■ Japan
Iraqi debt relief offered
Japan is willing to forgive the "vast majority" of its Iraqi debt if other Paris Club creditor nations do the same, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement yesterday during a visit by US envoy James Baker. Iraq owes Japan US$4.1 billion, but that number reaches an estimated US$7.76 billion when late penalty fees are included. The US has been encouraging creditors to assist Iraq by relieving part of its crushing debt. Baker, who has already won agreements on Iraqi debt relief from several European nations, met early yesterday with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi amid reports that Tokyo was considering some relief.
■ Indonesia
Bomb suspects face life
Indonesian prosecutors yesterday demanded that two Muslim militants be sentenced to life imprisonment for helping assemble two bombs that blew up in a nightclub district on Bali island last year. Abdul Ghoni and Syawad, alias Sarjio, are accused of violating anti-terror laws that carry a maximum penalty of death. Both remained silent during separate hearings at the Denpasar District Court. Prosecutors told the court that both men took part in planning meetings ahead of the bombs that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, on Oct. 12 last year.
■ The Philippines
Senator joins race
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's most bitter political rival filed his application yesterday to run in next year's presidential election, in a candidacy that has split the opposition and could mar its chances of beating Arroyo. Senator Panfilo Lacson is the first to file a candidate's certificate in a campaign that already includes declared candidates Arroyo and Fernando Poe Jr., an action film star and opposition newcomer who has been garnering strong voter support in opinion polls. Accompanied by hundreds of followers, Lacson filed his certificate at a jam-packed Elections Commission office, vowing to halt crime, fight corruption and revive the country's shaky economy if he is elected.
■ India
Rats safe from ratcatchers
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has a rat department that feeds on an annual budget of 7.8 million rupees (US$173,000) but doesn't catch any rodents, it was reported yesterday. Not many people know about the rat department's existence. Those who are in the department are clueless about the number of rats in the city or what is being done about them, the Times of India newspaper reported. Some civic officials smelt a rat after going through the MCD's annual accounts. They noticed the rat department spent only 50,000 rupees (US$1,100) on anti-rodent drives. The rest of the budget was spent on salaries, the report said.
■ Australia
Asylum seekers join fast
The number of asylum seekers hospitalized due to a protest fast at a Pacific island detention center has risen to 18, an increase of seven over the past three days, officials said yesterday. The hunger strikers are being treated at a hospital near the camp on the island of Nauru, where they began refusing food three weeks ago to protest Australia's refusal to accept them as refugees. A spokeswoman for the Australia's Immigration Department said the patients have been rehydrated and offered food.
■ United States
More bodies found in mud
Authorities on Sunday found the bodies of five more people caught in a mudslide that engulfed a church camp on Christmas, and urged people in mountain areas scorched by fall wildfires to prepare for heavy rains that could trigger more devastation. Two children washed away from the St Sophia Camp were found tangled in debris in a cement catch basin in downtown San Bernardino. Two women and a man were found closer to the camp. The grim discoveries brought the total number of bodies recovered from the Greek Orthodox camp to 12, with a baby boy and a teenage boy still unaccounted for.
■ Chechnya
Rebels kill five Russians
Five Russian soldiers were killed and six wounded in a series of attacks on military positions in the republic of Chechnya, an official in the Kremlin-backed Chechen administration said Sunday. Chechnya's separatist rebels open fire daily on Russian military positions in the republic, including checkpoints. In all, positions were fired on 15 times over the past day, the official said on condition of anonymity. In the republic's capital Grozny, a Chechen policeman's corpse was found on Sunday morning, the official said. Chechens who work with the Russian forces or civil administration are often targeted by rebels. Also Sunday, Apti Khakiyev, the deputy interior minister of Ingushetia, which borders Chechnya to the west, was killed when his car came under fire.
■ Mauritania
Former president sentenced
A Mauritanian court on Sunday convicted former president Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidallah of plotting to overthrow the current head of the northwest African state and handed him a five-year suspended jail term. Ould Haidallah, who had vehemently denied planning the ouster of President Maaouiya Ould Taya while running in a controversial election against him last month, was also ordered to pay 400,000 ouguiyas (US$1,550). He said he planned to lodge an appeal with the supreme court.
■ Italy
Smoky bars could go
The smoke-filled bar may soon be a thing of the past in Italy. Since yesterday, more than 200,000 bars and restaurants are subject to a new rule that requires designated smoking areas to be sealed off from the rest of the premises and equipped with powerful ventilators. Owners have 12 months to comply, or face heavy fines and temporary closure. A second rule, starting on New Year's Day, blocks vending machines from operating between 9am and 7pm. In the future, the machines will only accept purchases from customers with an electronic identity card proving they are not
under-age.
■ Guatemala
Berger takes the lead
A pro-business former mayor of Guatemala City had a strong lead over a center-left engineer who billed himself as the candidate of the poor late Sunday in a presidential run-off election marred by low voter turnout. With 71 percent of the votes counted, conservative Oscar Berger had 55.9 percent, compared to 44.02 percent for his opponent, Alvaro Colom. Berger served as mayor of Guatemala City from 1990 until 1999 and garnered 29 percent more votes in the capital than his opponent, according to initial results released by the election commission.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
RSS