■ Belgium
Iranian lunch cancelled
A lunch meeting between a leading parliamentarian and counterparts from Iran has been canceled because the beer-loving Belgian could not stomach a ban on alcohol. "Even for the tolerant Herman De Croo, that was a bridge too far," De Croo, a Dutch-speaking Liberal, said. De Croo, president of parliament's lower house, had been due to entertain the speaker and members of the Iranian parliament yesterday during their visit to Belgium -- famous for its diversity of beer brands. But he said lunch had been canceled because the Iranians, who as Muslims do not drink alcohol, wanted their hosts to do the same.
■ Lebanon
Shooting in the air banned
A top Shiite Muslim cleric issued a fatwa edict banning shooting in the air after three people were killed by gunfire celebrating the re-election of the Shiite parliament speaker. Shooting in the air and setting off fireworks among people or on the streets, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah said, "is forbidden because of its major negative consequences and because it is intimidating and annoying." Rifle shots and gunfire echoed around Beirut from the moment warlord-turned-politician Nabih Berri was re-elected speaker.
■ NIgeria
Police chief run over
A graft-tainted former police chief fell out of a squad car which then rolled over his legs in a bizarre incident after a court ruled he would face a second trial on corruption charges. Tafa Balogun is accused of stealing and laundering US$100 million in his three years as police inspector general in one of the most high-profile cases resulting from a government crackdown on graft. Police tried to drive Balogun away to complete bail formalities but his defense lawyer resisted and in the confusion Balogun was shoved into a police car which sped off before the doors were closed. A short distance away Balogun fell out of the car and the back wheels went over his legs.
■ United Kingdom
Abortion law change nixed
Proposals to amend the UK abortion law to stop women having late terminations were overwhelmingly rejected by British doctors. After a passionate debate, the British Medical Association voted by three to one to maintain the present limits, restricting abortions to the first 24 weeks of pregnancy except in extreme circumstances. The conference was told that many women had a late termination because local health boards failed to provide facilities for a prompt abortion at an earlier stage in the pregnancy.
■ United Kingdom
Victim wins record sum
The Roman Catholic church was warned by lawyers that it is likely to face further claims for compensation for the prolonged sexual abuse of children carried out by one of its priests after a victim was awarded a record ?635,000 (US$1,140,000) in damages. The figure, awarded to a 35-year-old man who was abused over a 10-year period by the priest, Father Christopher Clonan, is the largest settlement the church has conceded in the UK. The man, known as A, was abused between the ages of seven and 18, and now suffers from schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder and has lived for the past five years in a mental health home. By the time the boy was 12 he was being anally raped and forced to perform oral sex.
■ United States
Teacher, students arrested
Two failing students face arson charges after accepting teacher Tramesha Lashon Fox's offer of a passing score in exchange for torching her car in a botched insurance scheme, Texas authorities said on Wednesday. "All three have confessed," senior fire investigator Dustin Deutsch of the Harris County Fire Marshal's Office said. Fox, 32, was in the process of surrendering to authorities, Deutsch and Fox's attorney told reporters. Roger Luna, 18, was arrested on Tuesday while Darwin Arias, 17, was not yet in custody, Deutsch said. The two males each face one count of arson, punishable by two to 20 years in prison. Fox faces charges of arson and insurance fraud, also punishable by two to 20 years in prison.
■ Turkey
Bombing suspect shot
Police shot dead a suspected suicide bomber near Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's office in Ankara yesterday. Television showed live footage of police shooting at the man, said to be around 35 years old, in a street in the leafy central district of the capital. A reporter saw the man lying dead in a pool of blood. Witnesses said the suspected bomber had been unable to detonate his explosives. The incident revived memories of four devastating suicide bomb attacks in Turkey's largest city Istanbul in November 2003. More than 60 people were killed in those attacks.
■ Zimbabwe
Demolition turns deadly
The Zimbabwe police finished demolishing a squatter camp outside Harare that once had at least 10,000 residents on Thursday, killing as many as four people, a day after a UN envoy met with President Robert Mugabe to discuss the refugee crisis that similar mass evictions have set off. After three days of work, the police destroyed and burned the remains of the Portafarm settlement. Mugabe's government established the camp more than a decade ago for homeless peasants who had migrated to the city seeking work. Human rights and charitable groups said two women had died in the demolition.
■ Kenya
Displaced citizen gets home
A man who has lived for more than a year at Nairobi's international airport to protest being denied entry to Britain has finally been granted UK citizenship and plans to fly there within days. In a real-life African version of Tom Hanks' movie The Terminal, Sanjai Shah, 43, has been eating cafeteria food, sleeping on plastic transit lounge chairs, and showering in arrival hall toilets since May last year. Shah obtained a British Overseas Citizen passport since he was born in Kenya when it was under colonial rule. But when he flew to England without a return ticket or sufficient funds, he was deported with "prohibited immigrant" stamped in his passport -- negating the document.
■ Croatia
Coffee foils robbery
A shop clerk armed with a pair of scissors and a cup of coffee foiled a robbery in the capital Zagreb on Thursday, state news agency Hina reported. A man in a motorcycle helmet entered the corner shop brandishing a knife and told the cashier to hand over the money in the cash register, Hina said, quoting a police report. "The collected and brave shop-clerk, 50, pointed a pair of scissors at him, then took a cup of hot coffee in her other hand and poured it on him," the report said. The robber, who is believed to have suffered burns, ran off with only the clerk's mobile phone.
Brazil, the world’s largest Roman Catholic country, saw its Catholic population decline further in 2022, while evangelical Christians and those with no religion continued to rise, census data released on Friday by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) showed. The census indicated that Brazil had 100.2 million Roman Catholics in 2022, accounting for 56.7 percent of the population, down from 65.1 percent or 105.4 million recorded in the 2010 census. Meanwhile, the share of evangelical Christians rose to 26.9 percent last year, up from 21.6 percent in 2010, adding 12 million followers to reach 47.4 million — the highest figure
A Chinese scientist was arrested while arriving in the US at Detroit airport, the second case in days involving the alleged smuggling of biological material, authorities said on Monday. The scientist is accused of shipping biological material months ago to staff at a laboratory at the University of Michigan. The FBI, in a court filing, described it as material related to certain worms and requires a government permit. “The guidelines for importing biological materials into the US for research purposes are stringent, but clear, and actions like this undermine the legitimate work of other visiting scholars,” said John Nowak, who leads field
‘THE RED LINE’: Colombian President Gustavo Petro promised a thorough probe into the attack on the senator, who had announced his presidential bid in March Colombian Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay, a possible candidate in the country’s presidential election next year, was shot and wounded at a campaign rally in Bogota on Saturday, authorities said. His conservative Democratic Center party released a statement calling it “an unacceptable act of violence.” The attack took place in a park in the Fontibon neighborhood when armed assailants shot him from behind, said the right-wing Democratic Center, which was the party of former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe. The men are not related. Images circulating on social media showed Uribe Turbay, 39, covered in blood being held by several people. The Santa Fe Foundation
NUCLEAR WARNING: Elites are carelessly fomenting fear and tensions between nuclear powers, perhaps because they have access to shelters, Tulsi Gabbard said After a trip to Hiroshima, US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Tuesday warned that “warmongers” were pushing the world to the brink of nuclear war. Gabbard did not specify her concerns. Gabbard posted on social media a video of grisly footage from the world’s first nuclear attack and of her staring reflectively at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. On Aug. 6, 1945, the US obliterated Hiroshima, killing 140,000 people in the explosion and by the end of the year from the uranium bomb’s effects. Three days later, a US plane dropped a plutonium bomb on Nagasaki, leaving abut 74,000 people dead by the
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