■ Australia
Anger spreads over trial
One of the country's largest charities, the Salvation Army, said that public anger over convicted drug runner Schapelle Corby's jailing in Bali was hampering its main annual door-to-door fundraising drive, the Red Shield Appeal that was held yesterday. Salvation Army spokesman Pat Daley said that "Collectors right around the nation have been reporting that people do not want their money going to Indonesia," although Red Shield Appeal has always been used to fund domestic charity projects, not overseas aid. Some charities such as World Vision have also reported calls from people asking for their tsunami donations to be returned in the wake of the Corby case. Many Australians have also threatened to stop vacationing on the resort island of Bali.
■ Afghanistan
Taxes to be phased in
Afghans and foreigners working in the country are soon going to have to start paying tax on their incomes. The wage tax is being imposed on all businesses with two or more employees from Sept. 23. The new tax will be set at a rate of 10 percent on incomes over 12,500 afghanis (US$250) a month. Incomes over 100,000 afghanis (US$2,000) a month will be taxed 20 percent. Afghanistan gets half of its more than US$600 million annual budget from donor nations and they are keen to see the government start developing sustainable revenue streams. The average basic salary of a government employee is 1,250 afghanis (US$25) a month so the new tax is largely aimed at the more than 2,000 foreigners and Afghans working for companies and aid groups.
■ China
Family drowns in a well
A man in southern China fell into a well and died, and five of his relatives who jumped in to save him also perished. Authorities in a village in Guangdong province recovered the six bodies from the well. The man who fell in first had slipped Friday when laying a water pump. One male relative jumped in to save him and when he wasn't successful, the others jumped in one after the other to help out; all drowned. The six were all of the males in the family, surnamed Li, who had dug the well at the beginning of the year.
■ Sri Lanka
Aid to be shared with rebels
President Chandrika Kumaratunga yesterday vowed to share foreign aid with Tamil rebels a day after former US president Bill Clinton urged local politicians to support the controversial move. Kumaratunga is facing opposition to any deal with the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) from her own coalition partner, the Marxist JVP, or People's Liberation Front, which has threatened to quit.
■ Singapore
Horny men duped by AIDS ad
Ads featuring a voluptuous brunette inviting telephone calls have triggered nearly 400,000 responses from intrigued men apparently unaware they are responding to the latest tactic by an AIDS awareness group. "You like my voice?" the woman "Nikki" asks her hotline callers. "Do you think it's sexy?" Nikki was created for the latest Action For AIDS (AFA) campaign in Singapore, with ads in public places depicting the sensuous woman in skimpy attire. She tempts people with slogans such as, "Want to know me?" and "You'll call again and again." Callers are greeted in English or Mandarin, with a sultry Nikki saying she would like to meet the man but wants to know if he would wear a condom.
■ United Kingdom
Big Ben stands still
Big Ben, the world-famous clock at the Houses of Parliament in London, stopped late on Friday night, and nobody is quite sure why, officials said on Saturday. The 147-year-old timepiece -- one of the most reliable in the world -- stopped at 10:07pm, then started again, then stalled a second time at 10:20pm, where it remained for 90 minutes before it was reset. Hot weather might have been to blame -- Friday was the hottest May in London since 1953, with a high of 31.8oC -- but no-one was certain this was the cause. Big Ben is renowned for its accuracy, surviving a dozen attacks by German bombers during World War II when it continued to mark the time within one-and-a-half seconds of Greenwich time.
■ United Kingdom
Home-grown is in demand
An explosion in the amount of cannabis grown in British homes has alarmed senior police officers, with some forces reporting a sixfold increase in seizures. Home-grown cannabis now accounts for more than half of all consumption in the UK. While cultivating cannabis is illegal, it is not illegal to buy seeds and growing equipment and business is booming. "We're selling at least 200 packets of seeds each week. Some of it is down to the reclassification -- there's a lot of confusion out there, and some people think it's now legal. The other factor is the increased availability of hydroponic equipment which enables you to grow plants indoors," said Mark Evans, director of Internet-based retailer everyonedoesit.com.
■ Italy
Benedict goes for a spin
Pope Benedict XVI began his first papal trip with a visit yesterday to the eastern seaport of Bari, a brief but symbolic outing that follows in the much-traveled footsteps of his predecessor. Benedict flew by helicopter to Bari, a city closely tied to the Orthodox Church. After landing, he boarded a white "popemobile" and waved to the crowds as the vehicle made its way slowly to Bari's seaside, where he was to celebrate an open-air Mass that will close a national conference on the Eucharist. Security in the city was tight, with the town center and seaside boulevard leading to the Mass site closed to regular traffic. Some 150,000 to 200,000 people were expected to attend the Mass.
■ West Bank
Palestinian recruits sought
The Palestinian Authority is moving ahead with securing the coastal Gaza Strip area that Israel is to evacuate this summer, putting out a call for 5,000 new security forces, an Interior Ministry spokesman said on Saturday. Although there are fears Palestinian militants will fire on Israeli targets during and after the pullout, the new recruits won't be armed because of Israeli restrictions on the number of guns Palestinian forces can carry, spokesman Tawfiq Abu Khousa said. He urged Israel to let other countries supply the Palestinians with additional weapons if it wants maximum security in Gaza.
■ Ethiopia
Government wins poll
The ruling coalition and allied political parties have won a majority in the country's 547-seat parliament, according to provisional results, the National Electoral Board said. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's coalition won 269 seats while four small independent parties affiliated with the ruling party won 14 seats in provisional results released on Saturday from the May 15 vote, the National Electoral Board said.
■ Chile
More dead soldiers found
The Chilean army found three more bodies in snow at Antuco in the Andes Saturday, bringing to 38 the number of soldiers confirmed dead, with seven conscripts still unaccounted for in a military maneuver that went wrong. Rain that fell Saturday is believed to have helped in uncovering bodies hidden in the snow, said Los Angeles regiment commander Colonel Patricio Espinoza. The dead include one sergeant and 37 conscripts. Nearly 400 soldiers were involved in the failed maneuver in which blizzards hit on May 18 while the men marched along a 25km path linking two shelters near Antuco, east of the army base at Los Angeles.
■ United States
Stripping leads to charges
A mother faces criminal charges after she hired a stripper to dance at her 16-year-old son's birthday party. Anette Pharris, 34, has been indicted by a grand jury on charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and involving a minor in obscene acts. The boy's father, the stripper and two others also face charges. "I tried to do something special for my son," Pharris said. "It didn't harm him." About 10 people under the age of 18 were at the birthday party in September, including minors who were not related to the family, authorities said. Police spokesman Don Aaron said minors are not permitted in adult establishments. "A person shouldn't be allowed to circumvent that law by hiring a stripper, a lady who took all her clothes off and danced around minors," he said.
■ United States
Police end standoff on crane
A murder suspect perched about 100m up a construction crane in Atlanta, Georgia was arrested Saturday after a standoff with police that stretched for more than 48 hours. It only ended when an officer was able to approach him by offering a cup of water before drawing a concealed Taser stun gun and using it to subdue the suspect. Police had shut down the neighborhood around the site, prompting complaints from local businesses, and news channels ran regular updates as fugitive Carl Roland, 41, gained national notoriety. Police said that Roland, suspected of killing his former girlfriend in Florida, had refused food and drink while sitting or lying on the crane's arm.
■ United States
General to mediate talks
The government has expanded the role of its pointman for Middle East security to mediate between Israelis and Palestinians on security issues as Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip, the Washington Post said Saturday. Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas, who attended a White House summit Thursday, disclosed US General William Ward's new mandate to a small group of reporters Friday in Washington, according to the Post, which said the change was confirmed by an Israeli official and a senior US official.
■ Greece
Students busted for cheating
Three students were arrested on Saturday for conspiring to cheat in a university entrance exam using a wireless camera hidden in a pen, police said. The police were alerted to the ploy by the principal of the Athens high school where the mathematics exam was being held, who noticed an antenna cable running from the school's front gate to a clump of bushes nearby. Two of the unidentified youths, aged 20 and 24, had hidden a laptop in the bushes overnight, allegedly planning to use it to help their 19-year-old friend cheat.
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘BODIES EVERYWHERE’: The incident occurred at a Filipino festival celebrating an anti-colonial leader, with the driver described as a ‘lone suspect’ known to police Canadian police arrested a man on Saturday after a car plowed into a street party in the western Canadian city of Vancouver, killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8pm in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election. A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police wrote on X. The driver was a “lone suspect” known to police, a police spokesperson told journalists at the
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition
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