■ Hong Kong
Station fined for bad taste
A radio station was fined US$18,000 yesterday and ordered to broadcast a prime time apology for inviting listeners to vote on the female celebrity they would most like to indecently assault. The Broadcasting Authority imposed the fine saying Commercial Radio had breached the Radio Code of Practice with the bad taste poll, which it said had trivialized a serious offense and was an insult to women. Sammy Leung and Kitty Yuen were suspended without pay last week by the station as a result of the public outrage over the poll broadcast on June 3.
■ China
Rights group urges probe
Reporters Without Borders demanded yesterday that China investigate the beating of an activist after he criticized the government in a German TV interview, calling the incident a worrying sign for coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The group urged China's foreign minister to intervene in the case of activist Fu Xiancai (傅先財), who was struck on the neck and paralyzed by unknown assailants on June 8, two weeks after the interview. Fu said the government did not compensate him as promised for moving away from the Three Gorges dam site.
■ Australia
Refugees turn down meet
A group of 42 refugees from Indonesia's restive Papua Province have refused to meet with an Indonesian delegation visiting Australia, said David Manne, a lawyer with the Refugee Immigration Legal Center in Melbourne, yesterday. Australia's decision to grant temporary asylum to the Papuans, who arrived in April, infuriated Jakarta. "They're shocked and scared by the suggestion of meeting with Indonesian officials," Manne said.
■ China
Dasha River polluted
Cleanup crews in the north were scrambling yesterday to absorb 60 tonnes of coal tar accidentally dumped into a river before it reaches a reservoir serving a city of 10 million, state media said. The incident occurred on Monday when a truck carrying 60 tonnes of coal tar fell into the Dasha River in Shanxi Province, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Cotton batting, sponge, straw and activated carbon were being used to try to absorb the coal tar before it reaches the Wangkuai Reservoir of Baoding -- a city of about 10 million people, Xinhua said. Baoding is about 70km from the site of the accident, it said.
■ China
Early birds unearthed
Dozens of fossils of an ancient loon-like creature that some say is the missing link in bird evolution have been discovered in the northwest of the country. The remains of 40 of the nearly modern amphibious birds, so well-preserved that some even have their feathers, were found in Gansu Province, researchers report in today's issue of the journal Science. Previously only a single leg of the creature, known as Gansus yumenensis, had been found. "Gansus is a missing link in bird evolution," said Matt Lamanna of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
■ Japan
US Navy officer arrested
Police said yesterday they had arrested a US Navy officer stationed at the largest US naval base in the country on suspicion of molesting a 15-year-old schoolgirl. Danny Valerie, 47, a petty officer second class, was arrested late on Wednesday in Yokosuka, southwest of Tokyo, police said. The suspect allegedly touched the girl's breast and hip while trying to kiss her before she called police for help on her mobile phone, they said. The arrest came just hours after the mayor of Yokosuka said he would reluctantly accept the first US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to be stationed in the country despite strong protests from local residents.
■ India
English rhymes banned
Tens of thousands of children at schools have been told not to sing English nursery rhymes such as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Baa Baa Black Sheep. In an attempt to rid schools of what is perceived as malign Western influence, the school education minister in the state of Madhya Pradesh, Narottam Mishra, has commissioned a new set of rhymes written by Indians to "infuse a sense of patriotism" among five-year-olds. For the first time since English-language education was introduced in the country by Lord Macaulay in the 19th century, children in Madhya Pradesh state schools will not learn the time-honored rhymes imported from England.
■ Japan
President, PM visit king
US-Japanese diplomacy is getting all shook up. The White House announced that US President George W. Bush is taking Japanese Prime Minister and big-time Elvis fan Junichiro Koizumi to Memphis, Tennessee, for a pilgrimage to Graceland. The trip is scheduled for June 30, a day after the two leaders are scheduled to meet at the White House, Bush spokesman Tony Snow said in a statement. No karaoke machine will be needed for Koizumi to break into song, as he has done in the past among heads of state and celebrities. The prime minister serenaded Bush with, I Want You, I Need You, I Love You at a birthday party for the president last year.
■ South Africa
TV station in censorship row
The country's public broadcaster was embroiled in a censorship row on Wednesday after it canceled a TV documentary critical of President Thabo Mbeki. The ditching of the show, shortly before it was due to be aired, prompted accusations that the corporation was intimidated by the government. Critics said it proved that what was once a mouthpiece for the apartheid regime had transferred its bias to the country's new ruling party, the African National Congress. The broadcaster denied betraying a mandate to be independent and said the documentary was dropped because it was unbalanced and defamed the president.
■ Russia
No place for foreigners
The number of crimes committed against foreigners in Russia this year soared by 33 percent compared with last year, the interior ministry said on Wednesday. Almost 6,000 crimes against foreigners and people without citizenship were registered this year, officials quoted by the Interfax news agency said, adding, however, that these crimes were only 0.4 percent of all registered in Russia. Also, ethnic hatred motivated 18 murders and 129 attacks this year, rights activist Galina Kozhevnikova of the Sova Center said, adding that 10 of those murders were committed in Moscow and four more in Russia's second largest city, Saint Petersburg.
■ United Kingdom
Natural burial takes off
Funerals designed to have minimal impact on the environment are the fastest-growing trend in the British market, according to research published in the Daily Telegraph. Especially popular is woodland burial, in which bodies are placed in bio-degradable caskets made of paper, willow or bamboo, then laid to rest next to a grove. Flowers and trees are planted over the grave, so that the body becomes absorbed by the wood. "The rate of growth in natural burial is exponential," said Mike Jarvis, of the Natural Death Centre. "It's infinitely faster than the growth of crematoria 100 years ago." Part of the appeal is the increased cost of conventional funerals. But environmental awareness also played a role.
■ United States
German car is a dud
The owner of an exotic, 12-cylinder Mercedes sued its maker for a US$1.7 million refund on "the world's most expensive lemon," he said on Wednesday. Mark Johnston bought the Mercedes-Benz AMG CLK-GTR roadster, one of only five produced and the only one in North America, for US$1.7 million in 2003. The Guinness Book of World Records lists the car as the most expensive production vehicle ever. "The car turned out to be exotic in the worst possible way," said Johnston, a former Ferrari mechanic. "It just doesn't run."
■ Albania
Old Gitmo boys not fitting in
Lawyers for five Chinese Muslims released from the US detention center at Guantanamo Bay have asked the government to suspend asylum procedures, saying their clients are hoping to find another host country where it would be easier for them to integrate, an official said on Wednesday. Lawyers said the five Muslims, members of China's Uighur ethnic minority, are afraid to venture out of a refugee shelter in Tirana's suburbs and worry they would not be able to earn a living in one of Europe's poorest countries. "They believe the Uighurs have no future here," said Argita Totozani, from the foreign affairs ministry.
■ Canada
Iraqi cleric `forbids violence'
A Muslim leader said on Wednesday that Iraq's top Shiite cleric, the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, had issued a fatwa forbidding violence against Canadians. Sayeed Nabil Abbas, who called himself the North American representative for al-Sistani -- one of the world's most influential Shiite clerics -- told a news conference in Montreal that he had received the fatwa, or edict, from the ayatollah on Tuesday evening. He noted it was "strictly forbidden" for Muslims in Canada to act contrary to the religious demand. It could not be immediately confirmed whether the fatwa was indeed issued by al-Sistani.
■ United Kingdom
Reservist numbers fall
Nearly 16,000 troops have quit Britain's reserve army since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, a newspaper reported yesterday. The Daily Telegraph report, which was based on a Freedom of Information Act request, said there was a feeling that dangerous operations in Iraq and other places played a role in making soldiers decide to leave the Territorial Army (TA). The TA has been used widely to support regular units in Iraq, the Balkans and Afghanistan. The figures obtained by the Scottish National Party show that between Oct. 2003 and October last year, the TA lost 15,670 soldiers who have been replaced by 13,570 new recruits, a shortfall of 2,100.
■ Mexico
Cops battle with teachers
Thousands of police firing tear gas fought a running battle with striking teachers in the city of Oaxaca on Wednesday in the latest violence between protesters and security forces before elections next month. Police briefly dislodged teachers from the main square where they had been camped for three weeks demanding higher wages. Witnesses and press reports said shots were fired during clashes in downtown streets. One officer was shot in the leg before the teachers retook the square. State Governor Ulises Ruiz denied a report by the teachers' union that police had killed three or four people and then taken away the bodies.
■ United States
Marine apologizes for song
A marine corporal has apologized in a newspaper interview published on Wednesday for singing a song glorifying the killing of Iraqi civilians on a video posted on the Internet. Joshua Belile, 23, who lives in North Carolina after serving in Iraq, told the Jacksonville Daily News that the expletive-laced song was meant to be humorous. The four-minute video titled Hadji Girl shows Belile playing an acoustic guitar on stage, wearing an olive green T-shirt with camouflage pants. "I grabbed her little sister and put her in front of me. As the bullets began to fly, the blood sprayed from between her eyes, and then I laughed maniacally," Belile sang.
■ United States
Attorney jailed over drugs
A judge meted out a prison stint on Wednesday to a San Francisco assistant district attorney convicted of getting party drugs from men he was prosecuting. Robert Roland, 35, was sentenced to six months in prison and ordered to complete 150 hours of community service for accepting ecstasy from men he was prosecuting on drug charges, the US Attorney's Office reported. Roland was convicted of possessing and intending to distribute ecstasy after pleading guilty in February in a deal crafted to avoid going to trial, according to court records.
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
UNSCHEDULED VISIT: ‘It’s a very bulky new neighbor, but it will soon go away,’ said Johan Helberg of the 135m container ship that run aground near his house A man in Norway awoke early on Thursday to discover a huge container ship had run aground a stone’s throw from his fjord-side house — and he had slept through the commotion. For an as-yet unknown reason, the 135m NCL Salten sailed up onto shore just meters from Johan Helberg’s house in a fjord near Trondheim in central Norway. Helberg only discovered the unexpected visitor when a panicked neighbor who had rung his doorbell repeatedly to no avail gave up and called him on the phone. “The doorbell rang at a time of day when I don’t like to open,” Helberg told television
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000
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