■ Indonesia
People giggle at saucy fruit
A display of misshapen papayas resembling human genitalia has attracted crowds of thousands in Jakarta, with the city's normally prudish people queueing up to giggle at the saucy fruit. More than 2,300 people have paid to see the papayas, a popular tropical fruit, since they were discovered in a local fruit market, the Jakarta Post reported yesterday. Cash raised will help victims of a recent fire in the city. Conservative values prevail in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim populated country, but appearances of unintentional erotica are more likely to generate amusement than embarrassment.
■ Thailand
`FBI agent' tries to avoid bill
A foreign national staying at Thailand's Phuket beach resort is under police investigation after he attempted to avoid his hotel bill by producing a fake US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) badge, media reports said yesterday. Employees at the Coral Beach Hotel called the police on Sunday after Tangzay Orzer, holding a Turkish passport, refused to pay for his accommodation, saying that he was a senior FBI agent on an undercover operation in the posh island resort. "He claims he is here to get information about international terrorists. He said he can't reveal his true identity," Police Lieutenant Colonel Pisit Chuenpetch told The Nation newspaper.
■ Hong Kong
More rape cases noted
Calls to a rape crisis center have tripled in three years as the territory recorded a sharp rise in sex assaults, a newspaper said yesterday. The Rain Lily Center, the territory's only center for rape victims, handled 54 cases in 2001 but the number shot up to 189 last year and 99 in the first six months of the year. Hong Kong police recently announced a 40 percent increase in rape cases in the year's first half compared to the same period last year. Coordinator Irene Ng said the cases represent a fraction of the true number of assaults. She also told the South China Morning Post: "Some victims told us that when they requested counseling from the police, they were not treated well. They said police officers just told them to check it out themselves."
■ New Zealand
Maori warns of civil war
A public official has warned that a proposed law limiting Maori land claims might lead to civil war, Wellington's Dominion Post newspaper reported yesterday. Maori language commission chief Haami Piripi wrote to a parliamentary committee considering the draft law that Maori would never accept a proposed law that would prevent them from pursuing court claims to the foreshore and sea bed. If enacted, the law would create "a festering sore" and perhaps lead to civil war, the letter said. Piripi wrote the letter not as a public official, but as the Ahipara community's leader. Prime Minister Helen Clark denounced Piripi for making a political statement while holding a government job and said another draft law would specify that agency chiefs stay politically neutral.
■ Cambodia
US pledges aid
The US government will give Cambodia US$31.5 million to help improve education and healthcare in the impoverished Southeast Asian nation, officials said yesterday. The US Agency for International Development will provide a US$29.5 million grant to fight infectious diseases and promote healthy habits among mothers, children and families, the US embassy said in a statement.
■ Morocco
Terror suspects return
Five Moroccans arrested by US forces in Afghanistan and held at the US base in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba were handed over to the Moroccan authorities on Sunday, a Moroccan appeals court prosecutor said. The statement said the five would be submitted to a preliminary inquiry by police under supervision and control of the prosecutor. The handing over was "part of the international cooperation in the fight against terrorism," it said. Seventeen Moroccans have been reported held at Guantanamo Bay.
■ Gaza
Grenade attack in jail
A Palestinian policeman yesterday hurled two hand grenades into a jail cell in Gaza City holding prisoners accused of collaborating with Israel, wounding seven, Palestinian security sources said. The assault appeared to be an attempt to assassinate Walid Hamdiya, accused of helping Israel target and kill leaders of the Palestinian uprising, the sources said. He was among two of the prisoners whose injuries medics said were serious. The jail is inside a Palestinian security compound in Gaza City. Israeli military sources said Israel had nothing to do with the explosion.
■ United Kingdom
Caspian horses gallop on
A breed of horse thought to be extinct for 1,000 years is alive and well and living in the English midlands. The caspian horse, celebrated in the ancient world as a chariot horse for racing and in battle, and presented to kings and emperors as a valuable gift, was thought to have disappeared in antiquity. Drawings of the distinctive horse can be seen on 3,000-year-old terracotta plaques in the British Museum and on the seal of King Darius the Great from Persepolis in ancient Persia. With the help of the latest DNA technology, enough pure-bred horses of different strains have been found to ensure genetic diversity and the survival of the species. About 1,300 pure-bred Caspians have been located.
■ Greece
Olympics drill jams roads
Traffic was backed up for hours in Athens yesterday as Olympic traffic lanes went into effect in an effort to fine-tune measures ahead of the Olympics which begin on Friday next week. Special lanes have been set aside for Olympic traffic on main thoroughfares. In addition to the regular bus lanes and tramlines, officials hope that Athenians will leave more cars at home and use the new integrated transport system that is to operate round-the-clock. Only accredited vehicles and special buses will be allowed in the Olympic lanes which will be in effect from 6:30am until midnight. More than 2,086 police, 395 members of the armed forces, 812 volunteers and 57 technicians will be involved.
■ Italy
Baby racket busted
Police have broken up a gang taking pregnant Bulgarian women to give birth in Italy and selling their babies for as little as 5,000 euros (US$6,030). After posing as nurses and medical interns at a Milan hospital where the babies were born, police arrested six people alleged to be involved in the sale of at least two infants. The case is thought to be the latest evidence of a thriving global child trafficking market, which aid agencies estimate involves more than 1 million children and is worth US$1.2 billion a year. "The mechanism we have discovered is very worrying because we do not know if or how many times it has been used," police chief Vincenzo Stingone said.
■ United States
Chicken catcher quits
The man hired to rid Key West, Florida, of its prolific and unabashed fowl quit his post, saying city leaders weren't committed to the cause. The city agreed in January to pay Armando Parra, a barber and self-taught bird catcher, US$20 for each chicken caught until Sept. 30, with a 900-bird limit. But after collecting just 542 chickens, a quarter of the estimated population, Parra turned in his city-issued traps on July 23 and said he was going freelance, The Miami Herald reported on Sunday. Parra, 64, said his nerves were frayed. He left town for 11 days because he "couldn't take it anymore."
■ Venezuela
Chavez's TV show shines
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday celebrated the 200th edition of his live weekly television and radio show, on which he sings, tells stories of his childhood and has international celebrity guests. Hello, President, which started three months after Chavez became president -- and which lasts five hours on average -- has had guests like Lethal Weapon actor Danny Glover, boxing promoter Don King, and the daughter of the legendary communist hero Che Guevara. The show, which airs on Sunday mornings and runs until late in the afternoon, started as a radio call-in show in May 1999.
■ United States
Eco-tour ship runs aground
A small cruise ship catering to eco-tourists was seriously damaged after running aground in the Aleutian Islands. The accident Saturday night punctured the 102m Clipper Odyssey's forward fuel tank and forced 153 people to abandon ship, a Coast Guard official said on Sunday. There were no reports of injuries. Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer Roddy Corr said about 18,900 liters of diesel fuel spilled from the ruptured tank, as was some waste water. He said swift currents dispersed the spilled fluid before it could be cleaned up. Fishing boats and a freighter in the area carried the 122 passengers and 31 crew members to safety at Unalaska, about 1,300km west of Anchorage.
■ United States
Computer glitch halts flights
A computer problem grounded American Airlines and US Airways flights nationwide on Sunday morning, causing delays that lasted all day. A computer manager said human error was the likely cause. American had some of its planes back up in two hours; US Airways flights were grounded for about three hours. US Airways spokeswoman Amy Kudwa said the airline's computer system malfunctioned and about 100 flights were delayed. A similar problem affected American's flight plan system, grounding about 150 flights.
■ United States
Smarter equals healthier
Clever children may be less likely to go on to develop serious disease in later life compared with their less intelligent peers, new research suggests. A US study found that conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, asthma, cancer, arthritis and stroke were more common among adults who scored lower in IQ tests as youngsters. The researchers found that every extra 15 points on intelligence score at the age of seven cut the chance of illness as an adult by a third. The reasons for the health differences were not clear, but the authors suggested that intelligence may reduce the likelihood of risky and unhealthy behaviors, such as smoking.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
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