■ Hong Kong
Tsunami survivor convicted
A woman who survived the Indian Ocean tsunami was convicted of social welfare fraud after being caught out by news reports of her ordeal, a newspaper reported yesterday. Leung Wat-kei's story of her seven-hour ordeal adrift at sea with her husband near Phuket, Thailand, appeared in Hong Kong newspapers after the Dec. 26, 2004 disaster. However, it was spotted by the social welfare department, which checked and found she was claiming benefits as a single parent after claiming she lost touch with her husband.
■ Japan
Party leader to step down
The head of the junior party in Japan's ruling coalition will not seek a new term after his current one expires in October, a news report said yesterday. Chief Representative Takenori Kanzaki of the New Komeito Party has decided to not stand in the party's leadership contest so the party can be rejuvenated ahead of next summer's upper house elections, Kyodo News agency said, citing unidentified party sources.
■ Japan
Childless women a worry
More than half of Japanese women born in the early 1970s were still childless at 30, intensifying fears about the nation's already low birthrate, Japanese media said yesterday. The baby shortage, which has contributed to a decline in the overall population that began last year. According to Health Ministry figures released late on Friday, 50.3 percent of women born between 1971 and 1974 -- what Japan calls the second baby boomer generation -- had had no children by the time they reached 30. "That many women in the second baby boomer generation have few children could mean the birthrate will fall at a faster rate and the population will further decline," said a Health Ministry official quoted by the Kyodo news agency.
■ Indonesia
Danish diplomats return
Denmark's embassy will reopen tomorrow after a three-week closure following Muslim protests over cartoons of the prophet Mohammed published in a Danish newspaper, the Indonesian foreign ministry said yesterday. Denmark withdrew the Jakarta embassy's diplomats and staff on Feb. 11 citing security threats in the world's most populous Muslim nation. The Danish government has urged all its citizens to leave Indonesia, warning of the danger from Muslim radicals seeking revenge for the cartoons. Foreign Ministry spokesman Desra Percaya said Denmark apparently believes the situation is safer now. "We have received a confirmation today from Danish the ambassador that they will reopen their embassy next week on Monday," Percaya said.
■ Cambodia
Suicide Web man expelled
The government yesterday deported a US citizen who operated a Web site promoting Cambodia as a place for foreigners to commit suicide, a police official said. Roger Graham, 57, was taken into police custody on Thursday from his residence in Kampot province, said Police General Sok Phal. ``He [Graham] was sent out from Cambodia this morning'' Sok Phal said. ``His Web site lured people in the world to come to commit suicide in Cambodia,'' the general said. ``Cambodia is not the place for foreigners to come to kill themselves.'' In November last year, Kampot provincial authorities sued Graham for defaming the province. He was summoned for questioning at the court but was never tried.
■ Belarus
Police beat up journalists
Police beat up at least nine journalists who covered the temporary detention of an opposition candidate, Alexander Kozulin, in the capital Minsk on Thursday, global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in a statement late on Friday. "These incidents are unacceptable and fuel fears of a presidential election [slated for March 19] in a climate of terror, without a shred of freedom or democracy," it said. Some of the journalists were temporarily detained, while others were hospitalized after having been beaten up, the RSF said.
■ United Kingdom
Students favor tradition
Students at Oxford University have voted in favor of keeping the age-old practice of wearing full academic dress for examinations, the Times newspaper said yesterday. In an online poll of the university's students, 81 percent of the 4,382 who replied voted in favor of keeping the "subfusc" uniform compulsory. "Subfusc" is described by the University Examination Decrees and Regulations as for women "a dark skirt or trousers, a white blouse, black tie, black stockings and shoes, and, if desired, a dark coat." Men are required to wear "a dark suit and socks, black shoes, a white bow tie and plain white shirt and collar" during exams. Both sexes are also required to wear a gown and have mortar boards, but women can opt for a soft cap.
■ United Kingdom
Living dead wins book title
The living dead beat rhino horn to be named "Oddest Book Title of the Year." Bookseller magazine gave the award on Friday to a self-help book on being haunted entitled People Who Don't Know They're Dead: How They Attach Themselves to Unsuspecting Bystanders and What to Do About It. In a close fight, the runner-up was Rhino Horn Stockpile Management: Minimum Standards and Best Practices from East and Southern Africa.
■ Netherlands
H5N1 cooperation lacking
Several countries are refusing to cooperate with the global investigation into deadly H5N1 bird flu infections of wild birds, an environmental organization claimed on Friday. "Some major countries frustrate the research by not letting research teams in ... Sudan, Turkey, Tunisia, Iran and Nigeria have so far failed to cooperate with vital and urgent international research," Wetlands International, a Netherlands based non-governmental organization, said in a press statement. The organization said that the reluctance to allow in researchers was due to the implications for poultry exports and tourism if the virus were found in wild birds in the country.
■ France
Disease strikes island
The deaths of 93 people on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion have now been linked, directly or indirectly, to an epidemic of the mosquito-borne viral disease chikungunya, French Health Minister Xavier Bertrand said on Friday. In addition, 186,000 people living in the French overseas department, have come down with the illness since the epidemic broke out in March last year, Bertrand said. On Sunday, during a visit to the island, French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin announced US$90 million in aid to combat the virus. French media reported that there was now concern over Villepin's health, because he was apparently stung by a mosquito while on the island.
■ Iran
Russian offer feasible
Tehran for the first time said yesterday that temporary uranium enrichment outside Iran would be possible, the news agency ISNA reported. "Iran will not give up its right to have nuclear technology but having the nuclear enrichment process in another country for a while is another issue," Iranian chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani was quoted by ISNA as saying upon arrival from Vienna. Iran had so far refrained to give a clear reply to the Russian plan to enrich its converted uranium on Russian territory and said that the plan needed more evaluation. "We have in the meantime reached several agreements with Russia [on the plan] and even finalized five to six items which could help improving the current situation," Larijani said.
■ Canada
Death not caused by allergy
A 15-year-old girl with a peanut allergy did not die from kissing her boyfriend following his snack of peanut butter but from another cause, a Quebec coroner said on Friday, countering a report that drew international attention late last year. But Saguenay coroner Michel Miron would not reveal Christina Desforges' cause of death because he has not yet submitted his final report to the provincial coroner's office and he is also waiting on some final test results. Desforges died in a Quebec hospital in November. At the time officials said doctors were unable to treat her allergic reaction to the kiss the previous weekend.
■ France
9/11 death penalty opposed
France reminded the US on Friday of its opposition to the death penalty for Sept. 11, 2001 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, but Washington gave no indication how it would respond to calls for leniency. Moussaoui, a French citizen, pleaded guilty in the US to six charges against him in connection with the attacks that killed almost 3,000 people. A jury is being chosen to decide whether he will face the death penalty or be sentenced to life in prison. "I repeated France's position on the death penalty to the attorney general," French Justice Minister Pascal Clement told reporters.
■ Costa Rica
Solis concedes defeat
The opponent of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oscar Arias conceded defeat on Friday in Costa Rica's presidential election after weeks of bickering following an extremely close vote count. Otton Solis of the Citizen Action Party conceded that Arias had won the Feb. 5 election. Solis had challenged results giving Arias a narrow victory but gave up the fight after electoral authorities rejected hundreds of complaints of irregularities. "The country needs clarity. Oscar Arias will be president as of May 8," Solis told reporters. Arias quickly accepted victory, although electoral authorities were not immediately expected to officially declare him the winner.
■ United States
Fugitive lawyer nabbed
An alert hotel clerk helped police nab a fugitive lawyer facing charges that he paid for sex with two teen girls with the approval of their mother. James Colliton, 42, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on Friday afternoon in Manhattan's state Supreme Court. The judge ordered the defendant jailed without bail and scheduled a hearing for Wednesday. Colliton was spotted by a St. Mark's Hotel clerk who recognized him from a newspaper photograph and called police, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said. ``The clerk was alert,'' Morgenthau said.
HOLLYWOOD IN TURMOIL: Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton and Cary Elwes lost properties to the flames, while awards events planned for this week have been delayed Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events, while at least five people have died. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week’s Oscar nominations have been delayed, while tens of thousands of city residents had been displaced and were awaiting word on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city’s most famous denizens. More than 1,900 structures had been destroyed and the number was expected to increase. More than 130,000 people
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
Some things might go without saying, but just in case... Belgium’s food agency issued a public health warning as the festive season wrapped up on Tuesday: Do not eat your Christmas tree. The unusual message came after the city of Ghent, an environmentalist stronghold in the country’s East Flanders region, raised eyebrows by posting tips for recycling the conifers on the dinner table. Pointing with enthusiasm to examples from Scandinavia, the town Web site suggested needles could be stripped, blanched and dried — for use in making flavored butter, for instance. Asked what they thought of the idea, the reply
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