■ Japan
Mad cow discovered
The country's 26th mad cow disease case was confirmed by the Agriculture Ministry yesterday. Meat inspectors in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido found on Thursday that a dairy cow tested positive for the disease, the ministry said in a statement. A panel of Agriculture Ministry experts confirmed the infection yesterday, according to ministry official Akiko Suzuki. "All meat, internal organs and parts from this cattle will be incinerated, and there is no danger that they will be circulated in the market," the ministry statement said.
■ Uzbekistan
US urges massacre inquiry
The US on Friday renewed its call on Uzbekistan to allow an international inquiry into a massacre of anti-government protesters a year ago and raised the possibility of sanctions against Tashkent. The State Department said eyewitness reports of security forces shooting dead several hundred men, women and children in the eastern Uzbek province of Andijan on May 13 last year "have not been adequately addressed." Washington also urged Tashkent "to cease immediately the crackdown on civil society, and to take steps to uphold Uzbekistan's international human rights commitments," spokesman Sean McCormack said.
■ Japan
Burglar massages victim
A burglar gave a 35-year-old woman a shoulder massage for several hours after breaking into her apartment in central Tokyo and tying her up, police were quoted as saying on Friday. He stole ¥210,000 (US$1,900) in cash and her bank cash card, though he later mailed the card to her as she requested after withdrawing 980,000 yen from her account, Kyodo news agency said. It said Lee Jin-se, 29, a South Korean, admitted the burglary and told police he lingered in the woman's apartment and gave her the massage "to relax her." Police believe Lee waited there until business hours began for bank cash machines, virtually none of which operate around-the-clock in Japan, Kyodo said.
■ United States
UN plans Myanmar visit
A senior UN official is planning a visit to Myanmar in the near future to press for a return to democratic rule and for respect for human rights, a UN spokesman said on Friday. Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the visit by Under Secretary General for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari was still being finalized. "The UN remains committed to encouraging a return to democracy and respect for human rights in Myanmar," the spokesman noted, adding that Gambari's visit "would seek to further those objectives." Meanwhile US Ambassador John Bolton said he agreed to the Gambari visit on condition that concern about detained opposition leader and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi as well as about human rights violations be conveyed to Myanmar authorities.
■ South Korea
Rail links to break the ice
The two Koreas agreed yesterday to test run rail links across their heavily fortified border, possibly paving the way for the first train services between the Cold War rivals for more than five decades. The south's unification ministry officials said a train carrying some 100 people -- including both North and South Koreans -- would test the Seoul-Shinuiju line in the west that links the two capitals. The train will run on 27.3km of newly laid track from the South's border city of Munsan to the north's Kaesong.
■ United Kingdom
Tortoise makes a run for it
A pet tortoise made it as far as 2.9km away from home in the eight months since going missing -- an average of 12m a day, the BBC reported on Friday. The Herman's tortoise, named Horace, was spotted in the middle of a road on the outskirts of Cardiff by animal welfare inspector Nic de Calis, who then scanned his microchip and duly returned him to his thrilled owners. The owner received Horace as a Christmas present about seven years ago. He had been put into the garden -- and five minutes later had vanished. While on his travels, the plucky youngster avoided all the possible perils, including being eaten by other animals or being crushed by a car.
■ United Kingdom
Cheesy perfume launched
Some say pungent blue-veined Stilton cheese smells of old socks. But its fans have turned the rare odor into a perfume. The Stilton Cheese Makers Association commissioned an aromatics firm to create Eau de Stilton, described on the association's Web site as featuring a "symphony of natural base notes including Yarrow, Angelica seed, Clary Sage and Valerian." "Blue Stilton cheese has a very distinctive mellow aroma and our perfumier was able to capture the key essence of that scent and recreate it in an unusual but highly wearable perfume," an association spokesman said.
■ United Kingdom
Ersatz toothpicks popular
More than 60 percent of Britons use items such as screwdrivers, scissors and earrings to remove food from between their teeth, according to a survey published on Friday. The National Dental Survey found that, when it came to oral hygiene, people used whatever was close to hand to pick their teeth. More than 60 percent questioned by the British Dental Health Foundation said they used makeshift items, including knives, keys, needles and forks. The survey also found that 23 percent of people chose to leave food stuck between their teeth, increasing the risk of gum disease and bad breath, the foundation said.
■ Austria
US must talk to Iran: Annan
The US must talk directly to Iran about its disputed nuclear program, as Tehran will not negotiate seriously if Washington is not involved, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Friday. "As long as the Iranians have a sense that they are negotiating with the Europeans ad referendum [needing referral for a final decision], and what they discuss with them will have to be checked with the Americans, and then come back again to them, I am not sure they will put everything on the table," Annan told reporters on the sidelines of an EU-Latin American summit in Vienna. US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack rejected Annan's appeal, saying Tehran was interested only in "delaying and stalling."
■ Spain
Illegal wells sparks concern
Spain's scarce water supply is being siphoned by more than 500,000 illegal boreholes and sold through a profitable black market to farmers and developers in the arid south, the environmental group WWF said. The amount of water stolen each year would be enough to satisfy 58 million people -- more than the population of this drought-prone country. Instead, it is used to irrigate a surplus of crops, keep golf courses green and supply new hotels and housing complexes, the 15-page report said.
■ United States
`Disabled' runs from police
A wheelchair-bound Los Angeles woman, who has repeatedly filed lawsuits over access for the disabled, got up and ran after police arrested her for fraud, authorities said on Thursday. Laura Lee Medley, 35, had sued in at least four California cities over injuries she claimed she sustained while trying to navigate her wheelchair. Medley was tracked to Las Vegas where police there took her into custody and then, when she complained of medical issues, to a local hospital, Long Beach prosecutor Belinda Mayes said. "She gets to the hospital and while she's waiting for an examination, she gets up from the chair and runs," she said.
■ Brazil
Ancient observatory found
Archaeologists discovered a pre-colonial astrological observatory possibly 2,000 years old in the Amazon basin near French Guiana said a report published on Friday. "Only a society with a complex culture could have built such a monument," archaeologist Mariana Petry Cabral of Amapa Institute of Scientific and Technological Research, told O'Globo newspaper. The observatory was built of 127 blocks of granite each 3m high and regularly placed in circles in an open field, she said. Cabral said the site resembles a temple which could have been used as an observatory, because the blocks are positioned to mark the winter solstice. The discovery is in Calcoene, 390km from Amapa State's capital Macapa.
■ United States
Bush's new man sorry
Conservative ex-journalist Tony Snow conceded on Friday that his first outing as President George W. Bush's new spokesman was "just a mess," as he apologized for a bumpy first day on the job. An effort to foster bonhomie with reporters badly misfired when he chose to hold his first press chat in his pleasant, but far-too-small White House office. The choice of venue found a couple dozen reporters crammed uncomfortably into the room while a couple dozen others cooled their heels out in the hall. "I didn't realize it would be so highly attended," Snow said apologetically, asking for "a little forbearance" on day one of his new job.
■ United States
Shuttle prepares for July
Nine months after its troubled last flight, shuttle Discovery was hauled out of its hangar on Friday and taken to the Kennedy Space Center's assembly building for final preparations before moving to the launch pad. NASA is aiming to launch Discovery in July and end a three-year, US$1.5 billion effort to resume regular shuttle service to the half-built International Space Station. "I'm ecstatic," said vehicle manager Stephanie Stilson. "This is what the team looks forward to." Rollout to the launch pad is targeted for May 19. Final flight clearance, however, is pending the results of wind tunnel tests that NASA hopes will prove the revamped fuel tank is safe to fly.
■ Canada
Kyoto changes needed
The government is willing to comply with its Kyoto Protocol commitments only if its emissions targets are lowered in phase two of the international climate change accord, beyond 2012, Ottawa said on Friday. In two submissions to the UN climate change body ahead of an international conference next week, the government called for longer deadlines, voluntary targets and exceptions for its resource-based economy. Last year, Canada was flagged in a UN report as high on a list of nations most likely to run into difficulty implementing Kyoto Protocol commitments.
RARE EVENT: While some cultures have a negative view of eclipses, others see them as a chance to show how people can work together, a scientist said Stargazers across a swathe of the world marveled at a dramatic red “Blood Moon” during a rare total lunar eclipse in the early hours of yesterday morning. The celestial spectacle was visible in the Americas and Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as in the westernmost parts of Europe and Africa. The phenomenon happens when the sun, Earth and moon line up, causing our planet to cast a giant shadow across its satellite. But as the Earth’s shadow crept across the moon, it did not entirely blot out its white glow — instead the moon glowed a reddish color. This is because the
DEBT BREAK: Friedrich Merz has vowed to do ‘whatever it takes’ to free up more money for defense and infrastructure at a time of growing geopolitical uncertainty Germany’s likely next leader Friedrich Merz was set yesterday to defend his unprecedented plans to massively ramp up defense and infrastructure spending in the Bundestag as lawmakers begin debating the proposals. Merz unveiled the plans last week, vowing his center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/Christian Social Union (CSU) bloc and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) — in talks to form a coalition after last month’s elections — would quickly push them through before the end of the current legislature. Fraying Europe-US ties under US President Donald Trump have fueled calls for Germany, long dependent on the US security umbrella, to quickly
Romania’s electoral commission on Saturday excluded a second far-right hopeful, Diana Sosoaca, from May’s presidential election, amid rising tension in the run-up to the May rerun of the poll. Earlier this month, Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau barred Calin Georgescu, an independent who was polling at about 40 percent ahead of the rerun election. Georgescu, a fierce EU and NATO critic, shot to prominence in November last year when he unexpectedly topped a first round of presidential voting. However, Romania’s constitutional court annulled the election after claims of Russian interference and a “massive” social media promotion in his favor. On Saturday, an electoral commission statement
Chinese authorities increased pressure on CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd over its plan to sell its Panama ports stake by sharing a second newspaper commentary attacking the deal. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office on Saturday reposted a commentary originally published in Ta Kung Pao, saying the planned sale of the ports by the Hong Kong company had triggered deep concerns among Chinese people and questioned whether the deal was harming China and aiding evil. “Why were so many important ports transferred to ill-intentioned US forces so easily? What kind of political calculations are hidden in the so-called commercial behavior on the
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