■ India
Nude dancers spark row
India's northwestern state of Rajasthan has punished local officials after residents complained a group of Israeli women motorists had danced in the nude near a town revered by Hindus, a newspaper reported on Wednesday. The Indian Express said the incident took place during a party organized just outside the temple-studded town of Pushkar last month to celebrate the end of the Desert Queen rally in which 45 women rallyists from Israel took part. Local lawmakers and residents said the Israeli women "got drunk, threw their clothes on the stage and danced naked under the moonlight," the paper reported.
■ Australia
Man dies in Indian ritual
An Australian man died after taking part in an American Indian-style sauna-like purification ceremony in the Outback desert, another man who was hospitalized after the ritual said yesterday. The 37-year-old man died after the ceremony lasting several hours on Wednesday inside a small teepee, where hot rocks and water raised the temperature inside to 60?C, Adrian Asfar said. Asfar was in stable condition and being treated for dehydration at Port Augusta Hospital, 275km north of Adelaide. He said he couldn't recall details of the ceremony, involving 11 people from Melbourne.
■ Singapore
Woman in court over maid
A 43-year-old Canadian woman has been charged in a Singapore court with abusing her Indian maid by slashing and scalding her, as well as stuffing a vacuum cleaner in her mouth and turning it on, a newspaper reported on Wednesday. Seven charges of abuse were levied against Alka Mandloi on Tuesday, the Straits Times said. Mandloi is alleged to have abused Drona Rai, 25, over a three-month period from September 2001. Mandloi allegedly cut Drona's fingers with scissors and then slashed her hands and legs a kitchen knife, the paper said. The following day, she took a vacuum cleaner, allegedly stuffed it in Drona's mouth and switched it on. Mandloi also took an iron and allegedly scalded her maid's arm, the paper reported.
■ Hong Kong
Molesting priest loses case
A Catholic priest jailed for molesting an altar boy in the first case of its kind in Hong Kong lost his appeal yesterday to the territory's highest court. Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal threw out an attempt by Michael Lau, 43, to have his convictions for gross indecency and attempted buggery overturned. Lau was convicted in February last year of molesting a 15-year-old altar boy in 1991 and 1992. His offence came to light two years ago when the Catholic Church admitted it had dealt with three cases of child abuse by priests internally without referring them to police.
■ New Zealand
Four Japanese plead guilty
Four young Japanese men have pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the beating death of a fellow student at an academy for Japanese youths with behavior and learning problems, local media reported yesterday. Ryu Fukushima, 24, Ryuji Hiraki, 28, Nobu Oshima, 20, and Masato Fujita, 21, on Wednesday admitted to the manslaughter of Nozomu Shinozaki, 22, at the Columbus Academy in Auckland on Feb. 26 last year. The guilty pleas came after prosecutors reduced the charges from murder. The four will be sentenced on Dec. 3.
■ Honduras
Gangs threaten president
Authorities increased security around President Ricardo Maduro on Wednesday after learning of a plot by street gang members to kill him and key officials in his govern-ment, the government said. "Available sources of information indicate the gangs will try to kill the president," Honduran Security Minister Oscar Alvarez told a television station in Tegucigalpa, the capital. Alvarez, one of Honduras' most-popular figures because of his championing of a law that made membership in street gangs punishable by up to 12 years in prison, said he himself was also among those targeted by gang members. He said large numbers of leaders of the "Maras," Spanish slang for gangs, had gathered in the capital to plot a series of assassination attempts.
■ Iran
Americans to be tracked
Iran's conservative-dominated parliament has prepared a bill to make it compulsory for US citizens to be fingerprinted on arrival in the Islamic state, newspapers said on Wednesday. The reports said parliament's Foreign Affairs and National Security Commission approved the bill on Tuesday, in retaliation for a similar measure imposed on Iranian visitors to the US. "The purpose of the finger-printing is to make sure undesirable American elements will not enter Iran," commission member Kazem Jalali was quoted by Qods newspaper as saying. The bill will be put to a parliamentary vote in coming weeks.
■ France
Hunters kill last female bear
Hunters have shot dead the last female brown bear native to the Pyrenees, condemning the species to extinction and causing an "environmental catastrophe" for France, the government said. Animal protection groups on Wednesday concerned for the survival of the bear's 10-month-old orphaned cub which escaped unharmed, but which was barely weaned. Environ-ment Minister Serge Lepeltier was to visit the site of the killing to launch an investigation into how six experienced hunters had been allowed to organize a wild boar shoot in the area where the bear was living.
■ Belgium
EU seeks greater role in Iraq
EU leaders yesterday launched a two-day summit with hopes that they'll be able to forge a joint role for the 25-nation bloc in Iraq -- and by doing so bring a fresh start to strained relations with the re-elected US President George W. Bush. EU leaders are likely to push the second-term Bush administration to find a way out of the violence in Iraq and adopt a more multilateral approach that would involve Europe in consultations over the Iraq crisis. But in seeking to heal ties with Washington, the EU could also deepen its role in Iraq's reconstruction efforts despite reluctance -- particularly from France and Germany -- to get involved on the ground.
■ Canada
Nickname not racist: court
"Kemosabe," the name given to the Lone Ranger by his friend Tonto in the 1950s TV western, is not a racist term, a Canadian court has found. The ruling was delivered by the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal last week in a case involving a native Canadian woman who complained that the manager of the store where she worked had created a poisoned environ-ment by calling her kemosabe. The court ruling confirmed a earlier decision by a Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission board of inquiry. That decision was made after the board spent a full shift watching "Lone Ranger" reruns.
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
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
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
UNSCHEDULED VISIT: ‘It’s a very bulky new neighbor, but it will soon go away,’ said Johan Helberg of the 135m container ship that run aground near his house A man in Norway awoke early on Thursday to discover a huge container ship had run aground a stone’s throw from his fjord-side house — and he had slept through the commotion. For an as-yet unknown reason, the 135m NCL Salten sailed up onto shore just meters from Johan Helberg’s house in a fjord near Trondheim in central Norway. Helberg only discovered the unexpected visitor when a panicked neighbor who had rung his doorbell repeatedly to no avail gave up and called him on the phone. “The doorbell rang at a time of day when I don’t like to open,” Helberg told television
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