■ Hong Kong
Condoms help set mood
Forget chocolates or roses this Valentine's Day -- a gift of musical condoms is bound to be more entertaining. Hong Kong's Ondo Creation, which makes designer condoms, hopes its Idom sheathes will put a more romantic spin on safe sex. The Idom itself doesn't sing -- but the mint, strawberry, chocolate and banana flavored condoms come in an attractive package with a music CD to get you in the mood for love.
■ Malaysia
Lightning kills student
A Malaysian student was killed by lightning as she answered her cellphone in Malaysia's Borneo island state of Sarawak. Chai Ming Hui, 23, was taking refuge under an umbrella with two others when her phone rang during a thunderstorm on Thursday, the New Straits Times reported. She answered it, and was struck by lightning, causing severe burns, the paper added. She died minutes later after being taken to the main hospital in Kuching, Sarawak's state capital, the report said.
■ Pakistan
Leader calls Ahmadinejad
Pakistan's president called his Iranian counterpart to discuss the ongoing Middle East crisis and raised the need to push for a just settlement of the impasse over Palestinian issues, Pakistan's foreign ministry said. President General Pervez Musharraf informed the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, about his forthcoming visit to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria and Jordan, during which he would discuss the "deteriorating situation in the Middle East." Musharraf spoke with Ahmadinejad without saying exactly when Musharraf would leave on his Middle East trip.
■ Japan
Gas leak death toll rises
The death toll from a carbon monoxide gas leak in the north of the country rose to three, officials said yesterday and utilities workers found a new leak near the disaster site while inspecting the underground pipes. Another eight people remained hospitalized from the leak that was discovered Friday in the city of Kitami, on the northern island of Hokkaido. Hokkaido Gas Co officials were checking lines for more leaks yesterday, police official Yoshimi Ikeda said. Another leak was found about 3km from the first leak, but no one suffered ill effects, he said. The gas is believed to have escaped from a ruptured pipe into the sewage system.
■ Philippines
Terror chief's death verified
DNA test results confirm the killing of Khaddafy Janjalani, the head of al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, during a clash with Philippine troops in September, the government said on Friday. The news came four days after US-backed Philippine troops killed senior Abu Sayyaf commander, Abu Sulaiman, marking a major victory in a US-backed campaign to wipe out Islamic militants in the south of the archipelago after decades of bombings and kidnappings. Janjalani's death was confirmed after DNA tests were conducted in the US to compare tissue samples taken from remains found last month with those of Janjalani's relatives.
■ India
Clashes leave 20 injured
At least 20 people were injured in Bangalore on Friday when police clashed with thousands of demonstrators protesting against the execution of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Police fired shots in the air and used tear gas to disperse crowds when a peaceful demonstration by Muslims turned violent in the southern city. "Stone-throwing incidents have been reported and some shops and vehicles have also been damaged," Bipin Gopalakrishna, a senior police officer, said. Violence broke out when protesters tried to force Hindu shopkeepers to close their shops in the communally sensitive area of Shivajinagar.
■ Nepal
Protester shoots child
A 16-year-old boy was killed when a Maoist protester shot at a group of protesters during a strike in the southeast, an official said yesterday. The clash occurred late on Friday when protesters stopped a vehicle carrying former Maoist rebels -- whose leaders are now members of the provisional parliament -- in Lahan, 125km southeast of Kathmandu. District official Chiranjibi Adhikary said one of the Maoists opened fire on the protesters, killing the boy. The strike was called by a local Lahan group which said the country's interim Constitution had little to offer for the people living in its impoverished southern plains.
■ Afghanistan
Bomber targets NATO forces
A suicide bomber in a car blew himself up next to a NATO convoy in southern Afghanistan on Friday, an official said. No troops were hurt. The blast occurred north of Tirin Kot, the capital of Uruzgan Province, said Mohammad Qasem, the provincial police chief. The bomber was killed in the explosion, but there were no other casualties, he said. A roadside bomb explosion, meanwhile, wounded a district chief and his five bodyguards in the same province, also on Friday, Qasem said. Faroq Mohammad, the chief of Uruzgan's Chora district was returning from Tirin Kot when the blast destroyed his car, Qasem said.
■ Russia
Man kills grandmother
A man confessed to police he killed his grandmother because they could not agree on what program to watch on TV, prosecutors said on Friday. Arguments over who controls the TV remote are familiar to most families. The suspect, from the Karelia region near Finland, took things to extremes by stabbing and bludgeoning to death his 81-year-old grandmother. "When he started to testify to police, he said he killed her because they could not agree on what TV program they wanted to watch," said Tatyana Kordyukova, a spokeswoman for the Karelia prosecutor's office. She said the man was drunk at the time.
■ Serbia
Explosive device found
An explosive device was found under a vehicle used by the leader of the pro-Western Liberal Democratic Party late on Friday, two days before Serbs were to vote in parliamentary elections, a party official said. A security guard noticed the explosive planted underneath Cedomir Jovanovic's sports utility vehicle, which had been parked in downtown Belgrade while the opposition politician was at a meeting nearby, party spokesman Vera Didanovic said. An anti-terrorist police squad was called to remove the device, Didanovic said.
■ Spain
Woman's name problematic
A Colombian woman called Darling has been told she cannot become a Spanish citizen because her name is unacceptable. Years of waiting to obtain Spanish citizenship for Darling Velez, 33, appeared to end with success a few months ago when her application was accepted, but she was shocked when the public registry rejected her name, the El Mundo newspaper reported on Friday. Spanish law prohibits names which could expose a person to ridicule or do not clearly indicate gender. Without registering her name, Velez cannot become a citizen. The registry office suggested Velez, who lives near Madrid, should choose a saint's name.
■ Britain
New arrest in honors probe
British Prime Minister Tony Blair's aide Ruth Turner was the fourth person arrested in the 10-month cash for honors investigation. Last April Scotland Yard made its first arrest -- Des Smith, an adviser to the government's city academies fundraising program. Smith had told an undercover reporter from the Sunday Times that donors to Labour's city academies program could receive honors. Smith, a headteacher from east London, denied any wrongdoing. The academies trust was chaired by Lord Levy, Labour's chief fundraiser and the prime minister's personal envoy to the Middle East. Lord Levy was the next person to be arrested in July.
■ Netherlands
Statue to honor prostitutes
Amsterdam's red-light district will soon get a new attraction -- a statue to honor prostitutes around the world. The statue, designed by artist Els Rijerse, will likely be unveiled at the end of March, Dutch news agency ANP reported. "In many countries, prostitutes struggle and people have no respect for them whatsoever. The statue is meant to give all those men and women strength," Mariska Majoor, a former prostitute who commissioned the statue, said. The statue, made of bronze, shows a woman who confidently looks out into the world.
■ Mexico
Student murders parents
A 19-year-old university student fatally stabbed and then dismembered his parents in Mexico City after an argument over US$35, authorities said Friday. Miguel Angel Marin then allegedly drove their remains to the nearby central state of Hidalgo and torched the car, state Attorney General Jose Rodriguez said. Rodriguez said Marin often fought with his parents, Marco Marin Bermudez, 45, and Patricia Elena Zuniga, 39, and killed them both on Jan. 12 after his father chastised him for stealing 400 pesos (US$35) to pay a cell phone bill. Rodriguez said Marin cut off their hands and feet, stuffed their remains into plastic bags and put the bags inside the car before dousing the vehicle with gasoline and setting it on fire on a highway about 90km northeast of the capital.
■ Mexico
Drug overlords extradited
Drug kingpins Osiel Cardenas and Hector "Guero" Palma have been extradited to the US along with several other major traffickers, the government said late on Friday. President Felipe Calderon took office last month and quickly launched a major crackdown on Mexico's main drug cartels in an attempt to halt a gruesome surge in violence that claimed more than 2,000 lives last year. Osiel Cardenas is considered the leader of the Gulf Cartel. He was arrested and imprisoned in Mexico in 2003. Hector "Guero" Palma is a top associate of Mexico's most wanted man, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who heads another powerful cartel.
■ Mexico
Obrador lobbies support
The runner-up in last year's presidential election vowed on Friday to register 5 million supporters to help his parallel "government" and its campaign of resistance against Mexico's president. The fiery leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who narrowly lost the July presidential election, has declared himself Mexico's "legitimate" leader after crying fraud and staging massive protests that blocked the capital for seven weeks after the July vote. So far, his "government" has largely dedicated itself to holding news conferences to criticize Calderon. Gustavo Iruegas, the "foreign secretary," said Lopez Obrador's government had set up booths where supporters could get their photo taken for a credential declaring them as representatives.
■ Canada
World's oldest woman dies
Julie Winnefred Bertrand, the world's oldest woman, died early on Thursday at the age of 115 in a Montreal nursing home, CanWest News Service reported. Bertrand, who was born on Sept. 16, 1891, in the Quebec town of Coaticook, passed away in her sleep, CanWest reported, citing Bertrand's 73-year-old nephew, Andre. Last month, Bertrand was proclaimed the world's oldest living woman and its second oldest person by Guinness World Records after the death of Tennessee woman Elizabeth Bolden, who was born Aug. 15, 1890.
■ Colombia
Drug war `model' for Afghans
The US-backed fight against drug traffickers and armed groups could be a good model for Afghanistan to follow in its effort to battle illegal narcotics, a top US general said on Friday. Financed by millions of dollars in US aid, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has pushed back left-wing rebels, demobilized thousands of rightist militia and sought to tackle the huge cocaine trade that helps fuel the Andean country's conflict. Afghanistan has already sought security advice and training from Bogota.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Hundreds of people in rainbow colors gathered on Saturday in South Africa’s tourist magnet Cape Town to honor the world’s first openly gay imam, who was killed last month. Muhsin Hendricks, who ran a mosque for marginalized Muslims, was shot dead last month near the southern city of Gqeberha. “I was heartbroken. I think it’s sad especially how far we’ve come, considering how progressive South Africa has been,” attendee Keisha Jensen said. Led by motorcycle riders, the mostly young crowd walked through the streets of the coastal city, some waving placards emblazoned with Hendricks’s image and reading: “#JUSTICEFORMUHSIN.” No arrest
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