■ China
Good manners needed
The success of Beijing's 2008 Olympic Games rests as much on showing good manners as on the quality of facilities and athletic performances, a senior delegate to the International Olympic Committee said. "It's the rude bus passenger or a witness to an accident who fails to lend a hand that stands in our way of staging an impressive Olympiad," He Zhenliang (何振梁) said on Monday in Shanghai. "People are talking about showcasing our culture and the country's economic power through the extravaganza, but I think good manners should be put at the top of our agenda," He was quoted as saying by the Shanghai Daily yesterday.
■ China
Activist's wife in appeal
Zeng Jinyan (曾金燕), the wife of Chinese AIDS activist Hu Jia (胡佳), who disappeared while under police guard, appealed publicly at a news conference at a Beijing hotel yesterday for help in finding him, expressing fears for his health. Hu was last seen on Feb. 16 while under house arrest after he joined activists who were holding a hunger strike to protest violence against dissidents. Other hunger strikers have been detained, but Zeng said she has received no response from police after filing a missing person's report.
■ Japan
Hokkaido volcano erupts
Mount Meakandake on the northern main island of Hokkaido, about 890km northwest of Tokyo, erupted at 6:28am yesterday, spewing a small amount of ash into the air, the Meteorological Agency said in a news release. About 8,500 residents of the nearby town of Ashoro have been advised not to go near the 1,499m volcano, but no evacuation order has been issued, said Keiichi Kamada, a Hokkaido Prefectural official.
■ Afghanistan
Police defuse shrine bombs
Police in Kabul defused two bombs yesterday near a Shiite shrine where tens of thousands of people had gathered for the Nowruz religious festival, the country's anti-terrorism chief said. The bombs were discovered hidden near the Sakhi shrine, the second most important Shiite place of worship in Afghanistan, General Abdul Manan Farahi said. The festival carried on without interruption as police patrolled the area on horses, in cars and on foot. Nowruz is an ancient Persian festival celebrated on the first day of spring in several countries including Afghanistan and Iran.
■ Malaysia
KFC bosses' homes attacked
Unidentified attackers threw gasoline bombs at the homes of two senior KFC officials, a news report said yesterday. No injuries were reported. The Molotov cocktails were thrown on Saturday night at the homes of KFC Holdings (Malaysia) Bhd executive director Ahmad Aznan Nawawi and another senior officer, whose identity was withheld, the Star newspaper said, quoting police. It was not clear whether the attacks against the employees of the US-owned restaurant franchise were related to recent anti-American sentiment over US policies in the Middle East and the war in Iraq. The report quoted police as saying they were investigating whether business rivalry could have been a motive for the attack.
■ Japan
Climbers found dead
Two mountain climbers were found dead on a peak in the northwest of the country yesterday, after being trapped by high winds and snow for more than a day, police said. The two climbers, both women, were part of a group of nine people trapped on Sennokura, a 2,026m peak in the northwestern prefecture of Niigata, by one of a series of winter storms that struck the northern part of the country over the past few days. The other seven climbers were rescued. On Monday, three people froze to death on Yatsugatake, a mountain in the central prefecture of Nagano.
■ Singapore
Parents in passport scam
Seven parents have been caught selling their offspring's identity papers to get passports for children from China headed to the US to join their parents, news reports said yesterday. The ruse came to light during investigations into a Malaysian racket set up for China nationals working in the US who were barred from having their children with them, the Straits Times said. Holders of Singaporean international passports do not need visas for the US. The seven parents were paid S$2,000 (US$1,234) for each passport. The parents used their own children's birth certificates together with pictures of the youngsters from China to obtain new passports, the court was told on Monday.
■ Japan
Baseball fanatic apologizes
A teacher, gripped by the baseball fever that seized the nation during a game with bitter rival South Korea, was forced to apologize after watching the game in a classroom where students were taking a test. Many avid fans in both countries tuned into last week's World Baseball Classic game, a cliffhanger that ended with a 2-1 victory for South Korea. But a 47-year-old primary-school teacher in Osaka found himself in trouble after pupils complained that he watched the game, played last Wednesday night in the US but broadcast live from midday the next day in Japan, while proctoring a test they were taking.
■ Germany
Hotel charges by weight
A hotel in northern Germany has started charging its guests by the kilogram for an overnight stay. In the town of Norden, close to the Dutch border, guests now have to step onto the scales before moving into their rooms and fork out 0.50 euros (US$0.61) per kilogram. "I had many guests who were really huge and I told them to slim down," said Juergen Heckrodt, owner of the three-star establishment. "When they came back the year after and had lost a lot of weight they asked me what are you gonna do for me now?" Heckrodt said he hoped his initiative would inspire people to become leaner and healthier. "Healthy guests live longer and can come back more often."
■ United Kingdom
Peers frown on ID cards
Britain's unelected upper chamber of Parliament delivered the government its fourth defeat on Monday in its bid to introduce compulsory identity cards. Peers voted 211 to 175 to amend the Identity Cards Bill so that the cards remain voluntary until 2011, after the next national elections. Lawmakers in the House of Commons have voted in favor of the Identity Cards Bill, which would make cards compulsory from 2008. Under the legislation, people applying for new passports would automatically be placed on the national identity register and be issued with cards.
■ Denmark
More H5N1 cases confirmed
Denmark confirmed nine more cases of birds infected with bird flu of the H5N1 type on Monday, four days after the deadly strain was first detected in the country. Tests on nine wild tufted ducks found dead on the island of Aeroe showed they carried the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of the virus, the Danish Institute for Food and Veterinary Research said. Authorities established a protection zone on the small island, located about 170km southwest of the capital, Copenhagen, when initial tests on Friday indicated the birds carried the disease. Denmark confirmed its first case of H5N1 on Thursday, when a buzzard tested positive.
■ France
Unions call for strike
Trade union leaders called on Monday for a national day of strike action next Tuesday against the controversial new youth employment law. After protests brought up to 1.5 million people on to the streets across the country on Saturday, unions had given French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin until Monday afternoon to withdraw his "first employment contract." But he continued to insist that his law was essential to win the fight against youth unemployment. Before crunch talks on Monday night, trade union leaders said that calling a general strike would be "the last resort."
■ Cyprus
Workers find Homer relic
A 2,500-year-old stone coffin with well-preserved color illustrations from Homer's epics has been discovered in western Cyprus, archaeologists said on Monday. The limestone sarcophagus was accidentally found by construction workers last week in a tomb near the village of Kouklia, in the coastal Paphos area. The tomb, which probably belonged to an ancient warrior, had been looted during antiquity. Pavlos Flourentzos, director of the island's antiquities department said the coffin dated to 500 BC.
■ United States
Teen killed over lawn
An Ohio man who neighbors say was devoted to his meticulously kept lawn was charged with murder in the shooting of a 15-year-old neighbor who apparently walked across his yard. Charles Martin, 66, called authorities on Sunday afternoon, saying calmly: "I just killed a kid." Police said Martin also told the telephone dispatcher: "I've been harassed by him and his parents for five years. Today just blew it up." Larry Mugrage, whose family lived next door, was shot in the chest with a shotgun. The high-school freshman was pronounced dead at a hospital. Martin allegedly told police he had several times had problems with neighbors walking on his lawn.
■ United States
Anthrax victim recovering
A man diagnosed with inhalation anthrax was upgraded to good condition on Monday, more than a month after he collapsed. Vado Diomande, 44, a dancer and drum maker from New York City, collapsed on Feb. 17 after performing with his dance company in Pennsylvania. Diomande started experiencing flu-like symptoms in January after he traveled to Ivory Coast and brought back goat hides to make drums. Health officials believe he may have inhaled anthrax spores while making the instruments. Contracting inhalation anthrax from natural sources is rare. The last US case not linked to terrorism occurred in 1976.
■ United States
Hand of law bitten
A Milwaukee, Wisconsin, woman faces up to three years in prison for biting off part of a police officer's finger during an argument over a kitten, authorities said on Monday. The officer was called to Pamela Greenlee's house because she was having a dispute with a man over the sale of a kitten and wanted police to remove him from her home. The officer was trying to restrain her when she bit off part of his right ring finger, police said. Greenlee, 40, pleaded no contest on Monday to charges of battery to a law enforcement officer. The finger was not reattached, an official said.
■ Ecuador
Tonnes of cocaine seized
US officials netted 5 tonnes of cocaine aboard a swamped Ecuadoran fishing boat west of the Galapagos Islands, Ecuadoran officials said on Monday. US officials boarded the sinking Ecuadoran trawler in international waters and arrested eight crew members, said Pablo Tascon, captain of Ecuador's navy in the port of Manta. The Williams left Guayaquil on Feb. 4, and was intercepted 2,800km west of the Galapagos. The Ecuadoran navy said the Williams sank because of a mechanical failure.
■ United States
Victims bin `bin Ladin show'
The news that a niece of Osama bin Laden is to star in a US reality TV show has provoked fury from families of some of those killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The series, being offered at auction to US TV networks, will follow the California-born Wafah Dufour as she follows her "dream to make it in the music business," according to Regan Media, which is producing it. Dufour, a 27-year-old graduate of Columbia University law school, was born Wafah bin Ladin, the daughter of Carmen bin Ladin, former wife of the al-Qaeda leader's half-brother Yeslam. "I understand that when people hear my last name, they have preconceived notions," Dufour said in a statement. "But I was born in America and I love my country."
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
Africa has established the continent’s first space agency to boost Earth observation and data sharing at a time when a more hostile global context is limiting the availability of climate and weather information. The African Space Agency opened its doors last month under the umbrella of the African Union and is headquartered in Cairo. The new organization, which is still being set up and hiring people in key positions, is to coordinate existing national space programs. It aims to improve the continent’s space infrastructure by launching satellites, setting up weather stations and making sure data can be shared across
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