■ 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.
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
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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