■ China
Officials fired over porn
Two television officials have been fired after a station in Pingshan County in Hebei Province accidentally broadcast a pornographic video, the Beijing Morning Post reported yesterday. The video was shown late last Tuesday and early the next day, it said, adding that the broadcast "caused a bad social effect." The report said the county government had fired Liu Junzeng, director of the Pingshan Film and Television Administration, and Shen Cunhuai, the deputy director. It said three other officials were also being investigated.
■ China
Gas leak forces evacuation
Nearly 3,500 people from an area around a remote, abandoned gas well in the southwestern town of Chongqing have been evacuated following a leak, but no casualties have been reported, Xinhua news agency said yesterday. The gas, a mixture of sulphurated hydrogen and methane, started leaking on Sunday evening at the well in the district of Shuangqiao, prompting authorities to move everyone within a radius of 1km to safety.
■ China
TV shows should `inspire'
Beijing is ordering TV broadcasters to show more "ethically inspiring" programs. Rules requiring broadcasters to "reflect the reality of China in a positive way" will take effect next month and last at least eight months, Xinhua news agency said yesterday. "The restrictions will ensure a better TV environment," Wang Weiping, an official of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), was quoted as saying. TV series will have to be approved by SARFT and the party's Propaganda Department, Xinhua said.
■ Indonesia
Strong quake hits northeast
A strong earthquake in the nation's northeast left one dead and injured four, rattled buildings and caused panicked residents to flee homes, churches and shopping malls, officials and witnesses said yesterday. The man who died suffered a heart attack, apparently triggered by the shock of Sunday's powerful quake, and one of those hurt broke his leg after jumping from the fourth floor of a building, said a doctor in Manado, a regional capital on the island of Sulawesi. The US Geological Survey put the earthquake's strength at magnitude 7.3.
■ India
Space capsule returns
An space capsule splashed down in the Bay of Bengal yesterday, giving engineers a chance to test technology needed to return astronauts to Earth, an official said. The capsule orbited earth for 11 days before re-entering the atmosphere, S. Krishnamurthy, a spokesman for the Indian Space Research Organization, told the Associated Press. The 550kg Space-Capsule Recovery Experiment was intended to test the organization's ability to track and recover a returning space capsule, he said. Recovery efforts were underway, he said. An Indian-developed Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle successfully deployed three satellites in addition to the space capsule, a statement said.
■ India
Post-riot curfew lifted
Authorities lifted a curfew in violence-hit parts of the southern city of Bangalore, the nation's technology hub, yesterday, a day after hundreds of Hindu nationalists burned shops and set vehicles ablaze, news reports said. An overnight curfew was imposed in the Bhartinagar district of Bangalore on Sunday after police gunfire killed one person and injured three others, the Press Trust of India news agency quoted Police Commissioner N. Achuta Rao as saying. Sunday's violence appeared to be in retaliation for a procession by Muslims two days earlier in protest of the execution of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.
■ Australia
Wildfire threatens Sydney
Thousands of Sydney commuters were stranded for hours yesterday as firefighters battled a large wildfire on the city's outskirts that closed two major highways and a train line. Around 250 firefighters and several water-bombing aircraft were battling to contain a wildfire that started late on Sunday in the Kuringai Chase National Park, which borders several northern Sydney suburbs. New South Wales state police supplied water to thousands of motorists stranded for five hours on two major highways that were closed due to heavy smoke and firefighting activity.
■ Japan
Russian police seize boat
Russian border police seized a Japanese fishing boat and its six crew members while it was in disputed waters between the two countries, prompting Tokyo to protest, officials said yesterday. The No. 38 Zuisho Maru was captured on Sunday morning off Kunashiri Island, one of four disputed islands in a group the Japanese call the Northern Territories and the Russians call the Kurils, Japanese Coast Guard spokeswoman Sanae Kobayashi said early yesterday. The boat, which was stopped by the Russian border police for inspection, has not returned to its home port of Rausu on the eastern coast of Japan's main northern island of Hokkaido.
■ United Kingdom
Stricken ship poses threat
Salvage teams on Sunday battled to secure a damaged container ship grounded off the English coast, as 200 tonnes of oil and other hazardous materials threatened the nearby coastline. The stricken MSC Napoli was deliberately run aground in waters close to Sidmouth, southwest England, after it was damaged during a storm on Thursday. Navy helicopters rescued the vessel's 26 crew members in rough seas, 70km off Lizard Point on England's southwest tip. Salvage teams had hoped to secure the ailing vessel but their efforts have been hampered by gale force winds, leaving an 8km sheen of oil on the water's surface.
■ France
`Living legend' dies aged 94
Abbe Pierre, a priest praised as a living legend for devoting his life to helping the homeless, died yesterday, his foundation said. He was 94. One of the nation's most beloved public figures, Abbe Pierre died at Val de Grace hospital in Paris, his foundation said. He had been admitted with a lung infection on Jan. 14. The founder of the international Emmaus Community for the poor, Abbe Pierre served as a spokesman for France's conscience since the 1950s when he persuaded parliament to pass a law -- still on the books -- forbidding landlords to expel tenants during winter months.
■ Russia
Journalist beaten to death
A television journalist was beaten to death in Vladivostok, police in the Pacific coast city said yesterday. Colleagues said they did not believe the killing was connected with his work. The body of Konstantin Borovko, 25, was found early on Saturday on a street in the city with injuries consistent with a beating, said Yekaterina Polyanskaya, a spokeswoman for the regional Interior Ministry branch. Borovko anchored a morning program on entertainment and cultural events at Guberniya, a major regional channel in the neighboring Khabarovsk Territory, but was in Vladivostok for exams at a university where he studied at the media department, said Inna Perekhozheva, editor of morning programs at the channel.
■ Spain
Locals, immigrants clash
Some 400 riot police patrolled a Madrid neighborhood on Sunday in an effort to disperse hundreds of youths who gathered after an overnight street battle between Spanish and immigrant gangs ended with seven arrested and at least four injured. The youths, many with their faces covered and wielding sticks and bars, had gathered in the southwestern area of Alcorcon to protest the overnight street fight between some 50 Spanish youths and Latin American immigrants, authorities said.
■ South Africa
Cousins deny al-Qaeda links
Two men denied they had any links to al-Qaeda on Sunday after the UN Security Council named them as suspects. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa confirmed a report in the local Sunday Times that Farhad Ahmed Dockrat and his cousin Junaid Ismail Dockrat were put on the UN list of suspected militants on Friday. Papers submitted by the US to the Security Council alleged Junaid is an al-Qaeda "financier, recruiter and facilitator."
■ Canada
Funds allocated to rainforest
Canada announced it will spend C$30 million (US$25 million) to protect the largest intact temperate rainforest left on earth. The area is teeming with grizzly bears, wolves and wild salmon in the ancestral home of many native tribes. It stretches 400km along British Columbia's rugged Pacific coastline. An additional C$30 million (US$25 million) has been set aside by the provincial government for new job strategies for coastal native tribes.
■ United States
Cobra sells for US$5.5m
An 800-horsepower Shelby Cobra, once the personal car of the racing veteran who developed the iconic vehicle, has sold for US$5.5 million at auction, a record for an American car. The sale of the 1966 Shelby Cobra "Super Snake" brought a packed house to its feet Saturday at the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction after a pair of bidders drove the price up. The car had a twin, built for comedian Bill Cosby, but that car was destroyed in an accident while being driven by another owner. Barrett-Jackson said the US$5.5 million price tag for the Cobra was not an overall world record car price; others have sold at auction for more than $11 million . However, it is a world record for American cars, said Steve Davis, Barrett-Jackson president.
■ United States
School money missing
A former Bowling Green State University employee is accused of using school money to order US$400,000 in computers and electronics, then selling them, the college said. Michael McHugh, 44, has pleaded not guilty to theft and two counts of theft in office. He has been jailed since Dec. 1 in lieu of US$100,000 bail. The theft went unnoticed for years in the university's US$400 million budget because the items were bought slowly starting in 2001. The purchases from Apple Computers, Office Depot and other retailers ramped up in 2003 and caught attention last year.
■ United States
Winter blast hits Colorado
The latest in a series of winter storms battered Colorado, dumping several centimeters of snow and whipping up strong wind that created whiteout conditions on the state's eastern plains. Officials on Sunday closed a long stretch of an interstate highway, from near Denver International Airport almost to the Kansas state line, because of high winds, blowing snow, poor visibility and ice. Winds of up to 100kph piled snow into drifts as high as 90cm in parts of the state, the National Weather Service said.
■ United States
Roller coaster junkie
Since semi-retiring from various odd jobs, 61-year-old Richard Krieger has spent his days at Knott's Berry Farm, riding the gravity-defying Xcelerator roller coaster. On Saturday, he boarded the coaster for the 20,000th time, a park record. ``It feels almost the same as the first time, only I know what to expect,'' said Krieger, who has been on the ride an average of 12 times a day for the past 4.5 years. It is not known whether Krieger has set any larger records. Krieger has devoted more time to riding the Xcelerator, which blasts riders into a 61.5-meter climb at 132 kph. By the end of 2003, he rode the coaster 3,200 times, buying an annual pass to save money on admissions.
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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