■ China
Lovesick man detained
An Australian businessman who said he was lovesick and depressed was detained over a bomb threat that forced an airline flight to make an emergency return to China, the Xinhua news agency reported yesterday. Guangzhou police identified the man as Hong Kong-born Wong Chung-wah. A China Southern Airlines flight from Guangzhou to Sydney returned to Guangzhou late on Monday after a passenger found a note on board warning of a bomb. More than 200 passengers were evacuated while police searched the aircraft, Xinhua said. Wong was detained after police identified him as the author of the note by verifying his handwriting, Xinhua said.
■ China
Abbot's wheels spark row
Shaolin Temple abbot Shi Yongxin (釋永信) has caused a stir by accepting a 1 million yuan (US$125,000) car -- and even suggesting he hoped for a bigger present next year, Xinhua reported yesterday. Shi received the the car from local officials in recognition of his services for tourism. Thousands of Internet users have reacted with a mixture of anger and support, Xinhua said.
■ Indonesia
Alleged plotters nabbed
Police announced the arrests yesterday of two men accused of using computer technology to aid terrorists. Agung Prabowo, 23, was accused of helping create a Web site that suggested ways to assassinate foreigners in Jakarta, said Colonel Petrus Reinhard Golose of the national anti-terror task force. Agung Seyadi, 31, allegedly bought a computer for jailed Bali bomber Imam Samudra, who planned to use it to illicitly collect funds for terrorist attacks, he said. Neither has been charged, Golose said.
■ Australia
Thieves strike at jewel show
Thieves have pulled off a spectacular diamond heist in Sydney, stealing more than 500 diamonds worth more than A$1.5 million (US$1.1 million) from an international jewelry exhibition held under high-tech security. Despite X-ray machines, metal detectors, security cameras and a log book of everyone entering the exhibition, a security bag containing 500 uncut diamonds was stolen, organizers said. Police believe the bag was stolen either en route to or at the Australian Jewelry Fair which ran from Sunday to Tuesday at a convention center in Sydney's Darling Harbor.
■ Thailand
Wayward Canadian wolf dies
A Canadian gray wolf that was recently recaptured after escaping from a zoo in the northern part of the country has died of a lung infection, a zoo keeper said yesterday. A tracker shot the wolf with a tranquilizer pellet on Aug. 6, about a month after the animal escaped from Chiang Mai Night Safari. The wolf, which is believed to have roamed nearby forests feasting on local chickens during its weeks of freedom, was then returned to the zoo but kept in quarantine as a precaution to protect the other wolves. Supot Methawiwat, who looked after the animal after it was returned to the zoo, insisted however that the animal did not die of bird flu, which is rampant in the region.
■ New Zealand
Porn stars take to the street
Two dozen bare-breasted porn stars paraded on motorcycles and military vehicles down Auckland's main street yesterday after beating efforts by officials to prevent the promotional stunt. Thousands of people, many of them clicking away with cellphone cameras, lined the street for the parade by male and female porn actors, most semi-clad in black leather, to publicize an erotica show in Auckland later this week. The crowd was reportedly bigger than that for the city's annual Santa Parade at Christmas time.
■ New Zealand
Innocent man set free
Rex Haig, a 59-year-old man who spent nearly 10 years in jail for a murder he did not commit, was cleared yesterday by the Court of Appeal. Haig, who was jailed in 1995 for killing a fellow worker on his fishing boat, had always proclaimed his innocence and at one time joined with other prisoners to take six guards hostage with fake explosives to draw attention to his case. He was released on parole in 2004 after his nephew, who was also on the boat at the time, had backtracked on evidence he gave at Haig's trial and admitted that he was responsible for the death. The nephew, David Hogan, who was 18 at the time, was paid NZ$13,000 (US$8,320) and given immunity from prosecution for testifying that Haig was the killer.
■ Australia
Pill planned for kangaroos
Scientists are hoping to develop an oral contraceptive for kangaroos, which are an ever-present road hazard in Canberra, particularly in dry months when thousands bounce in from the surrounding countryside to feed on watered lawns and golf courses. Government ecologist Don Fletcher said yesterday that the oral contraceptive method promised to be more efficient than existing technology for curbing kangaroo numbers such as vasectomies or injections, because the fleet-footed marsupials would not need to be captured. "One of the challenges is finding kangaroo ice-cream," Fletcher said, referring to a food pellet that grass-munching kangaroos will find irresistible.
■ United Kingdom
Nurses, firemen are sexy
Nurses and firemen dominate the sexual fantasies of men and women in Britain with politicians and traffic wardens ranking near the bottom, according to a poll published on Tuesday. Some 47 percent of women fantasize about firefighters, while almost 54 percent of men dream about women dressed in a nurse's uniform. By contrast, only 1.7 percent of women confessed to having fantasies about politicians, while 6.5 percent of men fantasize about traffic wardens. Firemen are followed by soldiers, populating the dreams of 28 percent of women. At the bottom of the list of women's sexual fantasies were milkmen, only in 0.8 percent of women's dreams.
■ United States
Crime scene course offered
Amateur sleuths who do not get enough of a fix from TV can delve into the world of fingerprints, blood stains and bullet trajectories this fall in the first crime scene investigation course for the general public at Missouri Southern State University, the school said on Tuesday. The university will open its criminal justice center starting next month for an evening class probing the skills that have bred a string of popular CSI crime dramas on CBS television. The university is encouraging nontraditional students from the general public to enroll in "CSI for Citizens," including "teams of husbands and wives, or close friends," it said in a written statement.
■ Spain
Math genius shuns Fields
Grigory Perelman, a reclusive 40-year-old Russian scholar, won the the Fields Medal -- math world's version of the Nobel Prize -- on Tuesday for cracking a 100-year-old conundrum called the Poincare conjecture over what happens when 3-D space wraps around itself. Experts say his breakthrough might help determine the shape of the universe. But the reclusive Perelman shunned the award in an unprecedented rejection of the coveted prize. Colleagues say he seems equally uninterested in a separate US$1 million prize he could eventually win for proving the theorem.
■ Egypt
Heads roll after disasters
Transport officials scrambled on Tuesday to deal with two disasters, as the national rail chief was sacked following a train crash that killed 58 and a bus accident left another 11 dead. Media and opposition politicians lashed out at the government amid the latest tragedies. Transport Minister Mohammed Mansur announced that national rail chief Hanafy Abdel Qawi had been fired and his deputy Eid Mahran suspended pending a probe into Monday's catastrophe, a security source said. At least 58 people were killed and 144 injured in the train collision in the town of Qaliub. On Tuesday, at least 11 people were killed when a bus flipped over near the Sinai resort of Nuweiba.
■ Zimbabwe
Mugabe buys Chinese jets
President Robert Mugabe's government has bought six more military aircraft from China as the country boosts its ties with Asian countries after falling out with the West, state media reported yesterday. The latest acquisition is in addition to six planes bought from China last year. "We will be receiving six aircraft from China sometime this year," Defense Secretary Trust Maposa was quoted by the Herald newspaper as telling a parliamentary defense committee. Maposa did not specify how much the jets had cost.
■ Netherlands
Flight turns back
A US airline flight to India returned to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport yesterday, escorted by two Dutch F-16 jet fighters, after the crew reported some passengers were behaving suspiciously, authorities said. Several passengers on Northwest Airlines Flight NW0042 to Bombay were taken off the plane for questioning, airport spokeswoman Pamela Kuypers said. The Dutch Defense Ministry and airport authorities said the pilot radioed for permission to return and asked for an escort of jet fighters when the crew's suspicions were aroused by several passengers.
■ GAZA Strip
Video of reporters released
Two Fox TV journalists who were kidnapped in Gaza last week said they were in "fairly good health" and appealed for help to secure their release, a video released yesterday showed. A previously unknown militant group, the "Holy Jihad Brigades," earlier claimed responsibility for the kidnapping nine days ago of the two journalists and demanded the US release "Muslim prisoners" within 72 hours. Fox News Channel correspondent Steve Centanni, a 60-year-old American, and New Zealand cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, were shown sitting on a mat on a floor. No militants could be seen. "We're in fairly good condition, we're alive and well, in fairly good health," Centanni said. The "Holy Jihad Brigades" did not say what would happen if the US did not meet their demand by the deadline.
■ France
Voters wooed with condoms
Once it was political rhetoric that determined presidential elections, but Nicolas Sarkozy, the interior minister and presidential hopeful, is trying something new: emblazoning his party's message on flip-flops and condoms and handing them out on the beach. With just one week of the summer holiday season left, the ruling conservative UMP's operation "beach party" is trying to attract as many new members as possible along the coast by distributing customized freebies. Light aircraft trailing banners for the party have been flying past beaches for eight weeks, while navy blue caravans have pulled up at almost 40 resorts to hand out T-shirts and condoms.
■ United States
Karr agrees to transfer
John Mark Karr agreed to be sent to Colorado, where authorities want him on a murder warrant in the slaying of six-year-old JonBenet Ramsey. Karr spoke only briefly during a two-minute court hearing on Tuesday to confirm his decision. His blank expression changed only once when he slowly closed his eyes as the judge recited the count of first-degree murder that prosecutors in Boulder County, Colorado, included in their arrest warrant. Boulder County District Attorney's spokeswoman Carolyn French said Karr had not been formally charged, and described the counts in the warrant as possible charges.
■ Jordan
Abbas calls for unity
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas opened a meeting of his Fatah movement in Jordan yesterday to discuss the possibility of forming a unity government with the Hamas militant group. A unity government would be "the only way out for all Palestinian factions to face the difficulties and hardships of the present moment," Fatah Central Committee member Salim Zaanoun told reporters ahead of the meeting. "We will also discuss the capture of the Israeli soldier and the ensuing Israeli attacks on Palestinian areas," added Zaanoun, who is the speaker of the Palestinian National Council.
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
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
CANCER: Jose Mujica earned the moniker ‘world’s poorest president’ for giving away much of his salary and living a simple life on his farm, with his wife and dog Tributes poured in on Tuesday from across Latin America following the death of former Uruguayan president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics. He was 89. Mujica, who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity, lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi wrote on X. “Pepe, eternal,” a cyclist shouted out minutes later,
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