■ Kazakhstan
Car offered for lost horses
A Kazakh farmer is offering a brand-new Japanese off-roader as a reward for his missing herd of horses, media reports said yesterday. Zhansap Alzhanov's 45 horses went missing two years ago and he has been trying to find them ever since, state news agency Kazinform reported. "He still believes they can be found," the agency said, adding that he thought they had been stolen.
■ Kazakhstan
Brazilian heads to space
Brazil's first astronaut blasted off from earth on a cloudless day yesterday with a Russia-US crew bound for the orbiting International Space Station. Marcos Pontes, a 43-year-old Brazilian Air Force pilot, was hunched inside the spacecraft with Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov and US astronaut Jeffrey Williams, both of whom were starting a six-month rotation in space. Onboard cameras showed Pontes, who had a window seat, giving a thumbs-up.
■ Japan
Ministry to shut off the lights
Japan's Environment Ministry has a new rule aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions: lights out at 8pm. The new policy will be implemented at ministry headquarters beginning Monday. Those staying late will have to work together in a single conference room, said ministry official Masanori Shishido. Under the gun to meet obligations under the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, Japanese ministries are trying to cut back on CO2 emissions from their offices by 7 percent from the 2001 level by March next year.
■ China
Mao may appear on map
Amundsen and Scott may have to share billing with Confucius and Mao Zedong (毛澤東) when China publishes a new map of Antarctica. Chinese researchers back from a four-month expedition said 46 newly surveyed Antarctic islands would receive Chinese names, state media said on Wednesday. Scholars, politicians, emperors and artists figured high on the 160-name shortlist.
■ New Zealand
Hermit sheep discovered
Two years ago, a renegade sheep that managed to avoid being sheared for six years captured the world's imagination with his unbelievably woolly fleece -- now another two have emerged from hiding on New Zealand's southern island, a report said on Wednesday. The two hermit rams -- said to be about eight years old -- were found hiding on the same hillside as Shrek and with wool lengths to rival the now world-famous sheep, the Otago Daily Times said. Farmer Michael Hayman told the paper that the pair -- named Tweedledum and Tweedledee -- had lived on a river island, and may have been lured out of seclusion by the recent arrival of 600 ewes.
■ India
Fans support radio `hero'
An electronics whizz who became a local hero after setting up a pirate radio station with spare parts that cost just US$1 was inundated on Wednesday with offers of support after the government shut him down. FM Mansoorpur, set up three years by Raghav Mahto using bits and pieces from his electronics repair shop, was closed earlier this week because it did not have a license. But listeners to his popular broadcasts of Bollywood movie music offered to donate money to pay for a license.
■ Mexico
Stations protest with a song
About 15 public radio stations across the country staged an unusual protest against a proposed broadcast law on Wednesday by repeating a single song on each station all day long, interspersed with ads against the measure. Many commercial broadcasters, meanwhile, aired ads supporting the bill, which would allow frequency holders to digitalize their entire analog frequency. Critics say the bill favors big, corporate media outlets, puts public stations at a disadvantage and makes little provision for the entry of new broadcasters. "A country without plurality in media would be like listening to the same song all day long," the ad on public stations said.
■ Canada
`Sorry' need not be costly
Saying sorry will no longer be so hard in British Columbia if a proposed law is passed that allows people and organizations to apologize for their bad behavior without fear of legal liability. The Canadian province introduced the Apology Act this week, hoping to reduce the number of disputes that end up in court, Attorney-General Wally Oppal told broadcaster CTV on Wednesday. It comes as several groups here wrestle with public relations nightmares over their perceived heartless refusal to show remorse over toxic environmental spills, transportation accidents, historical wrongs and other misdeeds or tragedies.
■ Spain
Basque head may be jailed
A judge ordered Arnaldo Otegi, leader of an outlawed Basque party, to be jailed for inciting violence during a strike in the Basque region earlier this month. National Court Judge Fernando Grande-Marlaska said in a ruling on Wednesday, however, that Otegi could be released if he posted a bail of 250,000 euros (US$300,675), but then must report daily to a police station, court officials said. Otegi is likely to be a key figure in possible negotiations between Basque separatists and the Spanish government. Basque politicians have warned that jailing Otegi could hinder momentum toward peace.
■ Austria
Media still under threat
Sixty-five journalists were killed last year -- 13 less than the previous year -- and freedom of the press was still under threat in many countries, according to the International Press Institute's annual report, published yesterday in Vienna. Iraq, where 23 journalists were killed last year, was still "the most murderous country for journalists to report from," the media watchdog said in its report, titled Media Wars: Year Zero, which looked at conditions in 175 countries. Nine journalists were found dead in the Philippines, three in Bangladesh and Haiti, and 27 in 18 other countries across Africa, Latin America, Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East, it said.
■ Uganda
Deaths in north rival Iraq's
The rate of violent deaths in the war-ravaged northern part of the country is three times higher than in Iraq, and the country's 20-year insurgency has cost US$1.7 billion, according to a report released yesterday. There are now about 146 deaths a week in northern Uganda, or 0.17 violent deaths per 10,000 people per day, compared with Iraq's 0.052 per 10,000 people since the US-led invasion, said the report produced by a coalition of non-governmental organizations called the Civil Society Organizations for Peace in Northern Uganda.
■ United States
Police officers indicted
Two fired police officers and one current officer were indicted on Wednesday in the videotaped beating of a retired teacher in New Orleans last fall. The Oct. 8 beating of Robert Davis, 64, was caught on video by a TV news crew covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The three officers were charged with battery and other offenses. Davis spent more than an hour testifying about the beating, which left him lying on the street, hands cuffed and blood flowing from his head and face. The videotape shows one officer hitting Davis at least four times on the head and another officer kneeing him and punching him twice. Davis's lawyer said he expects the charges against his client will be dropped.
■ United Kingdom
Report clears services
A parliamentary report has cleared intelligence and security services over the July 7 suicide bombings in London last year, the BBC reported yesterday. The report, from the Intelligence and Security Committee, says they cannot be blamed for failing to prevent the transport bombings that killed 52 people and wounded more than 700, the BBC said. But it questions why one of the bombers, Mohammad Sidique Khan, had not been investigated despite being known to police. The BBC said the report is also critical of the secretive and complicated system of national threat and alert levels, which dropped from "severe, general" to "substantial," just before the bombings.
■ Iraq
Shiite account contradicted
An Iraqi commander who led a weekend raid with US special forces says the target was a Baghdad office complex used by an armed militia and not a mosque, confirming a US account of what happened, Time magazine reported on Wednesday. A hostage freed in the operation also backed the US version of the attack, Time said, contradicting some Shiite officials and local residents who said the US and Iraqi troops targeted a Shiite mosque and killed at least 16 unarmed worshipers in Sunday's raid. "We didn't find a mosque," Time quoted an Iraqi special forces commander, whom it did not identify, as saying. "We only killed men who were armed and fired at us." He said his men didn't find prayer mats or books but they did find instruments of torture.
■ United States
Jury mulls Moussaoui's fate
Zacarias Moussaoui's fate rested with a jury after US prosecutors said on Wednesday that he should be executed because his lies led to nearly 3,000 deaths in the Sept. 11 attacks, while a defense lawyer said he was only an al-Qaeda "hanger-on and a nuisance." The jury began deliberations late on Wednesday after the closing arguments. They were due to resume yesterday. Both sides said Moussaoui was a liar in wrapping up the death penalty trial for the only person charged in the US in the Sept. 11 hijacking plot. Moussaoui pleaded guilty last year to all six conspiracy counts against him -- three of which carry the death penalty.
■ United States
Former lobbyist sentenced
Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff was sentenced to nearly six years in prison on Wednesday for fraud in the purchase of a Florida casino cruise line. Abramoff, who is cooperating in a federal investigation into whether politicians gave his clients favorable treatment in exchange for illegal gifts, was also ordered to pay US$21.7 million, together with a co-defendant, in restitution.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
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
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
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