Sun, Feb 20, 2005 page7

• World News Quick Take

  • AGENCIES
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  ■ Australia

  Three men rescued at sea

  Three men were rescued after seven weeks adrift in an open dinghy in the Pacific Ocean off the island nation of Kiribati. The three men -- an Australian and two others whose nationalities were not immediately known -- were "OK but tired." On Thursday, a fishing vessel found 22-year-old Benjamin Tooki, who holds both Australian and Kiribati passports, and two companions near Kiribati's outer island of Tabiteuea. The three went missing on Jan. 2 while traveling in an open aluminum dinghy between Kiribati's Maiana and Tarawa Islands. An extensive air and sea search was launched when the boat was reported missing.

  ■ Cambodia

  Abduction probe questioned

  The US has condemned the Cambodian government for failing to bring to justice gunmen who raided a shelter and allegedly kidnapped 83 women. US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said yesterday "The findings lack credibility. The Cambodian government has not taken any action to ensure that those responsible for the shelter raid are held accountable and brought to justice." The Cambodian report said the women voluntarily left the shelter run by Afesip -- a nonprofit group that aids abused and trafficked women -- in December. Afesip said the women were abducted by armed men, led by the owner of a brothel where most of the women worked before being rescued in a police raid.

  ■ Vietnam

  Vaccine tests show promise

  Tests of a bird-flu vaccine being developed in Vietnam for human use have shown promising results in animals, researchers said yesterday. Dr. Hoang Thuy Nguyen of the National Institute for Hygiene and Epidemiology said his team has been researching a vaccine since early last year, and tests are being conducted on mice, chickens and monkeys. Vietnam has suffered Asia's highest number of human bird flu deaths, with 33 people dead in three outbreaks over the past year. Another 12 people have died in Thailand. Researchers in Vietnam plan to eventually test the vaccine on humans.

  ■ Singapore

  Smoke less, drink more

  Hit by a 20 percent hike for a package of cigarettes, smokers in Singapore were left with the option yesterday of taking solace in alcohol, an indulgence with no new increases in taxes. Smoking contributes to nearly 2,500 deaths a year, prompting the government to make the city-state one of the most expensive countries in Asia to light up. Duties on tobacco products shot from 293 Singapore dollars (US$179) per 1,000 sticks to 352 Singapore dollars after they were announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in delivering the 2005 budget on Friday.

  ■ Vietnam

  Old bombs kill three

  Bombs left over from the conflict known in Vietnam as the American War have killed three people and injured two. Neighbors Dinh Van Nho and Dinh Khanh, who were both in their 30s, found an orange-sized cluster bomb as they were working in their paddy fields on Thursday, said Nguyen Van Tri, an official from Son Linh commune, 700km north of Ho Chi Minh City. The bomb exploded when the men hit it with a hoe to try and open it. They were killed instantly. Dieu Than, of Binh Phuoc province, 100km north of Ho Chi Minh City, and his relations found a shell in a bush in their village, and were playing catch with it. The shell exploded when it hit the ground, killing Than on the spot.

  ■ United Kingdom

  Fox hunters to defy new law

  Thousands of hunters and their hounds were set to charge through the British countryside yesterday following fox scents or simply mimicking the age-old sport of fox hunting barely 24-hours after it became outlawed in England and Wales. From the southernmost county of Cornwall to the northern tip of Northumberland, the red-jacketed riders on horseback and their supporters have pledged to test the controversial new legislation to its limit. Anti-hunt campaigners also plan to be out in force to help the government enforce the ban on hunting of foxes and other wild animals in an emotional clash of town and countryside.

  ■ Kenya

  Fighters want compensation

  Aging ex-independence warriors demonstrated outside Britain's fortified embassy here on Friday, vowing to sue London for compensation for torture inflicted during the brutal repression of the Mau Mau rebellion a half century ago. Along with scores of human rights activists the frail former fighters, most now in their 70s and 80s, said they would seek damages from Britain for what they described as brutal treatment during the 1950s. Crushed testicles, weeks of starvation, being tossed into hot water and onto ant hills, being smeared with blood and released to dogs, beatings, nakedness and having soil stuffed into their rectums were just some of the litany of horrors they described.

  ■ Uganda

  Famous play banned

  Authorities have banned the internationally acclaimed women's rights play The Vagina Monologues as an affront to public morality and threatened to arrest organizers if they follow through on plans to stage benefit performances, officials said Friday. Information minister Nsaba Buturo said the play had been deemed offensive and vulgar and would corrupt public morals if performed in Uganda. Written by US playwright and feminist Eve Ensler, The Vagina Monologues is based on several hundred interviews with women around the world and celebrates female sexuality and focuses on the abuses women suffer.

  ■ United Kingdom

  Smarties to get makeover

  Makers of the mini sugar-coated, multi-colored chocolates called Smarties are replacing the tube-shaped packet used for almost 70 years with a hexagonal pack, the company said Friday. Nestle Rowntree said it was also discarding the plastic disc opening on the old design in favor of a cardboard flip-top lid, as part of a makeover to ensure the brand remained "fresh and interesting" to youngsters. Smarties have been sold in a cylinder-shaped packet since the sweets were launched by Rowntree's of York in 1937.

  ■ United States

  Bush remembers Scotland

  President George W. Bush is arguably the most powerful man in the world, but he hasn't forgotten a long-ago trip to Scotland, or being mistaken by a Texan tourist for a "little Scottish boy" with a sheep. During a roundtable with reporters to set the stage for his fence-mending trip to Europe, the 58-year-old Bush said Friday that he looked forward to travelling to Scotland for the G-8 summit in July. "I worked there as a 14-year-old kid," he said. "I left Texas for Scotland to work on a sheep farm ... And I'm riding a bike, taking this one sheep, you know, from here to there," he related.

  ■ United States

  Trashed ticket wins 100k

  A lottery ticket thrown in the trash proved to be a US$100,000-dollar winner for the woman who fished it out. Two people bought the ticket at a cafe in Shelbyville, Indiana, and asked a clerk there whether it had hit the right numbers for what they hoped would be a US$40 win. The employee said no, without checking whether it might have hit the correct numbers for other prizes. The disappointed buyers threw the ticket away. But Karrie Jeremiah, who had observed the exchange, thought it would be worth checking for the other combinations of number and was rewarded with thousands of dollars last week.

  ■ United States

  Cosmetic surgery rising

  Americans underwent close to 12 million surgical or non-surgical cosmetic procedures in 2004, a rise of 44 percent from the previous year, with liposuction and botox treatment leading the surge. The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS)'s annual report said 90 percent of the procedures were performed on women. Surgical procedures were up 17 percent on 2003, with liposuction leading and breast augmentation the second most popular, followed by eyelid surgery, rhinoplasty (nose jobs) and facelifts. While breast enlargements among women in general were up 19 percent, they plunged 63 percent among teenagers to 4,211. On the non-surgical side, more than 2.8 million people opted for anti-wrinkling botox injections and 1.4 million going for laser hair removal.

  ■ United Nations

  UN bans human cloning

  After four years of bitter debate, a UN committee yesterday voted to ban all forms of human cloning -- a ruling that many member states immediately vowed to ignore. A deeply divided UN legal committee adopted a non-binding resolution calling on world governments to ban all forms of cloning, despite widespread support for cloning of embryos for medical research. The non-binding vote by the committee will now be referred to the UN's General Assembly amid sharp international disagreement over what is ethical in the name of medical research.

  ■ United States

  Court spares dog's life

  The highest court in the midwestern US state of Nebraska yesterday saved the life of a 9-year-old dog from a death sentence she was given for biting another dog on the side of the neck in 2001. Owners Lorele Lesoing-Dittoe and her husband originally found the dog lying in a ditch, took Murphy to a trainer and spent US$20,000 dollars to built a fence after she attacked other dogs in the neighborhood. The 2001 offense occurred when Dough Dittoe accidentally left the gate open, and Murphy escaped and attacked a neighbor's dog. The wound was not serious; the Dittoes were fined US$100 each.

  ■ United Kingdom

  Chip shop sets new record

  Fish and chip shop owner Kelvin Barnes laid claim to a new record for the world's biggest order of French fries -- more than 373kg. Baines, who runs The Chip Stop in Plymouth, was aiming to cook a total of 680kg. The feat still needs to be verified for entry into the Guinness Book of World Records. Baines estimated that his record bid would require 100 liters of oil, a kilogram of salt, 30 liters of vinegar, 6,000 chip forks, and 30 liters of sauce. Hundreds queued at the door to claim their portion of the edible feat. The challenge was part of national chip week.
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