■ China
Space flight still secret
China yesterday announced plans to launch a satellite to monitor the Earth but made no mention of its top-secret first manned space flight expected any day now. State television said China would launch a satellite at the end of next year in line with a Sino-European surveying project. "The testing of the Long March 2 carrier rocket is running smoothly and the launch will be carried out as scheduled," it said, without giving details. China is expected in the next few days to become only the third country to put a person into orbit.
■ Japan
Billions may be pledged
Japan may pledge about US$5 billion over four years to help rebuild postwar Iraq, including nearly US$1 billion in grants in 2004, a major newspaper reported yesterday. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has said Japan should aid efforts to rebuild Iraq's shattered economy and government in the wake of the US-led war. Washington has asked Tokyo to share the burden, and Koizumi is keen on reaching a decision before US President George W. Bush's scheduled visit here in mid-October.
■ Hong Kong
Gangster offers reward
Usually it's the police who offer rewards for information about crimes, but this time it's a jailed gangster. Yip Kai-foon, also known as "The Big Robber" and "The Man with Dog Fangs," wants to pay 500,000 Hong Kong dollars (US$64,000) for help in finding a mystery witness who could clear him in a 1996 shootout with police, his lawyer said yesterday. Yip says a female passer-by saw the gunfight and he'll pay the reward money to anyone who can help locate her -- assuming the information leads to the reversal of his conviction, attorney Andrew Lam said. Lam acknowledged that Yip faced an "uphill task" after being convicted, imprisoned and then losing his appeals.
■ Hong Kong
Father drowned in harbor
A man arrested for murder after his elderly father was strapped into a wheelchair then pushed into Hong Kong's harbor has claimed he did it as an act of mercy, local newspapers reported yesterday. The body of Yam Kong, 84, was found floating in the harbor on Thursday, with plastic cuffs and pieces of silk ribbon and clothing tying him to the wheelchair. Police arrested the man's 46-year-old son on Friday. The father suffered a stroke some time ago and had been wheelchair-bound in a home for the elderly, according to news accounts. The son, who has been identified only by the surname Yam, was still in jail yesterday although he had not yet been charged, police spokeswoman Kaman Chong said.
■ Iraq
N Korea owes millions
In a double-cross between nations US President George W. Bush has labeled parts of an "axis of evil" with Iran, North Korea apparently bilked Saddam's Iraq out of millions of dollars in a missile deal gone sour, according to chief CIA weapons hunter David Kay. In 1999, Saddam's minions sought some clandestine missile help from North Korea, Kay said on Friday. The North Koreans were willing, particularly after Saddam plunked down a US$10 million down payment. A contract was inked. The money was sent. By last year, Pyongyang hadn't delivered and still hasn't. "It's a lesson in negotiating with the North Koreans, as the Iraqis found out the hard way," Kay said.
■ France
Abusive mother jailed
A court Friday ordered a French woman jailed for 15 years over the starvation death of her mentally and physically handicapped daughter, who was born from an incestuous rape. Her husband, Alain Faroult, received a 10-year prison term for negligence that led to the death of 26-year-old Marie Messin. Marie's emaciated body, weighing just 26kg, was found at the family home in the town of Istres. In 1997, Patricia Messin took her daughter out of a special school, and kept her in the family apartment. Marie's condition deteriorated, and she would be violently punished for defecating on herself, the court heard. Messin's lawyer said she saw in Marie as "the image of the rape and incest that she had suffered."
■ France
Schools get tough on flesh
French schools are cracking down on a craze among teenage girls to flash their midriffs and wear skimpy G-strings that peek brazenly out from above their low-cut trousers. A number of head teachers in France -- where school uniforms are practically unheard of -- have slapped a ban on showing off thongs and stomachs, the French daily Le Parisien said. "In the eyes of boys, thongs reduce girls to bottoms," former junior education minister Segolene Royal said. "These adolescents are, sadly, a reflection of the society they are sold -- a society where women's bodies are shown off like vulgar merchandise," she told the newspaper.
■ Ethiopia
Mom tried for testicle crush
An enraged Ethiopian mother of five will be tried for the murder of her husband who died after she crushed his testicles in a fight, police told the state-run Ethiopian News Agency. Police said the man was so embarrassed after the incident that he declined to seek treatment for the injury and died days later. "Following a disagreement over the husband's spending habits, his wife refused to give him his dinner and also decided to sleep alone," said a police spokesman in the western region of Wellega. "The husband was so angered by this affront by his wife that he tried to beat her. In the melee that followed, the wife grabbed and twisted his testicles causing serious damage."
■ Greece
Dogs sterilised for Olympics
Athens, host of the 2004 Olympics, launched a plan to sterilise more than 10,000 stray dogs ahead of the Games in measures condemned by animal rights groups as ill thought-out and insufficient. The city said the 1.8 million euro (US$2.11 million) project, due to be officially unveiled yesterday, would halt the growth of a huge population of stray dogs roaming the streets of the capital before the start of the Olympics. "The sight of thousands of stray animals living without care in the city streets constitutes an insult to us as civilised people," Athens Mayor Dora Bakoyanni said.
■ United Kingdom
Loch walker soldiers on
A charity fund-raiser attempting an underwater marathon beneath the surface of Scotland's Loch Ness, famed for its legendary monster, pressed on with his subaquatic trek after injuring his shoulder falling from a ledge. Lloyd Scott, wearing an old-fashioned deep sea diving suit, is walking a 42km stretch of the loch at a depth of up to 10m to raise money for a children's cancer charity. Sixteen kilometers into his journey he lost touch with his guide rope and fell 5m down a 90m sheer drop, injuring his shoulder.
■ Iraq
Poles find French missiles
Polish troops in Iraq have found four French-built advanced anti-aircraft missiles which were built this year, a Polish Defence Ministry spokesman said on Friday. France strongly denied having sold any such missiles to Iraq for nearly two decades, and said it was impossible that its newest missiles should turn up in Iraq. "Polish troops discovered an ammunition depot on Sept. 29 near the region of Hilla and there were four French-made Roland-type missiles produced this year," Defence Ministry spokesman Eugeniusz Mleczak said. Under a strict trade embargo imposed by the UN, Iraq was barred from importing arms after its invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
■ United states
Records sought on CIA leak
The White House on Friday gave all staff four days to turn over any materials tied to the leak of a covert CIA agent's identity so they can be provided to FBI-led investigators. Investigators also reportedly planned to begin interviewing officials in President George W. Bush's administration, starting with aides cited in news accounts about the controversy. The State Department and Defense Department also confirmed they have been directed to preserve records linked to the widening probe into the disclosure, which took place in July. White House staff have until 5:00pm on Tuesday to hand over copies of all relevant materials, including e-mails, telephone logs and notes.
■ Venezuela
Media watchdog attacked
An explosion shattered windows and destroyed the entrance to the headquarters of Venezuela's state-run media watchdog, hours after regulators seized broadcasting equipment from a 24-hour news station critical of the government, said the institution's director. No one was injured. Alvin Lezama, director of Conatel, said an explosive devise was thrown from a motorcycle passing by the building in Caracas. The blast occurred several hours after media regulators disconnected cables to satellite dishes and seized equipment used to broadcast live reports outside of Globovision's channel studios. Anti-government demonstrators later threw cans of paint and glass bottles at Conatel's headquarters.
■ United states
Dead baby found in shoe box
A 14-year-old girl from St. Paul, Minnesota, who was found to have given birth after she was hospitalized with stomach pains was arrested when paramedics found a dead newborn inside a shoe box at her home. Police said on Friday the girl secretly gave birth at home on Thursday, then strangled the full-term infant with a sock. The medical examiner's office was working to determine the cause of death. ``We got some sense that she was afraid of ... how her family would accept the pregnancy,'' said St. Paul Police Commander Nancy DiPerna.
■ Liberia
Pills didn't help US troops
Nearly one-third of the US troops that recently served in Liberia contracted malaria even though they had been given anti-malarial drugs, a Pentagon health official said on Friday. About 80 of some 200 marines sent ashore to secure Monrovia's port and airport in support of an African peace-keeping force developed the disease. "In a matter of a few weeks we started to see cases of malaria in individuals we thought were adequately protected," the official said. The Defense Department was investigating the reasons, he said.
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
Two Belgian teenagers on Tuesday were charged with wildlife piracy after they were found with thousands of ants packed in test tubes in what Kenyan authorities said was part of a trend in trafficking smaller and lesser-known species. Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, two 19-year-olds who were arrested on April 5 with 5,000 ants at a guest house, appeared distraught during their appearance before a magistrate in Nairobi and were comforted in the courtroom by relatives. They told the magistrate that they were collecting the ants for fun and did not know that it was illegal. In a separate criminal case, Kenyan Dennis
Incumbent Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa on Sunday claimed a runaway victory in the nation’s presidential election, after voters endorsed the young leader’s “iron fist” approach to rampant cartel violence. With more than 90 percent of the votes counted, the National Election Council said Noboa had an unassailable 12-point lead over his leftist rival Luisa Gonzalez. Official results showed Noboa with 56 percent of the vote, against Gonzalez’s 44 percent — a far bigger winning margin than expected after a virtual tie in the first round. Speaking to jubilant supporters in his hometown of Olon, the 37-year-old president claimed a “historic victory.” “A huge hug
A judge in Bangladesh issued an arrest warrant for the British member of parliament and former British economic secretary to the treasury Tulip Siddiq, who is a niece of former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted in August last year in a mass uprising that ended her 15-year rule. The Bangladeshi Anti-Corruption Commission has been investigating allegations against Siddiq that she and her family members, including Hasina, illegally received land in a state-owned township project near Dhaka, the capital. Senior Special Judge of Dhaka Metropolitan Zakir Hossain passed the order on Sunday, after considering charges in three separate cases filed
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