■ Indonesia
Corruption lesson given
Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri was treated to a lecture on corruption yesterday at an early morning mass prayer celebrating Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the Ramadan month of fasting for devout Muslims. Megawati, accompanied by prominent members of her Cabinet and thousands of Indonesians, attended the prayer ceremony to commemorate the Eid al-Fitr festival at the Istiqlal mosque in central Jakarta -- the biggest mosque in Indonesia. The prayer was followed by a sermon delivered by Syafii Maarif, chairman of the Mohammadiah mass Muslim organization. "Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim country, yet it ranks again as one of the world's most corrupt nations," Maarif told the assembly.
■ Thailand
Child-molester gets 42 years
A British man screamed abuse at Thai judges after he was sentenced to 42 years in jail for molesting boys under 15, court officials said yesterday. Robert Errol Woods, 24, was sentenced on Monday after his conviction for engaging in sex with eight Thai boys between August last year and his arrest on Jan. 15. The Bangkok Criminal Court also found him guilty of producing pornographic videos and still pictures of his encounters, which were used as evidence against him. His arrest came after a tip-off from British police in Manchester, where some of the pictures turned up after they were posted on the Internet, according to police.
■ Singapore
Group questions policy
An activist group has asked Singapore's government if it has a policy against events promoting human rights, following a ban on a proposed march yesterday for the International Day Against Violence Against Women. The Think Centre "questions if there are any `internal criteria or policy' instructing the police not to issue permits for events promoting human rights," their statement said. The police cited "law and order concerns" when it turned down three applications from TWC2, a group seeking to improve the conditions of foreign maids in the city-state.
■ China
Rabies on the rise
Rabies cases leapt nearly 63 percent in China in the first nine months of the year as the people's mad affair with pet dogs deepened, the China Daily reported yesterday. Rabies, "mad dog disease" in Chinese, killed 1,297 people up to the end of September, far exceeding the 1,003 deaths the Health Ministry reported for all of last year, the newspaper said. This is the fifth straight year that China has seen a big jump in rabies infections.
■ Australia
Kuwait holds sheep decision
Kuwait will not decide whether to accept 70,000 sheep to be exported from Australia until tests determine if the animals were fed pig meat last week by animal rights activists opposed to the trade, the government said yesterday. The sheep were to be sent by ship to Kuwait last Thursday, but Animal Liberation campaigners claimed they had put pig meat in feeding troughs so the animals would be rejected by Kuwait, a Muslim country which has a strong taboo against pork and anything it touches. Quarantine officials have withheld an export license and sent samples of the sheep feed -- thought to be contaminated with shredded ham -- to be tested by scientists and notified authorities in Kuwait of the situation. The results are due Monday.
■ Russia
Students critical after fire
Moscow doctors were yesterday treating 171 victims of a devastating fire in a university dormitory that killed 36 foreign students a day earlier. Health officials classified 11 of the injured as in critical condition, the Russian news agency Interfax reported. Most of those who died were from China, Bangladesh, Vietnam and African countries, although overall casualties came from 23 countries that send students to the Patrice Lumumba People's Friendship University. The capital's worst fire in 26 years is believed to have been caused by short-circuiting electrical equipment.
■ Ecuador
Ministers resign in drug row
Ecuador's economy chief and five other Cabinet ministers offered their resignations on Monday to help President Lucio Gutierrez reshape his team amid a political scandal over possible links between his government and a suspected drug trafficker. Gutierrez must now decide whether to accept their resignations or ask them to stay as he weathers his toughest political crisis since taking office in January. His administration was shaken earlier this month when El Comercio newspaper reported that his party received a US$30,000 campaign contribution from Cesar Fernandez, a formerly prominent politician who was jailed last month on drug trafficking charges.
■ Norway
Bomb-proof car illegal
Norway's prime minister cannot use his new bomb-proof car despite a threat of attack by al Qaeda because Norway's state road authority says it is too heavy. The vehicle, built by Germany's BMW AG to specifications for leaders of NATO nations, has been parked unused in a garage in Oslo since mid-October. Weighing around 4 tonnes because of armour-plating and bullet-proof windows, the car is 40kg over the limit for registration by Norway's road authorities, a spokesman for Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik said. Making the car light enough for registration had meant cutting down on safety features, he said.
■ Qatar
Veiled woman reads news
For the first time since its establishment in 1996, a veiled female presenter appeared on the Qatar-based television channel al-Jazeera on Monday. Algerian Khadija bin Jinna, who has appeared unveiled on the Arab satellite station, was wearing a bright orange veil as she presented the station's news bulletin. Although al-Jazeera has veiled female employees, non of the presenters had appeared veiled until Monday. Al-Jazeera news editor Ibrahim Hilal said: "Mrs. Khadija decided to put on the veil. It is her decision and we will not stop her. We do not interfere in our presenters' wardrobes."
■ Switzerland
AIDS Muppet makes it big
UNICEF on Monday appointed Kami, an HIV-positive Muppet who appears in a South African version of the world-famous television show Sesame Street, to promote the rights of children affected by AIDS. The yellow, bear-like Muppet will start her new role as a "Champion for Children" in Geneva today by launching a major report by the UN children's fund about African youngsters who have been orphaned by AIDS -- a subject close to her furry heart. In the South African version of the show Kami is a lively five-year-old orphan, whose parents died from AIDS.
■ Iran
Deal struck on Iran's arms
Negotiators from the US and Europe agreed on how to condemn Iran for hiding its nuclear programs while still encouraging it to cooperate with the UN atomic agency. The proposed resolution was weaker than the US had wanted. US officials had hoped that Iran's past nuclear cover-ups would be enough for the UN Security Council to get involved. The council has the power to impose international sanctions. Monday's draft avoids any direct mention of the Security Council, but warns the agency would use "all options at its disposal" -- an allusion to the council. The draft broke days of deadlock at the International Atomic Energy Agency. It was then submitted to the agency's board of governors, who resume meeting today.
■ Australia
Aid agency leaves Iraq
Aid agency Care Australia said yesterday that it is pulling its staff out of Iraq following a weekend attack on its Baghdad office. The agency has withdrawn its six foreign staff and told 70 local workers to stay home after three rocket-propelled grenades were fired at the office, causing minor damage but no injuries. Australian Broadcasting Corp radio reported that Care had received a specific threat from a terror group that called itself the Iraqi Resistance. Care Australia chief Robert Glasser said the attack fortunately occurred at a time when no one was
in the building.
■ United Kingdom
Blair Jr. in security scare
French President Jacques Chirac on Monday triggered a minor security scare at Downing Street when he impulsively showed photographers the charming signed photograph he had just received from three-year-old Leo Blair. On a previous visit Chirac took a shine to Leo. The Blairs therefore gave him a photo of their lad when Chirac arrived. What could be more natural than to show it to the waiting snappers? No. 10 officials froze, but could scarcely snatch the photo back from a head of state. No. 10 later pleaded with editors either not to use the photo or to use it discreetly. This was a security issue -- Leo is no longer a baby and threats are real.
■ United States
Jackson posts Web defense
Michael Jackson has started a Web site telling his side of the story in his child-molestation case, asserting that the allegations are based on a big lie. "As you know, the charges recently directed at me are terribly serious," Jackson said in a six-paragraph statement posted on the site he launched on Monday. "They are, however, predicated on a big lie. This will be shown in court, and we will be able to put this horrible time behind us," he said.
■ United Kingdom
Music for tastier turkeys
British farmers who believe playing soothing music to their turkeys makes them fatter and tastier are being sent "relaxation" CDs in the run-up to Christmas. The National Farmers' Union (NFU) is sending more than 100 farmers CDs with tracks entitled the "dawn chorus", "whale sounds" and "happy turkeys," a spokesman said. "It is well known that a stressed bird is more prone to disease," an NFU spokesman said. "Most of its energy goes into being frightened rather than growing and putting on weight. Many farmers who already play radios in sheds where they keep turkeys also believe the birds taste nicer. The CD is designed to find out what type of music calms birds the most," he added.
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
COMPETITION: The US and Russia make up about 90 percent of the world stockpile and are adding new versions, while China’s nuclear force is steadily rising, SIPRI said Most of the world’s nuclear-armed states continued to modernize their arsenals last year, setting the stage for a new nuclear arms race, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said yesterday. Nuclear powers including the US and Russia — which account for about 90 percent of the world’s stockpile — had spent time last year “upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions,” researchers said. Since the end of the Cold War, old warheads have generally been dismantled quicker than new ones have been deployed, resulting in a decrease in the overall number of warheads. However, SIPRI said that the trend was likely
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki yesterday erupted again with giant ash and smoke plumes after forcing evacuations of villages and flight cancelations, including to and from the resort island of Bali. Several eruptions sent ash up to 5km into the sky on Tuesday evening to yesterday afternoon. An eruption on Tuesday afternoon sent thick, gray clouds 10km into the sky that expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud visible as much as 150km kilometers away. The eruption alert was raised on Tuesday to the highest level and the danger zone where people are recommended to leave was expanded to 8km from the crater. Officers also
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