■ Australia
Beer for Jesus offered
The South Australian Brew-ing Company is offering six cases of beer to anyone who returns a statue of the baby Jesus stolen from a nativity scene earlier this week, officials said yesterday. Managing director Mark Powell said security footage showed a man scaling a fence and lifting the figurine from his manger. "We are very concerned about the well-being of baby Jesus and we are calling for his swift and safe return," Powell said. A reward would be given to anyone who returns the statue, he said. "That said, you would have thought that the incentive of a guaranteed exit through the right door after purga-tory would be enough of an incentive in itself," he said.
■ Australia
Beach goes dry for Xmas
An annual Christmas beach party that attracts tens of thousands will be alcohol-free next month, after more than 100 inebriated party-goers needed to be rescued last year. Authorities have banned alcohol at Bondi Beach during the holiday because of safety concerns over drunken revelers, a local official said yesterday. Police and security guards will patrol the beach over the holidays to strictly enforce the no-alcohol policy. Party-goers, however, can pay A$30 (US$23), however, to drink inside Bondi Pavilion, which will be set up behind the beach, an official said.
■ China
Extortionist arrested
Police have arrested a man for attempting to extort money out of seven Beijing supermarkets by poisoning their food, state media said yesterday. Yin Gang, an unemployed man from Heilongjiang Province, made calls to seven supermarkets last week claiming he had injected pesticides into food, the Beijing News said. He threatened to poison more food if money was not paid into a bank account, which he had opened under a fake name. Police ordered food to be taken off the shelves for testing and sent warnings to other supermarkets. Yin was tracked down through his bank account information, the report said. He had previously extorted money out of four supermarkets in other cities.
■ Indonesia
`Honey' tree draws crowds
Crowds are flocking to a Hindu temple on Bali for a glimpse of an ancient banyan tree which has begun oozing a honey-like substance said to have mystical properties. The sweet-tasting liquid started drizzling from the canopy of the tree onto temple buildings at the village of Baktisegara last month, the state Antara news agency said. Priests say many onlookers attending a ceremony to purify the liquid showed symptoms of being possessed by spirits -- run-ning around the temple grounds and clambering into the tree's branches, according to Antara.
■ Japan
Mangled anthem dooms man
A Colombian detained over a Tokyo burglary and facing a possible deportation tried to convince police he was a Mexican legally in the coun-try but failed when he mangled Mexico's anthem, reports said yesterday. Alejandro Gonzales, 20, was arrested with two other foreigners on Tuesday, accused of stealing some ?1.23 million (US11,800) in money and goods from two homes this month, police said. Gonzales started singing the anthem when taken into custody, but a translator pointed out, "it's full of mistakes," the Asahi Shimbun reported. Mexi-cans can stay in Japan with-out visas for up to six months.
■ United Kingdom
Punk band's role panned
A clergyman has criticized a city's decision to ask an aging punk band to switch on its annual civic display of Christmas lights. The Damned, the Reverend Stephen Leeke said Wednesday, do not really encapsulate the spirit of the season. "I do not think they are the best people to be switching on the Christmas lights," said Leeke, vicar of St Martin's Church in Cambridge, 80km north of London. "I think perhaps it would be more appropriate for them to switch them off," he said. Lead singer Captain Sensible,defended the band, saying The Damned represented the true spirit of Christmas. "It's a time to behave disgracefully and slob out in front of the TV," he told Independent Radio News. "The Damned are particularly good at that sort of thing."
■ United Kingdom
Tories pessimistic
A majority of members in Britain's opposition Conservative Party do not think it will win the country's next general election, a poll indicated Wednesday. Just 44 percent said they believed the Conservatives would be returned to power in the election, expected to be held in May 2005. The same number said the party would win the election after that, with 2 percent saying they would never return to power.
■ Kenya
Somali president targeted
Two armed men attempted to break into the Nairobi home of the new Somali president early Wednesday, triggering a gunfight with Kenyan paramilitary police guarding the premises, the police spokesman said. The unidentified assailants fled into the night after the confrontation in a wealthy, western suburb of the Kenya's capital, an official close to the Somali leader said on condition of anonymity. Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed was elected on Oct. 10 by a 275-member parliament in Nairobi. The recently named parliament is meeting in Nairobi because Somalia is not safe enough.
■ Africa
20,000 child soldiers
More than 20,000 child soldiers -- some as young as eight -- have fought in conflicts in Sudan and the Ivory Coast alone in the past three years, a report said Wednesday. During that time, boy and girl soldiers were recruited to fight in at least 21 conflicts around the world, often trained to use explosives and weapons, forced into combat, and subjected to rape and hard labor, said the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers report. The largest number of child soldiers, about 17,000, fought for government forces and allied militias in the western Sudanese province of Darfur, while another 2,500 to 5,000 children took up arms for the Sudan People's Liberation Army, the report said.
■ United Kingdom
Hunters promise trouble
Fox hunting supporters on Wednesday pledged to mount a swift legal challenge and a campaign of civil disobedience if Parliament bans the time-honored pursuit in the coming days. Legislation to outlaw the sport now looks inevitable after years of bitter debate. On Wednesday night, peers in the Lords voted 188-79 to overturn Commons legislation that would outlaw hunting but lawmakers in the Commons are expected to sideline the tradition-bound Lords.
■ Brazil
Ship blast kills at least two
Workers rushed Wednesday to avert an environmental disaster as an oil slick spread from a cargo ship that exploded and broke in half at a port in southern Brazil. Workers found dead fish and dolphins in the toxic slick of fuel oil, diesel fuel and methanol that leaked from the ship, said Luiz Eduardo Cheida, environmental secretary for Parana state. The slick, which blackened rocks and beaches, stretched for more than 20km from the port of Paranagua, 625km southwest of Rio de Janeiro, Cheida said. The Chilean-flagged Vicuna exploded Monday night while unloading its 11 million liters of methanol. Rescue workers recovered the bodies of two sailors Tuesday, while two other crew members remain missing and are feared dead.
■ Chile
Anti-Bush protesters nabbed
Police arrested about 300 people Wednesday who were taking part in a demonstration against the visit of US President George W. Bush to Santiago for a major economic summit to be held tomorrow and Sunday. The police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the crowd of protesters who gathered without a permit from authorities. The demonstrators yelled anti-Bush slogans and voiced opposition to the APEC summit, which will be attended by many major world leaders.
■ Canada
Legislator `stomps' on Bush
A maverick Canadian legislator with a history of anti-Bush comments said Wednesday she won't apologize for stomping on a doll of US President George W. Bush in a television comedy skit, but promised not to heckle the president when he visits Canada on Nov. 30. Bush is expected to address Canada's Parliament and meet with Prime Minister Paul Martin to discuss issues ranging from trade to terrorism and nation-building aid in Iraq during the two-day visit. Carolyn Parrish, a member of the ruling Liberal Party for a district outside of Toronto, made headlines in Canada last year on the eve of the US-led invasion of Iraq when she was overheard telling a reporter: "Damn Americans. I hate those bastards."
■ United States
Gates gets the most spam
Internet junkies, take heart: Microsoft chairman Bill Gates receives 4 million e-mails daily, most of them spam, and is probably the most "spammed" person in the world. But unlike ordinary users, the software mogul has an entire department to filter unsolici-ted e-mails and only a few of them actually get through to his inbox, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said yesterday. Ballmer was speaking to government information technology and development officials from the Asia-Pacific at the start of a Microsoft-sponsored Asia Leadership Forum in Singapore.
■ United States
Law named sexiest man
British actor Jude Law, currently starring as the irresistible cad in the remake of "Alfie," was named this year's "Sexiest Man Alive" by People magazine on Wednesday. The chiseled-featured, 31-year-old actor was the top pick of the magazine's editors to succeed their leading male sex symbol of 2003, Johnny Depp. Law appears on the cover of the magazine's Nov. 19 issue, which hits newsstands today. "His warmth is what makes him sexy, and it radiates through his eyes," actress Nicole Kidman, his "Cold Mountain" co-star, told the magazine.
Romania’s electoral commission on Saturday excluded a second far-right hopeful, Diana Sosoaca, from May’s presidential election, amid rising tension in the run-up to the May rerun of the poll. Earlier this month, Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau barred Calin Georgescu, an independent who was polling at about 40 percent ahead of the rerun election. Georgescu, a fierce EU and NATO critic, shot to prominence in November last year when he unexpectedly topped a first round of presidential voting. However, Romania’s constitutional court annulled the election after claims of Russian interference and a “massive” social media promotion in his favor. On Saturday, an electoral commission statement
Chinese authorities increased pressure on CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd over its plan to sell its Panama ports stake by sharing a second newspaper commentary attacking the deal. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office on Saturday reposted a commentary originally published in Ta Kung Pao, saying the planned sale of the ports by the Hong Kong company had triggered deep concerns among Chinese people and questioned whether the deal was harming China and aiding evil. “Why were so many important ports transferred to ill-intentioned US forces so easily? What kind of political calculations are hidden in the so-called commercial behavior on the
‘DOWNSIZE’: The Trump administration has initiated sweeping cuts to US government-funded media outlets in a move critics said could undermine the US’ global influence US President Donald Trump’s administration on Saturday began making deep cuts to Voice of America (VOA) and other government-run, pro-democracy programming, with the organization’s director saying all VOA employees have been put on leave. On Friday night, shortly after the US Congress passed its latest funding bill, Trump directed his administration to reduce the functions of several agencies to the minimum required by law. That included the US Agency for Global Media, which houses Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Asia and Radio Marti, which beams Spanish-language news into Cuba. On Saturday morning, Kari Lake, a former Arizona gubernatorial and US
Indonesia’s parliament yesterday amended a law to allow members of the military to hold more government roles, despite criticisms that it would expand the armed forces’ role in civilian affairs. The revision to the armed forces law, pushed mainly by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s coalition, was aimed at expanding the military’s role beyond defense in a country long influenced by its armed forces. The amendment has sparked fears of a return to the era of former Indonesian president Suharto, who ex-general Prabowo once served and who used military figures to crack down on dissent. “Now it’s the time for us to ask the
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