, an events manager based in Cologne, has been working for three years to raise the 25 million euros he says it will take to rebuild a 46km plastic copy of the Berlin Wall across the city. Blaesius said: "The World Cup shows all nations can communicate and cooperate with each other while the wall separates. Today there are still several divided nations ... and we want to remind people of both the past and the future in a meaningful way."

  ■ Argentina

  Prison guards arrested

  Prison guards who joined inmates in carrying out robberies and divvying up the take have been arrested. Eighteen guards -- including some high-ranking guards and officials at the Buenos Aires prison Caseros, which has since been torn down -- were arrested in countrywide raids. The investigation began five years ago after a holdup carried out by such an inmate-guard band resulted in the shooting death of a policeman in Buenos Aires. Law enforcement was alerted to the prison connection when they discovered one of the participants in that crime was incarcerated at the time.

  ■ United states

  Marcos case nears trial

  A long-stalled lawsuit seeking to recover U$40 million in assets of the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos could go to trial by the end of the year in Honolulu. US District Judge Manuel Real last week ruled against a motion seeking to have the Philippine government dismissed from the case and set a pretrial conference date for September. The money is being sought to begin paying thousands of Filipinos who won a now-US$3.1 billion judgment against the Marcoses for human rights abuses, but haven't seen a penny of it.

  ■ Iran

  Leader admits reform failed

  Iranian President Mohammad Khatami acknowledged yesterday that his attempts to introduce democratic reform have largely failed, but he said he would keep pushing for change. Khatami was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying: "Recently it has been difficult for me to speak because many of my opinions, my beliefs and my promises which I expressed truthfully and sincerely and were supported by the people, have not been fulfilled." Addressing hundreds of young people at a conference for non-governmental organizations, Khatami said he still believed in the values he had campaigned on and gave no indication he would resign.

  ■ United States

  Arabic mag boosts US image

  The US State Department has launched an Arabic language magazine dedicated not to promoting American policies but focused instead on US culture and values in an effort to boost the image of the US among young people in Arabic countries. The August issue of the glossy magazine, called hi, is full of images of famous Americans and sells for about US$2 in more than a dozen Arabic countries. The publication is marketed toward people 18 to 35 and addresses topics ranging from entertainment and education to technology, careers, health and life in the US for Arabs and Arab Americans.

  ■ Argentina

  Amnesty laws annulled

  Argentine lawmakers voted to annul a pair of 1980s laws that ended the prosecution of human rights abuses stemming from the military dictatorship era. The vote came hours after thousands of marchers demanded Congress repeal the amnesty laws. By a show of hands, the 186 members present in the lower House of Deputies supported the annulments and sent the measure to the Senate for final congressional debate. The Senate will begin debate on Wednesday. Fireworks lit the night sky outside the legislative palace, where dozens of human rights activists cheered raucously after the vote.

  ■ Cuba

  Castro celebrates birthday

  Fidel Castro, the world's longest ruling head of government, turned 77 yesterday after a year that saw his communist nation grow more isolated as he lashed out at his European allies and jailed some of his most vocal critics. But despite recent rumors that he was in poor health, the bearded revolutionary has shown in recent weeks he still has the energy to give his traditional hours-long speeches and keep up a work schedule that would exhaust a much younger man. No official celebrations of the leader's birthday were announced.

  ■ United Kingdom

  No `Paki,' we're British

  A British man has become the first in the country to be given an antisocial behavior order banning him from using the racist term "Paki." Michael Guilfoyle, 31, of Ardwick, Manchester, was made the subject of the order after he made a series of abusive phone calls to staff at his local council over his application to be rehoused. If he utters the word again in public, or on the phone to council staff, he could face up to five years in jail. One officer was called a "Paki bitch" and another was branded a "homo." The order also prevents him from acting antisocially, or using threatening, insulting, abusive or homophobic language in public.
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