■ New Zealand
Baby on the way
Oscar-nominated child star Keisha Castle-Hughes -- the youngest ever actress nominated for a "best actress" Oscar for her role in Whale Rider -- has announced she is pregnant to her teenage boyfriend and is to give birth next year. The 16-year-old New Zealand actress is "extremely happy about it," her agent, Gail Cowan, said yesterday. Castle-Hughes and Bradley Hull, the father of her baby, have been dating for three years, but he was not allowed to accompany her to the Oscars because her representatives reportedly had concerns about the age difference.
■ South Korea
Kim's aide in car accident
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's brother-in-law and longtime aide was severely injured in a car accident late last month, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported yesterday. It quoted unnamed intelligence sources familiar with North Korea as saying Jang Song-thaek, a senior member of the ruling Workers' Party, was hurt when his Mercedes was hit by a military truck at a crossroad in Pyongyang. Yonhap said there was speculation in North Korea that Jang's accident was the result of a plot by his political enemies. The accident followed reports that Jang's daughter, Keum-son, had committed suicide in Paris in August.
■ Japan
Rescuers find body
Japanese rescuers found a body as they searched yesterday for dozens of missing seamen after two vessels ran aground in stormy weather off eastern Japan. The body was found close to where 13 crew members were swept overboard from the Panamanian-registered Giant Step, which ran ground after catching fire in seas off Kashima on Friday. Sixteen crew members were rescued and one Indian national was confirmed dead after the 98,587 tonne freighter snapped in two approximately 2km from Kashima port, 95km east of Tokyo. Search operations continued using boats and aircraft for nine sailors still missing -- all of them Indian nationals.
■ China
Anglican leader visits
The leader of the world's Anglican communion arrived in China yesterday for the first time in more than a decade on a two-week visit that will include talks with religious and government officials. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams will visit five cities, starting in Shanghai -- where he was due yesterday to deliver his sermon at the city's Muen church -- and taking in Nanjing, Wuhan and Xian before ending in Beijing. His office in London said Williams wanted to engage with the church in China and talk over the challenges posed by economic development, environmental matters and the role of religion in constructing a "harmonious society."
■ India
Riot over cows
Two people have been killed and 86 injured in several days of Hindu-Muslim riots in southern India sparked by a dispute over the slaughtering of cows, police said yesterday. The violence in the coastal city of Mangalore, 300km west of Bangalore, erupted on Wednesday when right-wing Hindu activists intercepted a vehicle carrying cows and buffalos to an abattoir. The two individuals killed were Muslims. Police said calm had been restored following the unrest, which saw members of both communities pelting stones at each other and burning shops. A curfew imposed on Thursday was lifted for two hours yesterday to enable people to stock up on supplies.
■ United States
Child dragged by bus
A school bus dragged a six-year-old boy along the road over 18m after the bus doors closed on his backpack, leaving him with mostly scrapes and bruises. Shane Stout had skin scraped from his torso, patches of hair ripped off his head, a broken thumb and bruises on his face after the accident on Friday at the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation. He was still recovering in a hospital on Saturday. Erie County sheriff's deputies said a full investigation would take several days. Stout is expected to be released from the hospital within the next few days.
■ Mexico
Two heads found
Police on Saturday found the heads of two men who had been decapitated in suspected drug gang violence in the eastern state of Michoacan, local media reported. The heads were discovered outside an automobile dealer in the town of Zitacuaro, along with a message reading: "We of the Michoacan family are not extortionists. I am waiting for your next call." Five heads of men were hurled onto the dance floor of a Michoacan bar last month. The murders come amid a grisly war between drug smuggling gangs in the state. So far this year, there have been more than 300 assassinations, including 15 decapitations.
■ United Kingdom
Harry held back
Britain's Prince Harry will not be allowed to fight on the front line in Afghanistan, the Mail on Sunday newspaper said, citing senior sources in the prince's regiment. The 22-year-old Harry, third in line to the throne, reportedly threatened to quit the British Army if he were blocked from active service. Although a formal decision has yet to be made, sources in the Household Cavalry said that they thought it was too dangerous for him to deploy in Afghanistan. As Second Lieutenant Wales, Harry is training to become a troop commander, in charge of 11 enlisted soldiers and four light tanks.
■ Latvia
Government survives poll
The ruling coalition narrowly managed to win enough seats to form a majority government in the Baltic state's general elections, the Central Election Commission said yesterday. Led by Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis, the three-party coalition won 51 seats in the Saeima, or parliament -- six more seats than it currently has. It is the first time in Latvia that a sitting government has maintained its grip on power since the country broke away from the Soviet Union in 1991. Latvia has had 12 governments in 15 years of independence. Foreign Minister Artis Pabriks said the victory was ensured because "we never promised more than we could."
■ Congo
More clashes in northeast
Government troops backed by UN helicopters and armored vehicles battled militia fighters in Congo's restive northeast, leaving two UN peacekeepers wounded and at least a dozen militants dead, officials said. Saturday's fighting between soldiers and members of the Ituri Patriotic Resistance Front broke out around dawn some 80km south of Bunia, the capital of Ituri Province, and at least 12 militants were killed, said General Mbuayama Nsiona. "We've already buried 12 militants killed in combat and we know there had to be lots more," he said. A UN spokesman said a UN rapid-reaction force responded in support of the government troops.
■ United States
Lost dog's owner sues
A New Orleans woman who lost her dog during Hurricane Katrina is suing the suburban Philadelphia family that adopted it and two kennels that processed the animal. Sheila Combs said in the lawsuit that she wants Rocket, her 10-year-old son's pet, returned home. The suit also seeks unspecified damages. It was filed on Friday in Bucks County Court, naming as defendants Lynne and Joseph Welsh, who adopted the dog, and kennels Holiday House Pet Resort and Molly's Country Kennels. The suit alleges the kennels "wrongfully adopted out" Rocket after the dog was sent to Pennsylvania following its hurricane rescue. It also claims that the Welshes reneged on promises to return Rocket.
■ United States
I had sex with Foley: page
A former congressional page said he had sex with disgraced former US lawmaker Mark Foley, according to a newspaper report yesterday, as an explosive Washington political scandal continued to unfold. The unidentified former page told the Los Angeles Times that he was 21 when he and the Florida Republican congressman had sex, and that Foley's overtures began shortly after he left the congressional page work-study program for high school students.
■ United States
Speculation on Castro
Cuban President Fidel Castro is believed to have terminal cancer and is unlikely to return to power, Time magazine reported on Saturday, citing US government officials. Despite remarks by Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque on Wednesday that Castro "continues to recover [and] we will have him back leading the Revolution," Time reported on its Web site that many US officials are now convinced that Castro has terminal cancer. Castro, 80, handed over the presidency for the first time in almost five decades to his brother Raul Castro, 75, who has long been Cuba's defense chief, after undergoing intestinal surgery in July. He has largely remained out of the public spotlight since then.
■ Belgium
Far-right could win vote
Voters went to the polls yesterday in key local elections that are expected to see big gains for the extreme-right Flemish Interest party in the north. Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt did a lot of campaigning ahead of yesterday's poll, aiming to stave off expected heavy losses for his Dutch-speaking Liberal Democrats a year before national elections. His national coalition partner, the French-speaking Socialists, also look likely to suffer in the wake of scandal allegations in Wallonia.
■ Ukraine
Pearl debate heats up
Opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko threw her pearl necklace at a political rival on Friday in a heated debate in parliament. Tymoshenko, who is known for her luxury tastes, became incensed when a rival from the ruling Regions party accused her of "hypocrisy" in a debate on privileges for lawmakers. "The pearls around your neck would be enough to feed an average Ukrainian family for five years," Yevgen Kushnaryov said. In images broadcast on national TV, Tymoshenko could be seen taking off her necklace and throwing it at Kushnaryov. "There's not a single real pearl in this necklace," she said. Her claim was verified by some jewellers quoted in later television news reports who said the pearls were all fakes.
An endangered baby pygmy hippopotamus that shot to social media stardom in Thailand has become a lucrative source of income for her home zoo, quadrupling its ticket sales, the institution said Thursday. Moo Deng, whose name in Thai means “bouncy pork,” has drawn tens of thousands of visitors to Khao Kheow Open Zoo this month. The two-month-old pygmy hippo went viral on TikTok and Instagram for her cheeky antics, inspiring merchandise, memes and even craft tutorials on how to make crocheted or cake-based Moo Dengs at home. A zoo spokesperson said that ticket sales from the start of September to Wednesday reached almost
‘BARBAROUS ACTS’: The captain of the fishing vessel said that people in checkered clothes beat them with iron bars and that he fell unconscious for about an hour Ten Vietnamese fishers were violently robbed in the South China Sea, state media reported yesterday, with an official saying the attackers came from Chinese-flagged vessels. The men were reportedly beaten with iron bars and robbed of thousands of dollars of fish and equipment on Sunday off the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), which Taiwan claims, as do Vietnam, China, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines. Vietnamese media did not identify the nationalities of the attackers, but Phung Ba Vuong, an official in central Quang Ngai province, told reporters: “They were Chinese, [the boats had] Chinese flags.” Four of the 10-man Vietnamese crew were rushed
Scientists yesterday announced a milestone in neurobiological research with the mapping of the entire brain of an adult fruit fly, a feat that might provide insight into the brains of other organisms and even people. The research detailed more than 50 million connections between more than 139,000 neurons — brain nerve cells — in the insect, a species whose scientific name is Drosophila melanogaster and is often used in neurobiological studies. The research sought to decipher how brains are wired and the signals underlying healthy brain functions. It could also pave the way for mapping the brains of other species. “You might
INSTABILITY: If Hezbollah do not respond to Israel’s killing of their leader then it must be assumed that they simply can not, an Middle Eastern analyst said Israel’s killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah leaves the group under huge pressure to deliver a resounding response to silence suspicions that the once seemingly invincible movement is a spent force, analysts said. Widely seen as the most powerful man in Lebanon before his death on Friday, Nasrallah was the face of Hezbollah and Israel’s arch-nemesis for more than 30 years. His group had gained an aura of invincibility for its part in forcing Israel to withdraw troops from southern Lebanon in 2000, waging a devastating 33-day-long war in 2006 against Israel and opening a “support front” in solidarity with Gaza since
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