■ New Zealand
UN sends assessment team
The UN announced yesterday it was sending emergency teams to the Cook Islands and neighboring atolls devastated in a recent cyclone to assess their damage and needs. Cook Islanders were cleaning up from accumulated effects of four cyclones, hoping they had seen the worst with one month left in the South Pacific's annual five-month storm season. The latest storm decimated the houses of villagers in two northern atolls on Monday but passed 290km to the west of the main island of Rarotonga overnight, but brought no injury or serious damage.
■ Pakistan
Rape verdict overturned
Mukhtaran Bibi thought her nightmare was over when the men who gang-raped her -- on orders from village elders -- were sentenced to death more than two years ago. But the victim of the country's most notorious rape case wept bitterly after a court in Multan overturned the verdict against three of the four alleged rapists and two tribal elders, and quashed the death sentence against the sixth. "I am in pain. I will ask my lawyer to challenge this decision," said the 30-year-old woman. As five of the men prepared to walk free, dismayed human-rights activists said the decision was a blow to the struggle for women's rights in a notoriously male-dominated society.
■ Japan
Sex offenders to be tracked
Japanese police will soon begin keeping track of sex offenders after they are released from prison in a bid to prevent sex crimes against children, a National Police Agency (NPA) spokesman said yesterday. Under the new system, which begins on June 1, police would hold information on the addresses of those who have served prison terms for sex crimes involving children. Police do not plan to release the information to the public; specifics, including how long police might track the whereabouts of sex offenders, are as yet undecided. Among 466 perpetrators of violent sex crimes against children last year, 15.9 percent were repeat offenders.
■ Cambodia
PM wants graft crackdown
Prime Minister Hun Sen lashed out at a "mafia" of corrupt judges and prosecutors who take bribes to let suspects go free. He declared a crackdown on criminals and those who set them free before sufficient investigation of their cases has been done, and demanded some 274 people be re-arrested. "We have to re-arrest them because they were wrongly charged and released," Hun Sen said. "I can even say you are mafia," he said of the judges and prosecutors accused of taking bribes. "These activities not only damage the image of Cambodia, but the activities of some judges and prosecutors are destroying the reputation of the courts," he added.
■ Switzerland
Speed trap flouter busted
A young Swiss driver who was caught breaking the speed limit 19 times in a night was stripped of his driving licence, fined and given a suspended prison sentence on Thursday. The 19 year-old had removed his number plates to avoid being identified as he repeatedly drove through two fixed speed traps near the Swiss capital Bern at speeds up to 40kph above the limit. However, a policeman who had dealt with him a day earlier recognized the car on the speed trap photographs, which included snaps of passengers making obscene gestures. The youngster admitted he had drunk seven or eight beers before the speeding spree.
■ Argentina
Debt restructured
Argentina was poised on Thursday night to announce it had reached an agreement with its creditors to restructure US$103 billion of its debts, more than three years after declaring the biggest sovereign debt default of modern times. President Nestor Kirchner was to confirm overnight that about 75 percent of the country's bondholders had agreed to swap their old debt for new at a loss of up to US$0.70 in the dollar -- also a record and one that Kirchner has called "the biggest haircut in history" for investors. Six weeks ago the Argentine government made the offer to its 700,000 bondholders to swap debt of US$81 billion plus interest from 2001 for about US$41 billion of new debt.
■ Brazil
Biotech bill passed
In a significant victory for large biotechnology companies, the lower house of Congress overwhelmingly approved legislation paving the way for the legalization of genetically modified crops. After months of delays and heated debate, legislators passed a biotechnology law by a vote of 352-60. Besides lifting a long-standing ban on the sale and planting of gene-altered seeds, the legislation clears the way for research involving human embryonic stem cells that have been frozen for at least three years. The bill is expected to be signed into law in the next two weeks.
■ United States
Chimps attack visitors
Several chimpanzees broke from their cages at an animal sanctuary and attacked two visitors, seriously injuring them. Sanctuary workers shot and killed two of the powerful animals. Officials did not immediately release the victims' names, but a news report said they were a couple who were visiting another chimpanzee that had been removed from their home years earlier for his own aggressive behavior. One of those injured at the Animal Haven Ranch was airlifted to a medical center in critical condition. Another victim was in serious condition. One television report said the two were at the sanctuary to celebrate the birthday of Moe, who was taken from their suburban Los Angeles home in 1999 after biting off part of a woman's finger.
■ Vatican City
Papal condition improving
Doctors at Rome's Gemelli hospital have yet to decide on a date for Pope John Paul II's discharge even though the Vatican said Thursday he was following the activities of the Roman Catholic Church from his sick-bed and was eager to go home. The pope's condition "continues to improve and show progress" and the wound in his neck following his throat surgery to ease his breathing was healing.
■ Brazil
Indigenous children starving
Six children have starved to death this year on a poverty-stricken Indian reserve in central Brazil and officials warned more could die in a scandal that has shocked South America's biggest country. About 11,500 traditionally nomadic Indians are crammed onto a reservation in Mato Grosso do Sul state. Infant mortality and suicides rates are up to three times higher than national averages on the reservation, originally created to house 300 people. "It's become a concentration camp," said Senator Delcidio Amaral of Mato Grosso do Sul, upper-house leader for the ruling Workers Party.
■ United States
Fewer joining the military
The army has fallen behind its recruiting goals, officials said on Thursday, amid the violence of an Iraq war that has now claimed more than 1,500 American lives. "The war is obviously having an effect," said Army Recruiting Command spokesman Douglas Smith. "Our recruiters are having to spend more time with hesitation on the part of potential applicants and their families. People are very alert to the fact of the risks that go along with army service." The active-duty US army missed its recruiting target for February by 27.5 percent, and had slipped about 6 percent behind its year-to-date goal for fiscal 2005, which ends Sept. 30, the Army Recruiting Command said.
■ Sweden
Fat police set off sensors
Portly police have a new reason to work out thanks to a new security entrance at the National Police headquarters that won't let them in if they weigh too much. A construction error in the recently remodeled security entrance, which has a built-in scale designed to only let one person at a time pass through the door, has caused some embarrassing moments for officers who may not have spent enough time exercising. Those weighing more than 105kg who try to pass through the entrance are greeted by a recorded voice telling them to "Stop! One at a time!" and are not let through, police spokeswoman Linda Widmark said.
■ Israel
Sharon committed to pullout
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed to press ahead with a pullout from Gaza and part of the West Bank in the summer despite yet another slap from his own party, setting his sights on a parliamentary vote in two weeks. The vote Thursday by the Likud Party central committee called on its members of parliament to support a referendum on the plan. Sharon dismisses that as a delay tactic by opponents of the pullout. The Likud convention's action had only symbolic value, because there is no parliamentary majority for a referendum. However, Sharon has to survive a crucial budget vote to remain in power, and party rebels plan to vote against him.
■ Iraq
Attacks on `infidels' continue
Al-Qaeda's wing in Iraq said that suicide attacks carried out in recent days proved the group was still strong and capable of pursuing its war against "infidels," according to an Internet statement posted yesterday. "What happened ... and will happen in coming days is a response to infidel deceptions and claims that the mujahideen [holy fighters] are weaker and that their attacks have abated," said the statement attributed to the military commander of the al-Qaeda Organization for Holy War in Iraq, Abu Aseed al-Iraqi. In a separate Internet statement, also dated March 3, the group said its leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, would soon issue a message to the faithful.
The pledge by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to “work, work, work, work and work” for her country has been named the catchphrase of the year, recognizing the effort Japan’s first female leader had to make to reach the top. Takaichi uttered the phrase in October when she was elected as head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Many were initially as worried about her work ethic as supportive of her enthusiasm. In a country notorious for long working hours, especially for working women who are also burdened with homemaking and caregiving, overwork is a sensitive topic. The recognition triggered a
‘HEART IS ACHING’: Lee appeared to baffle many when he said he had never heard of six South Koreans being held in North Korea, drawing criticism from the families South Korean President Lee Jae-myung yesterday said he was weighing a possible apology to North Korea over suspicions that his ousted conservative predecessor intentionally sought to raise military tensions between the war-divided rivals in the buildup to his brief martial law declaration in December last year. Speaking to reporters on the first anniversary of imprisoned former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol’s ill-fated power grab, Lee — a liberal who won a snap presidential election following Yoon’s removal from office in April — stressed his desire to repair ties with Pyongyang. A special prosecutor last month indicted Yoon and two of his top
The Philippines deferred the awarding of a project that is part of a plan to build one of the world’s longest marine bridges after local opposition over the potential involvement of a Chinese company due to national security fears. The proposals are “undergoing thorough review” by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which acts as a lender and an overseer of the project to ensure it meets international environmental and governance standards, the Philippine Department of Public Works and Highways said in a statement on Monday in response to queries from Bloomberg. The agency said it would announce the winning bidder once ADB
IN ABSENTIA: The MP for Hampstead and Highgate in London, a niece of deposed Bangladesh prime minister Sheik Hasina, condemned the ‘flawed and farcical’ trial A court in Bangladesh yesterday sentenced British Member of Parliament Tulip Siddiq to two years in jail after a judge ruled she was complicit in corrupt land deals with her aunt, the country’s deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina. A judge found Siddiq, the Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate, guilty of misusing her “special influence” as a British politician to coerce Hasina into giving valuable pieces of land to her mother, brother and sister. Siddiq’s mother, Sheikh Rehana, was given seven years in prison and considered the prime participant in the case. The trial had been carried out in absentia: Neither Hasina, Siddiq,
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