■ South Korea
Scientists saved in Antarctic
A South Korean scientist
was killed in Antarctica and four were rescued following a freezing swim to shore after their boat capsized in rough waters near their country's polar research station, officials said yesterday. The drama began when three scientists went missing on Sunday as they were returning to South Korea's polar research base on King George Island after seeing off 24 colleagues heading home to Seoul, officials said. A second vessel carrying five people left to search for them and also disappeared. A Russian patrol then found the group that had set out to rescue
the first team, on another nearby island. The fifth person in that group died -- it was not clear how.
■ Cambodia
`Gasoline boy' returns home
A boy, who was used to pay for three liters of motorbike gasoline by an uncle who had forgotten his wallet, was finally re-united with his family three months later when another uncle claimed him, police said yesterday. Three months ago Dy, 9, was on a trip with his uncle to visit his mother in central Cambodia, said police, but when the uncle filled up his motorbike with gas he realized he had forgotten his wallet. He then convinced gasoline seller Chem Thy, 70, to accept his nephew as collateral while he went to fetch money. Police said the uncle never returned and the woman decided to raise Dy as her own grandson, but then another uncle returned to claim him.
■ Hong Kong
Girl, 11, jumps to her death
An 11-year-old schoolgirl jumped to her death from her family's 11th floor apartment during a row over homework, police said yesterday. Tai Suk-wah is the fourth student to commit suicide within a month in Hong Kong, raising concerns over the pressure school-children in the territory are under. She was taken unconscious to hospital where she was declared dead, a police spokesman said. Twelve schoolchildren killed themselves in the last school year and five have so far killed themselves this academic year.
■ China
Woman strips for electricity
A female customer stripped naked in front of staff at a power company in Jilin Province to force them to reconnect her electricity supply, a Hong Kong news-paper reported yesterday. The power company cut off the woman's power over a 13,000 yuan (US$1,570) debt and refused to reconnect her until she paid up, the South China Morning Post reported. She stripped off in front of staff at the com-pany's offices. Staff called police who persuaded the woman to get dressed. As soon as police left, staff proceeded to reconnect her supply without payment, the newspaper said.
■ Singapore
Family welcomes bats
A Singapore home sheltering a couple, their two daughters and more than 40 bats is turning into an excursion spot in the city state. Every morning the bats fly in through the front door, zip up three flights of stairs to the master bedroom and exit from the windows, just to hang upside down from the eaves, The Straits Times reported yesterday. Twelve hours later, they fly back
and exit through the main door. Albert and Regina Davamoni, both teachers, said the routine has been going on for years starting with only four bats. Elementary-school students often visit the house, which is also home to 50 birds and a rabbit.
■ Iran
European tourists kidnapped
Three European tourists have been kidnapped in a southeastern province of Iran plagued by rampant drug smuggling, western and Iranian officials said on Monday. The two Germans and an Irish citizen were on a cycling trip in the Sistan-Baluchistan province. It appeared the kidnappers had no political motive and were seeking a large ransom for the release of the tourists, officials said. The hostages were apparently taken by the same bandit groups that kidnapped three Spanish and an Italian tourist in 1999. An Iranian official said that the group Schiruk was demanding a 5 million euro (US$6.1 million) ransom.
■ Canada
Theater collapses, kills one
A historic theater in downtown Toronto collapsed while undergoing renovation, killing one person. Another person was believed still to be trapped under rubble after two others believed missing were found safe outside the building, authorities here said on Monday. Fire service officials said one adult had been pronounced dead at the scene while 14 victims, including three children, had been transported to different city hospitals. A number of youngsters were next door at the Yorkville English Academy, a school teaching English to adults, when the wall of the vintage Uptown Theatre -- built in 1920 -- collapsed on top of the academy.
■ United States
Arnie sued for libel
A woman who alleged sexual harassment by Arnold Schwarzenegger filed a libel lawsuit against the governor, saying his staff falsely suggested in an e-mail that she was a convicted felon. Rhonda Miller, who alleges the actor groped her when she was working as a stunt woman, says she has never been arrested. Within hours of her groping allegations being made public on Oct. 7, the Schwarzenegger campaign sent an e-mail to reporters directing them to the Los Angeles Superior Court Web site and instructing them to type in "Rhonda Miller." That produced court records for a woman with a long criminal record.
■ United States
Encephalitis research aided
A US$27 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will go toward combating Japanese encephalitis, which affects mostly children in Southeast Asia. The money will fund disease surveillance, research on an improved vaccine and integrating a vaccine into immunization programs. "Our program supports efforts to improve clinical surveillance of this disease, so that the magnitude of the problem can be understood," Julie Jacobson, Children's Vaccine Program director of the new project, said in a statement.
■ United States
Congressman convicted
Congressman Bill Janklow, a dominating figure in South Dakota politics for nearly 30 years, was convicted of manslaughter for speeding through a stop sign at a rural intersection in his hometown and killing a motorcyclist. Janklow announced that he will resign from Congress. "I wish to inform you that I will resign from the House of Representatives, effective January 20, 2004," the Republican wrote in a letter that he said was to be sent to House Speaker Dennis Hastert yesterday. That is the same date Janklow is scheduled to be sentenced. A jury convicted him of second-degree manslaughter, reckless driving, running a stop sign and speeding for the Aug. 16 crash that killed Randy Scott, 55, a farmer.
■ United States
Eminem irks Secret Service
The US Secret Service has looked into reports that rapper Eminem wrote lyrics that said "I'd rather see the president dead," but it doesn't plan a formal investigation. A spokesman cautioned such lyrics
can have unintended consequences on others.
"We are concerned about communications that can be interpreted in a manner perhaps not intended by the artist, and the potential peripheral impact that such lyrics can have on other individuals," he said. The Secret Service made preliminary inquiries because of lyrics in Eminem's song, We As Americans which read "F**k money, I don't rap for dead presidents, I'd rather see the president dead."
■ United States
State Dept gets funky
US Secretary of State Colin Powell has named James Brown, the so-called "Godfather of Soul," to a new and unusual, but apparently fictitious, senior diplomatic position, the State Department said on Monday. Spokesman Richard Boucher confirmed that Powell had indeed appointed Brown to be the first US "secretary of soul and foreign minister of funk" but said the job description for the post had not yet been drawn up. Powell made Brown's appointment public on Saturday while hosting a dinner for winners of the Kennedy Center Honors -- awarded to US artists and performers for outstanding work -- of which Brown was one this year.
■ United States
Commission cancels trip
A federal commission that supports religious freedom said on Monday it had postponed a scheduled trip to China because of what it called unacceptable conditions imposed by the Chinese government. It was the second time this year that the US Commission on International Religious Freedom had canceled a visit because of a dispute over access to Hong Kong. In July the Chinese government insisted that the commission drop Hong Kong from its itinerary, the panel said in a statement. This time, the Chinese agreed to allow a stopover in Hong Kong
but insisted no meetings be held.
■ Portugal
Cheating wife fakes kidnap
A Portuguese woman who sneaked away from her husband during a movie so she could visit a lover faces a possible year's jail after she justified her disappearance with a claim she had been kidnapped. The 21-year-old wife told her husband she was going to pop into a nearby shop on Saturday night during intermission, but she never returned, a TV report said on Monday. The next morning the woman called her husband, saying two men from eastern Europe had taken her by force from the shopping center where the movie was showing.
■ France
Marianne gets makeover
French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin launched a nationwide contest on Monday to make over the symbol of France as she appears on national postage stamps. Marianne has been France's leading lady for centuries, an anonymous image of beauty and virtue who came to symbolize the republic in the aftermath of the French Revolution. The postage stamp was last given a new Marianne face in 1997. For the first redesign of the 21st century, amateur artists will have a chance to take a crack. The original Marianne is believed to have been modeled after a poor country girl.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
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
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
‘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
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