■ Singapore
Pig-part smuggler jailed
A man has been jailed for three months for trying to smuggle raw pig intestines from Malaysia, court officials said yesterday. Singapore's coast guard intercepted Tan Choong-wah, 46, in October as he steered his sampan toward the city-state loaded with 29 packets, or 232kg, of pig intestines bound for a buyer, officials said. Pig intestines are commonly used in Chinese cooking. Tan could have been jailed up to two years and fined S$50,000 (around US$30,000). Singapore has banned imports of pig products from Malaysia since an outbreak of the potentially fatal Nipah virus more than six years ago.
■ Pakistan
Brad Pitt donates beds
An Islamabad hospital has received the first of 40 orthopaedic beds Hollywood star Brad Pitt donated for the Oct. 8 earthquake victims during a visit to Pakistan last month, a news report said yesterday. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) delivered the bed to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences on Wednesday. The entire lot of 40 beds is worth US$100,000, the English-language daily the Nation reported. "We are grateful to our donor, Mr. Brad Pitt, for supporting the relief efforts for the earthquake affected people of Pakistan," UNHCR's representative in Pakistan Guenet Guebre-Christos said.
■ China
Beijing trials H5N1 vaccine
China is ready and able to mass produce a vaccine -- currently undergoing human trials -- to protect people from catching the H5N1 flu virus from birds, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Researchers have made preparations to produce the experimental vaccine in massive quantities, Xinhua quoted Yin Weidong, a leading expert on the project, as saying on Wednesday. The clinical tests will be finished in about 12 months, Xinhua said. High-risk groups, such as poultry farm workers and medical workers in areas hit by bird flu, would be vaccinated if the trials are a success, the report quoted Yin as saying.
■ China
Beijing slams Tokyo
China yesterday slammed what it called the Japanese government's "vile behavior" in alleging that a Japanese consulate staffer in Shanghai committed suicide after Chinese agents pressured him to provide classified information. "This is completely out of ulterior motives and we express our strong indignation at the vile behavior of the Japanese government, which deliberately smears China's image," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang (秦剛) said at a regular press briefing. On Wednesday, Japan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Yoshinori Katori said the staffer killed himself in May last year and added "we believe that there was an impermissible act by the Chinese security authorities" that led to his death.
■ Australia
Teen-loving teacher wins
A 52-year-old high school English teacher was sacked after starting up a romance with a 15-year-old pupil. Married father-of-three Jeffery Sinclair, who maintained that a sexual relationship didn't start until Nicki Shackle was 16, went on to live with the girl. What happened next stunned Australians. Sinclair claimed, and won, a payout from the Workers Compensation Commission on the grounds that the incident had left him depressed. In the uproar that followed, the education department tried and failed to stop the A$28,000 (US$20,000) settlement.
■ South Africa
Zimbabweans deported
Two hundred illegal Zimbabweans were deported by chartered plane this week, an official said, in a move believed to have been prompted by the unavailability of bus and rail transport over the festive season. Between 600 and 6,000 Zimbabweans are deported every week from a repatriation centre west of Johannesburg. President Thabo Mbeki's government has admitted that it was fighting a losing battle against the influx of Zimbabweans fleeing poverty and repression in their homeland, with many deportees returning within weeks.
■ Kenya
Unlikely duo still together
The unlikely couple of a baby hippo and a 130-year-old tortoise were still together a year after the hippo was separated from its family by the Indian Ocean tsunami. Owen the hippo was living with his family on the Sabaki River when massive waves reached the East African coast. He was washed into the ocean and stranded on a reef. Local residents then used fishing nets to catch him and take him to the Haller Park sanctuary, where he met Mzee the tortoise, and adopted him as a surrogate parent. The tortoise at first resisted. But the persistent Owen kept following him around the park. Mzee relented after several days. They are now inseparable.
■ Austria
Sex posters slammed
Spoof posters depicting Britain's Queen having sex with the US and French presidents and displayed across Vienna are causing embarrassment just days before Austria takes over the EU presidency. The images show two naked female models wearing masks of US President George W. Bush and the queen, and a male model with a Jacques Chirac mask, positioned as if they were having sex. Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel appealed to the artists to withdraw the images. Part of a series created by artists from all 25 member countries of the EU, the posters were meant to "reflect on Europe's different social, historical and political developments", said art project 25peaces, which commissioned them.
■ russia
Home fire kills seven
A fire broke out early yesterday in a home for the mentally ill outside Moscow, killing seven people and injuring 12 others, officials said. Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman Viktor Beltsov told local radio that 55 people were inside the building, including two staff and 53 residents, when the blaze broke out around 4am. The firefighters task was complicated by the fact that there was no ready water near the building, and it had to be brought from about 1km away, he said. The official said the fire originated in the attic of the home, a two-story brick building with wooden floorings.
■ Chile
Enclave founder charged
Former German army corporal Paul Schaefer was charged on Wednesday with torturing eight children in a mysterious German enclave that he founded in Chile, according to judicial sources. Schaefer, 84, who has already been charged with the rape of more than 20 children, was arrested in Argentina in March after eight years on the run. Gisela Seewald, 75, who was director of the enclave's hospital from 1975 to 1978, admitted that she used electroshock treatment and sedatives on children who refused to accept Colonia Dignidad's hierarchy.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
CONFLICTING REPORTS: Beijing said it was ‘not familiar with the matter’ when asked if Chinese jets were used in the conflict, after Pakistan’s foreign minister said they were The Pakistan Army yesterday said it shot down 25 Indian drones, a day after the worst violence between the nuclear-armed rivals in two decades. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to retaliate after India launched deadly missile strikes on Wednesday morning, escalating days of gunfire along their border. At least 45 deaths were reported from both sides following Wednesday’s violence, including children. Pakistan’s military said in a statement yesterday that it had “so far shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones” at multiple location across the country. “Last night, India showed another act of aggression by sending drones to multiple locations,” Pakistan military spokesman Ahmed
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