■ New Zealand
PM frisked at Sydney airport
Prime Minister Helen Clark said yesterday she was frisked for explosives by Australian airport security staff late last month -- a revelation that caused major embarrassment for the Australian government. Clark said she was stopped for a security check at Sydney Airport on Oct. 28 while heading to Afghanistan and Iraq to visit New Zealand troops. Clark said she was pulled from a line and scanned with a new explosives-detection device. The check continued even after staffers were told who she was, Clark told New Zealand radio station NewstalkZB.
■ China
Refund assassin executed
China has executed a paid assassin who failed to kill his intended target but murdered the woman who hired him after she demanded a refund. An unnamed Beijing woman hired Li Changjiang and two associates for 100,000 yuan (US$12,080) in 2000 to kill or disfigure her husband's mistress, the official Xinhua news agency reported on yesterday. When Li and his accomplices, Zhang Hongyu and Sun Yanhai, failed to follow through, the woman asked for her money back, but they refused. In September 2000, Li, Zhang and Sun killed the woman and torched her car, Xinhua said. Li was executed on Friday. Sun was sentenced to life imprisonment and Zhang was still at large.
■ Myanmar
Opposition activists released
Myanmar's junta said yesterday it had freed five top opposition members from nearly six months of house arrest, but four others, including National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi, remained in detention. Four NLD members -- Hla Pe, Nyunt Wai, Than Tun and Soe Myint -- were released Sunday while the fifth, Lun Tin, was freed yesterday, a government official said. Aung San Suu Kyi and all eight members of her party's decision-making Central Executive Committee were detained after May 30 clashes between NLD supporters and a pro-junta gang in northern Myanmar. The 58-year-old Nobel peace laureate is confined to her Yangon home, as are NLD chairman Aung Shwe and secretary U Lwin, while the party's vice president, Tin Oo, is in Kalay prison near the Indian border.
■ Afghanistan
Five soldiers die in crash
A US combat helicopter on a nighttime mission crashed outside a US military base near the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday, killing at least five soldiers and injuring seven others. Although no formal announcement has been made, the downed helicopter is presumably a highly classified MH-53 Pave Low, one of the largest and most technologically advanced choppers in the world, used primarily in special operations. "It was an MH-53 transport helicopter. The personnel on board were Army and Air Force," Major Mike Escudie, a spokesman for the US Central Command, said.
■ Hong Kong
Singer banned from the road
A fast-driving Hong Kong pop star with a fleet of luxury cars was banned from the roads for six months yesterday after being convicted of careless driving. Nicholas Tse (謝霆鋒), 22, was also fined 4,000 Hong Kong dollars (US$500) over the incident in which he crashed his US$120,000 Audi A4 into the back of another car while on his way to the airport. Tse was on his way to catch a flight to Malaysia when he crashed into the back of a Mercedes. He was taken to hospital and treated for head and face injuries.
■ United States
WTC subway reopens
More than two years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the subway under the destroyed World Trade Center reopened Sunday. In a ceremony led by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the reopening of the subway service was the first step in the anticipated reconstruction of the area. In a symbolic gesture, the first trip on the provisionally constructed station was taken by the eight subway cars that last left the station in 2001. A few minutes after those cars departed, the station was buried under the rubble of the disintegrating southern twin tower.
■ United States
Bear arms, or else
Residents of the tiny south-central Kansas town of Geuda Springs have passed an ordinance requiring most households to have guns and ammunition. Non-complying residents would be fined US$10 under the ordinance, passed 3-2 earlier this month by city council members, who thought it would help protect the town of 210 people. Those who suffer from physical or mental disabilities, paupers and people who conscientiously oppose firearms would be exempt. Geuda Springs has no local police force; the Sumner County Sheriff's department is responsible for the area. Sheriff Gerald Gilkey said the ordinance makes him concerned for the safety of his officers.
■ United States
Taylor defends Jackson
Actress Elizabeth Taylor said on Sunday that she believes pop star and good friend Michael Jackson is "absolutely innocent" of child molestation charges and will be "vindicated." In a statement, Taylor also criticized the press for behaving "abominably" toward Jackson, who was arrested this week on suspicion of sexually abusing a young boy. "Their whole reaction is that he is guilty. I thought the law was `innocent until proven guilty.' I know he is innocent and I hope they all eat crow," Taylor said of the press.
■ Algeria
Donkey meat sold as beef
A gang of butchers and vets in Algeria has been charged with selling tonnes of donkey meat as beef during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan when food prices rise sharply, state radio said. Authorities believe more than 55 tonnes of donkey meat were sold at knock-down prices at markets in the capital Algiers since August, but most during Ramadan. More than 1,500 donkeys were brought in from around the country and slaughtered in Algiers before vets certified the meat as beef, authorities said. Five butchers, four vets and an abattoir boss were arrested on Saturday.
■ United Kingdom
Gay couples gain rights
Same-sex couples will be given rights denied to heterosexual couples who choose not to marry, under legislation to be unveiled this week. The civil partnership bill will allow gay couples the same rights and responsibilities as married couples, including employment and pension benefits, inheritance and parental rights, recognition for immigration purposes, and exemption from testifying against each other in court. But heterosexual people who chose to cohabit will be denied this, which the opposition Conservatives are warning will prompt fierce clashes. A Department of Trade and Industry spokesman said the distinction was being made because heterosexual couples already had access to legal status through marriage.
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
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
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
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