■ Indonesia
Bird flu death confirmed
An international test has confirmed a 44-year-old fried chicken vendor who died earlier this month had bird flu, a senior health ministry official said yesterday. The man, from east Jakarta, died on July 12. His death brought to 42 the number of Indonesians killed by the bird flu virus. "The man was confirmed to have bird flu by the Hong Kong laboratory," I Nyoman Kandun, director-general of communicable disease control at the Health Ministry said. "He had contact with chicken every day when preparing fried chicken. All his family members have tested negative for bird flu," said Runizar Ruesin, the head of the health ministry's Bird Flu Information Center.
■ China
`Unhealthy songs' face ban
The government plans to ban "unhealthy songs" at karaoke bars, state media reported yesterday. "Some songs contain unhealthy content and have not been censored by cultural administrative departments," the Beijing Youth Daily quoted Liang Gang, a Ministry of Culture official, as saying. "That has a negative impact on the supervision of cultural security in our country." Liang did not elaborate on what constitutes "unhealthy content," saying only the move was aimed at protecting copyright. However karaoke bars are known to offer uncensored pop songs from Hong Kong and Taiwan, which do not conform to the Communist Party's moral and political agendas. Liang said the adoption of the government-approved system was voluntary but Karaoke operators had to be responsible for the copyright of the songs they used.
■ India
Sonia Gandhi film axed
The ruling Congress party has served a legal notice on film director Jagmohan Mundhra to stop him making a film on the party's Italian-born chief Sonia Gandhi, an official said yesterday. He did not give any details but the media reported that the notice had also been sent to the film's producer Sunanda Murli Manohar and journalist Rasheed Kidwai, on whose book the film is based. People close to the Gandhi clan say that Sonia Gandhi is very shy, which could be the main reason for the party's apprehensions over the film.
■ Hong Kong
Bars sued for illicit games
Five high-profile bars are being taken to court for screening World Cup soccer matches using unauthorized satellite feeds, industry watchdogs said yesterday. Legal action is being taken against the five unnamed bars after they used Philippine, Thai and South African TV feeds to screen matches throughout the tournament. The action was being taken by FIFA and Hong Kong Cable TV, the authorized rights holder for World Cup matches in the territory.
■ Malaysia
Sex induces labor
Having sex late in pregnancy could help some women deliver without the need to artificially induce labor, according to a research report by doctors. A study of 200 healthy, married women indicated that those who have intercourse late in their pregnancies were more likely than women who didn't to deliver at 38-40 weeks of pregnancy, said Tan Peng Chiong, an obstetrics and gynecology lecturer at the University of Malaya. A full-term pregnancy is 38-42 weeks. "We found that the women who had sex go into labor slightly earlier," Tan said.
■ Germany
Flavored beers taking off
Some people may feel ill at the thought of apple or orange-flavored beer, but that is the latest trend in the brewing industry. In a nation famous for its brewing traditions, a declining number of people are drinking the classic Pils beer in favor of drinks that beer-drinkers would have turned their noses up at only a few years ago. A growing number of breweries are mixing their beer with Coca-Cola, lime, caffeine or combining it with an energy drink. Anything goes and the range of pre-mixed beer products is expected to grow faster than ever before over the summer. Pre-mixed beers currently make up only 3.5 percent of the market, far less than many traditional beer brands, but it appears to be the start of a trend.
■ New Zealand
Cop dallied in prostitution
A policewoman has been censured for some unauthorized "undercover" work -- a stint moonlighting as a prostitute -- but is being allowed to keep her day job after giving up the night duties. While prostitution is legal and police are allowed to take approved second jobs, a top officer said sex work and police work don't mix. The policewoman had worked for a limited time as a prostitute in the northern city of Auckland before her clandestine activity was uncovered, police said. Her name and rank have not been made public.
■ China
Dodgy ads banned
The government will ban television and radio commercials for breast enhancements, weight loss and medical products, media reported yesterday, in the latest effort to crack down on false advertising. The ban issued by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television -- and the State Administration of Industry and Commerce will take effect from next month and is targeted at misleading advertisements. The advertisements have "violated consumers' rights and affected the social credibility of radio and television," the Beijing News cited the notice as saying.
■ Japan
Hirohito's views aired
Former Emperor Hirohito stopped visiting a controversial Tokyo shrine because of its 1978 decision to begin honoring convicted war criminals, media reports said yesterday. Hirohito, father of the current Emperor Akihito, stopped visiting Yasukuni Shrine after it began to include Class A war criminals among those it commemorates, the Nihon Keizai newspaper and public broadcaster NHK said, citing memorandums taken by then-head of the Imperial Household Agency Tomohiko Tomita. Hirohito, in whose name World War II was waged, visited Yasukuni eight times, the last time in 1975. Academics and others have speculated as to why Hirohito, who passed away in 1989, stopped his visits.
■ Croatia
Workers take breathalyzer
The nation's biggest paper factory, Belise, is using a breathalyzer on its workers to reduce the number of employees coming drunk to work, newspapers reported on Wednesday. The security guards in the factory are authorized to test suspicious workers, who will be fined 100 kunas (US$17) if their blood alcohol concentration is over 0.5mg per milligrams per milliliter of blood. The management introduced this measure due to frequent injuries, more sick leave and increased production costs and will stick with it, saying that it yields results, despite numerous conflicts between workers and security guards enforcing the measure.
■ United Kingdom
Lower classes age faster
Scientists have uncovered evidence of a new class divide: The lower our social standing, the faster we age. The claim follows the discovery of accelerated aging among working class volunteers, leaving them biologically older than those higher up the social ladder. Genetic tests revealed that being working class could add the equivalent of seven years to a person's age, while marrying "below" herself added years to a woman's biological age, scientists reported in the journal Aging Cell yesterday. Researchers led by Tim Spector at St Thomas' hospital in London ruled out differences in income, smoking, body weight and exercise, and concluded that the stress of being at the bottom of the social pile increases cellular damage which speeds up aging.
■ Iraq
Four hostages freed
Four of more than 30 people seized during a brazen daytime attack on a meeting of Iraqi sports officials last weekend have been released, police and sport officials said yesterday. The hostages were left blindfolded and unharmed in southeastern Baghdad, said Muhammad Salman al-Hibash, office director for the Olympic National Committee in Baghdad. The four released late on Wednesday were the director of public relations, Youssif Khoshaba, two committee coordinators and a guard. There was no word on other hostages, including committee chairman, Ahmed al-Hijiya.
■ United States
`Houdini' swallows blanket
It took surgery to save a 3.6m Burmese python in Ketchum, Idaho, after it swallowed an entire electric blanket -- with the electrical cord and control box. The blanket must have gotten tangled up in the snake's rabbit dinner, owner Karl Beznoska said. He said he kept the blanket in the 27kg reptile's cage for warmth. "Somehow, he was able to unplug the electric cord," Beznoska said on Wednesday. "He at least wasn't hooked up to the power. It might have been pretty warm there." Veterinarian Karsten Fostvedt conducted a two-hour operation on the python on Tuesday.
■ Italy
Spy chief denies kidnap role
The head of the military intelligence agency on Wednesday defended himself and colleagues being investigated for their possible role in the alleged CIA kidnapping of a terrorism suspect in Milan. Nicolo Pollari told a closed-door meeting of the Senate defense committee that the Sismi intelligence agency had "nothing to do with illegal acts" and would not break the law to help foreign agents. The comments, relayed to reporters by the committee's chairman, were Pollari's first known response since prosecutors queried him on Saturday over possibly helping the CIA abduct a Muslim cleric in Milan and fly him to Egypt.
■ Belgium
New team to tackle illegals
A pan-European rapid reaction force of border guards could be despatched to EU countries and islands, such as Malta and the Canaries, which are struggling to cope with an influx of illegal migrants. Under the plans announced by the European Commission on Wednesday -- which have to be approved by ministers and the European Parliament -- a team of up to 300 officials, including interpreters and medical teams, would be put on standby to travel to hotspots at 10 days' notice.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
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