■ Hong Kong
Worms found in public pools
A spate of worm sightings
in public swimming pools
has forced several closures
and police said Thursday
they have been called to investigate the case that's
left Hong Kong feeling a
bit squeamish. The worms, actually mosquito larvae, don't pose a health threat
but they have generated
intense local media coverage including TV footage showing them wiggling in the water. Worms have been found in three pools that have now been closed for cleaning, and police are trying to determine whether a crime has been committed. The worm sightings emerged as pool lifeguards continue a wage dispute with the government, but the lifeguards denied involvement.
■ China
SARS hero denied travel
A former military doctor who blew the whistle on China's SARS coverup has been prevented from traveling
to the Philippines to receive Asia's equivalent of the Nobel Prize, officials said yesterday. Chinese authorities refused
to grant 72-year-old Jiang Yanyong (蔣彥永) travel papers and he will be represented at the ceremony on Tuesday by his brother, a spokeswoman for the Ramon Magsaysay international award foundation said. The award, considered Asia's most prestigious prize, was named after the Philippines' most popular president, who died in a plane crash in 1957.
■ China
Workers given back pay
The government is making
a push to pay millions of workers from the countryside billions of dollars in unpaid wages for construction work, plugging a hole that has fueled discontent and social unrest. The total default sum owed to migrant workers
in construction was more
than 48 billion yuan (US$5.8 billion) at the end of last year, more than one-third of which was for last year alone, Vice Minister of Construction Huang Wei (黃衛) told a news conference. Almost all the money owed to farm workers last year was paid off by June 30 and more than 87 percent of the 32.3 billion yuan owed for work before last year had been paid, Huang said.
■ Cambodia
Shoppers lynch robber
Hundreds of infuriated shoppers outside a popular mall in the capital Phnom Penh beat an armed robber
to death after he tried to steal
a motorcycle, police said yesterday. Two teenagers were about to leave the parking lot outside the
center on Wednesday when
a gunman shot one of them
and tried to grab their bike, district police chief Phorn Pheng said. "It was a people's court. The people saw these young men being robbed
and came to help, beating the robber to death. There were hundreds of people," he said, adding that police would not pursue the leaders of the mob attack. The shot man was recovering, he said.
■ New Zealand
School bans pajamas
A high school has decided to limit the range of apparel its pupils can wear under their uniform kilts -- and pajama bottoms are out, local media reported yesterday. Principal of the South Island Waitaki Girls High School, Linda Cowan, decided the new
fad of girls wearing pajama bottoms rolled up and tucked into their knee-high stockings had become a nuisance and should be forbidden, the Otago Daily Times said. "I have no idea why they were doing it. It wasn't because they were too lazy to get dressed properly. Some
girls were talking about their sleeping pajamas and their school pajamas." She thought it could be "some sort of bizarre trend" going back to old-fashioned long bloomers.
■ United States
Judge denies rally permit
A judge on Wednesday declined to order city officials to give an anti-war group permission to rally in New York City's Central Park on the eve of the Republican convention, leaving uncertain where thousands of protesters will go after a march past the venue. The United for Peace and Justice coalition has permission to march under the banner "The World Says No To The Bush Agenda" past Madison Square Garden on Sunday but the city denied a permit for the protest to continue with a rally in Central Park of an estimated 250,000 people.
■ Morocco
King asks for firefighting aid
Fires which ravaged forests in northern Morocco were brought under control Wednesday, the national forestry authority said. "The fire has been brought under control but we must remain vigilant," said High Commissioner of water and forests Abdeladim Lhafi. There were no casualties of the blaze, according to the national civil protection agency. King Mohammed VI on Tuesday issued an appeal for help in fighting the fire.
■ Poland
War reparations sought
The Polish parliament Wednesday debated a draft resolution seeking to make Germany pay compensation for the losses Poland suffered during World War II. "The parliament calls on the government to demand from Germany war reparations for losses and damages following the planned destruction by the Germans during World War II, and to open talks on this issue with Germany," the draft resolution said. It was drawn up by Jerzy Czerwinski, a member of parliament for the nationalist Catholic RKN party, and has already been approved by the lower house's foreign affairs committee.
■ Uganda
Clash leaves 14 rebels dead
Ugandan troops killed 14 rebels from the cult-like Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels in a clash in neighbouring southern Sudan, the army said on Thursday. Army spokesman Lieutenant Paddy Ankunda said the clash took place on Tuesday at Parajok, near the Acheti River just a few kilometers from the Ugandan border. Ugandan troops are allowed to attack the LRA in southern Sudan under a 2002 accord between Kampala and Khartoum. The LRA, led by self-proclaimed mystic Joseph Kony, has waged an 18-year-old insurgency against the government in northern Uganda.
■ Canada
Police sniper kills gunman
A police marksman shot and killed a man who had taken a woman hostage and put a gun to her head during a dramatic rush-hour standoff Wednesday in the heart of Toronto. The crack of a single gunshot echoed off the glass-walled skyscrapers of the city's swank financial district, ending the early morning showdown, which had brought much of Canada's largest city to a standstill. "The outcome, of course, is tragic but it appears from my point of view to be very necessary," Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino said. The female hostage, grabbed off a sidewalk outside the city's central Union Station as the gunman fled a pursuing police officer, escaped unharmed. The drama erupted an hour earlier in a nearby food court when the gunman approached a woman later identified by police as his 45-year-old estranged wife, when the man fired shots in her direction. He then assaulted her, leaving her with cuts, but did not shoot her.
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
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
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
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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