■ China
PRC media laud Ang Lee
Media heaped praise on yesterday on Taiwanese film director Ang Lee over his best director Oscar for Brokeback Mountain, but state media cut the part of his speech in which he thanks everyone in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong. State television also cut Lee's words of thanks to the two gay cowboys at the heart of the film. Homosexuality was considered a mental disorder in China until as recently as 2001 and is still a highly sensitive subject. "Ang Lee is the pride of the Chinese people all over the world, and he is the glory of Chinese cinematic talent," the China Daily gushed. But the state-run paper failed to report that Brokeback Mountain would not be coming to Chinese theaters and is only viewable on pirated DVD.
■ United States
Dana Reeve dies of cancer
Actress Dana Reeve, who fought for better treatments and possible cures for paralysis through the Christopher Reeve Foundation, named for her late actor-husband, has died. She was 44. Reeve died late on Monday of lung cancer, said Sean Dougherty, a spokesman for the foundation. Survivors include a teenage son, Will, and two stepchildren, Matthew and Alexandra. Reeve had announced last Aug. 9 that she had lung cancer. Christopher Reeve, the one-time Hollywood "Superman" turned activist for spinal cord research after a horse-riding accident, died on Oct. 10, 2004.
■ United Kingdom
Peyton place on offer
One of the country's top private secondary schools, Brighton College, is looking for a boy or girl between the ages of 13 and 18 with the last name of Peyton because a scholarship funded through an endowment by a former student dictates that the school award the money to a namesake. Derek Wakehurst Peyton, who died in 2002, left the school hundreds of thousands of pounds with one stipulation -- that the money go to a student named Peyton. The successful applicant must have a surname spelled Peyton, prove it with a birth certificate, and not have a hyphenated last name, Brighton College Headmaster Richard Cairns said. Staff at the school have combed British telephone books and contacted all 600 Peytons in the country in an attempt to find a student interested in the scholarship, but to no avail.
■ Australia
Stronger toilets needed
Sturdier toilets may be on their way in Australia to cope with the country's increasingly obese population. Standards Australia, a nongovernment group that establishes safety and design standards, is considering recommending strengthening loos for larger users, a spokeswoman Kate Evans said yesterday. Experts will examine the seats ``from the perspective that people are getting bigger,'' Evans said.
■ United States
False legs returned, again
A 16-year-old girl's prosthetic legs, which have been stolen twice since November, have been quietly returned, police said. Melissa Huff's mother found the legs in her unlocked car in Arcadia, California last Wednesday. The first theft happened in November, when someone cut a hole in a window screen in Huff's home and stole one of her legs. The stolen leg was tossed into the family's back yard in January. But on Valentine's Day, somebody stole both legs after prising open a screen window. The returned legs had graffiti on them.
■ United Kingdom
Tabooboo breaks taboo
Bars and nightclubs in London and other cities have begun using vending machines that sell sex toys such as mini vibrators. The pink Tabooboo machines had previously been used in public toilets under the assumption that such settings gave buyers some privacy. But Geoff Todd, manager of the Alphabet Bar in London's West End area, said the Tabooboo machine it installed in the middle of the bar is used daily. In addition to bars and nightclubs, the vending machines also have begun to show up in hairdressing salons, health clubs and retail stores, Tabooboo managing director Alan Lucas said.
■ United States
State moves to ban abortion
South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds has signed legislation that would ban most abortions, a law he acknowledged would be tied up in court for years while the state challenges the 1973 US Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. The bill signed on Monday would make it a crime for doctors to perform an abortion unless the procedure was necessary to save the woman's life. It would make no exception for cases of rape or incest. Planned Parenthood, which operates the state's only abortion clinic, in Sioux Falls, immediately pledged to challenge the measure.
■ Canada
Horse gets hero's send-off
Hundreds of dignitaries, police officers and ordinary citizens paid tribute on Monday to Brigadier, a police horse on the Toronto force that was killed in the line of duty. Speakers praised the special bond between rider and mount, while the officer who was in the saddle when an irate motorist rammed the horse known as "Brig" struggled to express the depth of his loss. ``Today I'm grateful to be able to say goodbye to my partner, and tell him that being in the saddle will never be the same,'' Constable Kevin Bradfield said through tears during his eulogy. Brigadier, killed Feb. 24, was given a hero's send-off at a large sports stadium. The driver who hit him is charged with dangerous operation of a vehicle causing bodily harm and failing to remain at the scene of an accident.
■ Defense
Britain, France ink ship pact
Britain and France signed an agreement on Monday to jointly develop a new generation of aircraft carriers which the British Ministry of Defense said would be "the largest and most powerful warships ever constructed in the UK." A memorandum was signed by French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie and her British counterpart, John Reid, on the sidelines of an EU defense meeting in Innsbruck, Austria. A statement by the British ministry said France will pay Britain £100 million (US$175 million) for access to work Britain has already done on the project. London has committed around £450 million to the 65,000 tonne vessel's design and will make a final decision on building the carriers next year.
■ Brazil
Logger attacks activists
The head of an agricultural cooperative attacked a group of about 50 Greenpeace activists with knives as they protested illegal logging in the Amazon on Monday, the group said. Jose Donizetti Pires de Oliveira did not injure anyone, but he damaged a banner and cars, Greenpeace said. Brazilian authorities fined Donizetti1.49 million reals (US$703,200) in January for illegally cutting down trees on 995 hectares of jungle.
DIPLOMATIC THAW: The Canadian prime minister’s China visit and improved Beijing-Ottawa ties raised lawyer Zhang Dongshuo’s hopes for a positive outcome in the retrial China has overturned the death sentence of Canadian Robert Schellenberg, a Canadian official said on Friday, in a possible sign of a diplomatic thaw as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney seeks to boost trade ties with Beijing. Schellenberg’s lawyer, Zhang Dongshuo (張東碩), yesterday confirmed China’s Supreme People’s Court struck down the sentence. Schellenberg was detained on drug charges in 2014 before China-Canada ties nosedived following the 2018 arrest in Vancouver of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou (孟晚舟). That arrest infuriated Beijing, which detained two Canadians — Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig — on espionage charges that Ottawa condemned as retaliatory. In January
Two medieval fortresses face each other across the Narva River separating Estonia from Russia on Europe’s eastern edge. Once a symbol of cooperation, the “Friendship Bridge” connecting the two snow-covered banks has been reinforced with rows of razor wire and “dragon’s teeth” anti-tank obstacles on the Estonian side. “The name is kind of ironic,” regional border chief Eerik Purgel said. Some fear the border town of more than 50,0000 people — a mixture of Estonians, Russians and people left stateless after the fall of the Soviet Union — could be Russian President Vladimir Putin’s next target. On the Estonian side of the bridge,
Jeremiah Kithinji had never touched a computer before he finished high school. A decade later, he is teaching robotics, and even took a team of rural Kenyans to the World Robotics Olympiad in Singapore. In a classroom in Laikipia County — a sparsely populated grasslands region of northern Kenya known for its rhinos and cheetahs — pupils are busy snapping together wheels, motors and sensors to assemble a robot. Guiding them is Kithinji, 27, who runs a string of robotics clubs in the area that have taken some of his pupils far beyond the rural landscapes outside. In November, he took a team
SHOW OF SUPPORT: The move showed that aggression toward Greenland is a question for Europe and Canada, and the consequences are global, not just Danish, experts said Canada and France, which adamantly oppose US President Donald Trump’s wish to control Greenland, were to open consulates in the Danish autonomous territory’s capital yesterday, in a strong show of support for the local government. Since returning to the White House last year, Trump has repeatedly insisted that Washington needs to control the strategic, mineral-rich Arctic island for security reasons. Trump last month backed off his threats to seize Greenland after saying he had struck a “framework” deal with NATO chief Mark Rutte to ensure greater US influence. A US-Denmark-Greenland working group has been established to discuss ways to meet Washington’s security concerns
RSS