Mon, Sep 05, 2005 page7

• World Bews Quick Take

  • AGENCIES
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  ■ China
  Talim death toll over 58

  The death toll from Typhoon Talim last week rose yesterday to at least 58 after five more fatalities were reported, with nine people still missing. The newly reported deaths were in Anhui Province, bringing that area's fatality toll to 44. The government earlier reported 14 deaths in Wenzhou, a southeastern port city where the typhoon roared ashore on Thursday, wrecking houses and roads and knocking out power. In Anhui, heavy rains and mudslides caused by the storm destroyed 17,200 houses. The report said local authorities were rushing emergency supplies to survivors.

  ■ India

  Encephalitis killing kids

  At least 39 more children died in the past 24 hours in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, pushing the death toll to 432 in the state since the outbreak began in late July. Officials said more than 500 people were being treated for the disease in hospitals across the state. Japanese encephalitis is spread from pigs to humans by mosquitos. Children are more susceptible to the disease and most of the dead in the outbreak have been under age 15. The state's top health official said 39 children had died overnight, pushing the death toll to 432 since the outbreak began.

  ■ Hong Kong

  Disney test run draws 30,000

  Nearly 30,000 visitors crowded into Hong Kong Disneyland yesterday for a charity trial run, putting the theme park to its first major test ahead of its official opening on Sept. 12. The park has said 30,000 is the maximum number of visitors it can accommodate in a day. Television news showed long queues of people both outside and inside the park despite rainy weather. Proceeds from the day's ticket sales, totaling HK$9.7 million (US$1.25 million), will be donated to the Hong Kong Community Chest. The park says it will draw about 3.6 million tourists to the territory within a year.

  ■ Australia

  Minister jokes about suicide

  A top minister admitted yesterday to joking about a colleague's suicide attempt, offering an apology and declaring "I have never claimed to be the world's most sensitive person." Health Minister Tony Abbott's apology came during questioning on television over his remarks about former New South Wales (NSW) state Liberal Party leader John Brogden last week. "If it would make people feel better if I apologized, I'm always happy to apologize," Abbott said. Brogden resigned after it was revealed that he called the Malaysian-born wife of former NSW premier Bob Carr a "mail-order bride." At a function 12 hours after Brogden's suicide attempt, Abbott was asked about a health proposal and replied: "If we did that we would be as dead as the former Liberal leader's political prospects."

  ■ Australia

  Nationals stranded in the US

  Fears were raised for the 40 nationals still stranded in New Orleans and Louisiana and US authorities were criticized for allowing the post-hurricane situation to spiral out of control. Buses have ferried out around two dozen of the 50 Australians who were believed to be in New Orleans when hurricane Katrina struck the city. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said his government was powerless to help Australians who remained in the city amid disturbing levels of violence because diplomats were banned from entering the city. "The Americans say officials going in there could be attacked, and could be shot, and that they want to get the security situation more under control," Downer said.

  ■ Germany
  Memorial costs a lot

  Berlin's Holocaust memorial has run up a deficit of more than half a million dollars since it opened earlier this year owing to the unexpec-tedly large influx of visitors to the site. Security costs have spiralled since the memorial opened last spring, resulting in budget overrides of US$600,000 in its US$2.2 million budget, Der Spiegel news magazine said on Saturday. The cost of providing brochures and other information hand-outs to visitors also exceeded expectations. "Quality has its price," Holocaust-monument foundation head Uwe Neumaerker said. "The flood of visitors has led to costs that could not be precisely taken into calculation in advance," he said.

  ■ United Kingdom

  Muslim now Miss England

  An Uzbekistan-born teenager on Saturday night in Liverpool became the first ever Muslim girl to be crowned Miss England and will compete in the Miss World pageant in China in December. Hammasa Kohistani, 18, whose parents had fled Afghanistan, said she was delighted but surprised to learn she was the winner and hoped she would not be the last Muslim girl to receive the honor. Asked about being the first Muslim Miss England, Kohistani said: "I'm making history and I'm very happy. Hopefully I won't be the last." The brunette, who speaks six languages including Russian, Persian and French, looked ecstatic as the crown was placed on her head before a cheering crowd in Liverpool's Olympia Theater.

  ■ Germany

  Band launches pet project

  The Pet Shop Boys launched their long-awaited "Battleship Potemkin" tour in Germany over the weekend to sell-out open-air crowds. The British pop duo, accompanied by a symphony orchestra, scheduled two-hour performances of their ground-breaking musical score to Sergei Eisenstein's epic silent film Battleship Potemkin in Frankfurt, Hamburg and other cities at the outset of their new world tour. A lovingly restored print of the film is being shown. Battleship Potemkin tells the story of a mutiny on board a Russian battleship, sparked by the crew being given rotten meat to eat. The revolt leads to a riot, which leads to a fleet of battleships being drafted in to destroy the Potemkin.

  ■ Spain

  Coast guard nabs Africans

  The Spanish coast guard said on Saturday that it had intercepted 110 would-be African immigrants, including four babies and three other children, off the south coast. A 60-strong group was picked up 16km off the coastline, just east of the Strait of Gibraltar, with the remainder, including the babies and children picked up near Tarifa, the coast guard reported. The immigrants comprised North and sub-Saharan Africans, but the authorities did not specify in what proportion.

  ■ United Kingdom

  Irish mobs attack police

  Two Catholic men were arrested yesterday after alcohol-fueled mobs attacked police in Belfast and a coastal village north of the Northern Ireland capital, injuring seven officers. The Police Service of Northern Ireland said its officers fired tear gas to repel the violent crowds in west Belfast and in Cushendall. In both cases, dozens of men poured out of local pubs to attack police units. The episodes demonstrated continuing Catholic hostility to the predominantly Protestant police force.

  ■ Austria
  Valuable painting slashed

  A visitor to an art museum in western Austria pulled a pocket knife from her purse and repeatedly slashed a painting by US artist Roy Lichtenstein worth millions of dollars, a police spokesman said yesterday. The woman, a 35-year-old German from Munich, was visiting the Kunsthaus Bregenz exhibition "Roy Lichtenstein -- Classic of the New" on Saturday afternoon when she vandalized the painting Nude in Mirror. She made four cuts in the painting, each measuring about 30cm, police spokesman Thomas Prodinger said. The painting had been insured for US$6 million, he said. A museum visitor and an employee held the woman until police arrived. She scratched a police officer in the face and bit another in the leg during questioning, Prodinger said.

  ■ Sweden

  Tests may help prevent SIDS

  As many as one in 10 cases of sudden infant death syndrome could be avoided by early screening for a heart problem and proper treatment, researchers said yesterday. Scientists have long suspected some cases of SIDS, also known as cot death or crib death, may be due to an electrical problem called long Q-T syndrome, in which the heart recharges itself too slowly. Now a study released at the European Society of Cardiology annual meeting in Stockholm has shown at least 8.4 percent of SIDS victims carry genetic mutations associated with this.

  ■ Brazil

  Deadly storm hits south

  Strong winds from an extratropical storm that hit southern Brazil killed one man and left five people injured, the government news agency Agencia Brasil said. The storm, which made landfall on Friday in the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina with winds of around 110kph, also caused power failures and airport closures, local media reported. An 81-year-old farmer died after being hit by a falling tree. Five people were treated for minor wounds after being hit by flying debris, mostly tree limbs. Waves as high as 5m were reported on the southern coast.

  ■ Iraq

  Constitution talks resume

  Politicians said on Saturday that new talks were taking place on the text of the draft constitution, following widespread calls for unity after the deadly stampede which killed nearly 1,000 Shiite pilgrims. Bridging deep divisions between Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish representatives over the draft charter could help assuage sectarian tensions in the country, as grieving Shiites continued to mourn relatives lost in the tragedy. "There are some contacts, with the focal point of discussions revolving around the identity of Iraq," said a top Shiite negotiator, referring to Sunni demands that the whole country be declared part of the Arab world.

  ■ Ukraine

  Signs of baby selling found

  A European organization has urged the Ukraine to investigate the reported disappearance of at least four newborns from a hospital in the eastern part of the country, saying the evidence of baby trafficking was "shameful." According to the reports, the babies were allegedly stolen to be sold for adoption or to be harvested for organs. The parents were told they were dead, and their requests to see the bodies were denied. "Before I was not sure that these babies disappeared. Now I am," Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold, from the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly, said on Friday.
• Most Popular

  • 1

    Control Yuan member quits over misuse of vehicle

  • 2

    Greek basketball finals suspended following scuffles

  • 3

    Taipei ranks 60 in ‘Global Cities Index,’ up five spots

  • 4

    Taiwan denies hacking, as China issues bounties

  • 5

    Woman sentenced to six years for recruiting for China