■ China
Space launch set for Oct. 15
China's first manned space flight is provisionally planned for Oct. 15 and will be shown live on television, an official with CCTV said yesterday, but a mission spokesman dismissed the comment as hearsay. "The provisional plan is for Oct. 15," said the TV official, who declined to give his name. "The relevant department announced that it would be launched in mid-October. We have plans to cover the launch of Shenzhou V live," he said, referring to the spacecraft. "But the exact time has not been fixed yet." China is aiming to become the third country to send a man into space after the former Soviet Union and the US.
■ Japan
Call for talks to resume
Japan and South Korea said yesterday that six-way talks aimed at solving the North Korean nuclear crisis must resume despite Pyongyang's objections to Tokyo's participation. "North Korea has been saying various things. Rather than being provoked by that, we must continue negotiations based on the six-way talks," Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, according to a Japanese official. Roh agreed it was important to continue the talks, the official said of the meeting on the sidelines of a summit of Southeast Asian leaders.
■ Australia
Lottery won by mistake
An Australian woman who has played the same lottery numbers for the past 31 years became a millionaire yesterday by selecting the winning numbers by mistake. The woman, aged in her 60s and married, said she did not believe the lotto official who called her with the good news that she had scooped A$1 million (US$695,000). Knowing the picks she has played since 1972 by heart, the woman automatically thought her numbers had not come up. "I did not believe him and went and checked my numbers carefully, only to see that I had all the winning ones," she said. Despite her lavish winnings she said re-carpeting her house was her priority while she also pledged to remain loyal to her employer.
■ China
Boy steals police car
A 9-year-old schoolboy chased pedestrians in a stolen police car in northern China, driving along the pavement with the flashing light on, a news report said yesterday. The boy used the loud speaker on the roof of the car to shout "Out of the way or I'll hit you" as he sped through the streets of Shenyang in Liaoning Province, according to the Hong Kong edition of the China Daily. Pedestrians and stall holders were sent scurrying for cover by the schoolboy, who was the son of a local court official who was drunk and asleep in the back of the police car last Sunday, the newspaper said.
■ Thailand
Fire destroys police records
A fire in an annex to Thailand's parliament yesterday destroyed police documents about the unexplained death of a former legislator, police said. About 2,000 pages of documents from the investigation into the 1999 death of Hangthong Thammawattana -- including autopsy reports and interrogation records -- were destroyed, said police Colonel Pratchai Chaichansukkij. No injuries were reported in the fire, which police say could have been caused by arson. The loss of documents would delay the investigation but not stop it because "it's common practice for police to have copies," Pratchai said.
■ Germany
Husbands get creche
German women fed up with their partners' grumbling on weekend shopping trips can now dump them at a special kindergarten for men offering beer and entertainment. The women are issued a receipt for their partners when they hand them in and can pick them up again when they return. The men are given a name badge on arrival and for 10 euros (US$11.80) they get two beers, a hot meal, televised football and games. Alexander Stein, manager of the Nox Bar in Hamburg, said the idea for the Saturday afternoon men's creche came from a female customer who thought it would be a good way of getting rid of her husband so she could shop in peace.
■ United States
Senator's wife abducted
The wife of a US senator was kidnapped at knifepoint Tuesday from her home and forced to withdraw money from her bank, broadcast reports said. The woman, the wife of Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, was released unharmed after she was abducted from her home in McLean, Virginia, a suburb of Washington. The abductors were waiting inside her home when the senator's wife arrived about 9:30am. They demanded cash, and when she didn't have what they wanted, they drove her to the local Wachovia bank, where one of the kidnappers forced her to withdraw an undisclosed amount of cash while the other one waited in the car.
■ Iran
Murder trial starts
An Iranian intelligence agent accused of beating a photojournalist to death spent hours interrogating his victim alone before she died, a top prosecutor said at the first day of trial Tuesday. Mohammad Reza Aghdam Ahmadi pleaded innocent to murdering journalist Zahra Kazemi, who suffered fatal head injuries during 77 hours of interrogation after her June 23 detention. She died in a hospital on July 10. Iran's Intelligence Ministry came to the support of its agent hours after the trial, accusing hard-line judiciary officials in a statement of being responsible for the photojournalist's death. Kazemi, 54, who held Canadian and Iranian citizenship, was detained while taking photos outside the Evin prison north of Tehran during student-led protests.
■ Canada
SARS report urges reform
Canada needs a national health agency to oversee a coordinated response to health crises such as the SARS outbreak this year, a government-commissioned report said. The report released Tuesday criticized poor coordination among federal, provincial and local health officials that contributed to the crisis that claimed 44 lives in Canada's largest city. In the 234-page report ordered by federal Health Minister Anne McLellan, the investigation noted that many of its recommendations were similar to those in a 1993 Canadian report on emerging diseases that never were implemented.
■ United States
Iraq airport to stay closed
The US has not yet opened Baghdad International Airport to commercial flights because a large number of shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles from former leader Saddam Hussein's arsenal are missing, the New York Times reported yesterday, citing US officials. Missiles have been fired at planes several times in recent weeks, keeping fears alive that a commercial plane will be targeted, one official said.
■ United States
Tiger didn't attack, man says
A man who raised a tiger in his New York apartment limped out of a courthouse on a badly bitten leg, wishing he could be reunited with his wild pet. "I'd love to see my tiger," Antoine Yates said of the 180kg cat, Ming, as he left state court on Tuesday, released without bail. "He didn't really attack me. He got confused and I got caught in the crossfire." Yates, 31, faces a charge of reckless endangerment and two counts of possession of a wild animal. Conviction for reckless endangerment carries a sentence of up to seven years.
■ South Africa
Burundi groups strike deal
The largest rebel group in Burundi struck a deal with the government early Wednesday morning that brings the country's civil war one step closer to an end, officials said. South African President Thabo Mbeki presided over a signing ceremony in Pretoria. Mbeki said his Burundian counterpart and the rebel Forces for Defence of Democracy (FDD) had reached an "important" agreement on political and military issues that paved the way for implementation of a ceasefire. Burundian President Domitien Ndayizeye and FDD leader Jean-Pierre Nkurunziza said they would immediately end hostilities.
■ United States
Towel left in stomach
A man whose doctors left a surgical towel in his abdomen after he underwent surgery for an aortic aneurysm was awarded US$455,000 in damages. William Barlow, 62, developed a blood infection and fever after leaving the Veteran's Administration (VA) hospital in Miami in December 2000, according to a summary of the case released by the judge on Tuesday. The 41cm by 71cm towel was removed four months later. The VA conceded fault on the forgotten towel but tried to limit the damage award, citing Barlow's poor health and obesity. A message left with the government's attorney was not returned.
■ United Kingdom
Music boosts eating
Bach and Mozart rather than Britney Spears or Michael Jackson are music to diners' ears, according to a study published in Britain on Tuesday. Classical music in general inspires more spending in restaurants than the catchy tunes of pop music according to the study, carried out by researchers at Leicester university in central England. Researchers found that the soothing sounds of classical music encouraged people to spend 34 euros (US$40) per meal on average, as opposed to the 31 euros (US$36) paid by diners eating to the backbeat of pop music. The bill comes to 30 euros (US$35) a head when people eat in a restaurant where there is no music at all.
■ United Kingdom
Shoppers steal Beckhams
Celebrity worship reached new heights on Tuesday as British supermarket Tesco said it was boosting in-store security to protect cardboard cutouts of English football superstar David Beckham. Tesco will introduce a security alarm and a 24-hour camera surveillance system to prevent thieves from stealing the footballer's lifesize doubles, designed to promote his new autobiography My Side, a supermarket spokesman said. Five hundred cardboard cutouts were sent to Tesco supermarkets throughout Britain for the sale of Beckham's book, but several have already been stolen by thieves.
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
A US federal judge on Tuesday ordered US President Donald Trump’s administration to halt efforts to shut down Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Networks, the news broadcasts of which are funded by the government to export US values to the world. US District Judge Royce Lamberth, who is overseeing six lawsuits from employees and contractors affected by the shutdown of the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), ordered the administration to “take all necessary steps” to restore employees and contractors to their positions and resume radio, television and online news broadcasts. USAGM placed more than 1,000
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