■ MALAYSIA
Paratroopers drown
Three paratroopers drowned yesterday and five were injured during an exercise when strong winds blew them out to sea, defense officials said. The men were training for an airspace show today on the island of Langkawi, said an air force spokesman.
■ MARSHALL ISLANDS
No election results yet
There are still no confirmed results from the Nov. 19 general elections, although preliminary results indicate the opposition Aelon Kein Ad (Our Islands) party won more seats than the ruling United Democratic Party. Officials released results last Tuesday from the capital Majuro, which accounts for more than 50 percent of the total vote. But they later said the numbers inexplicably did not include three of 31 voting boxes counted the week before. Unofficial final results could be issued at the end of next week, but there will be a 14-day period to allow for challenges and recount petitions before the results become official.
■ JAPAN
Robots slug it out
At Tokyo's 12th Robo-One Grand Championship match, two-legged robots jabbed, ducked and even sang in their quest to become champ. Twenty-five robots put up their fists to knock one another out of a small ring on Saturday, showing off the latest moves in the world's biggest robot market. Hundreds applauded as a robot named "Arichyon," clad in Christmas lights, sang We Wish You a Merry Christmas. Then they cheered as a robot with a penguin head knocked Arichyon over with a single punch. Japan, home to 40 percent of the world's robots, is also fertile ground for amateur programmers, who invest serious money into making the ideal biped.
■ CHINA
Zhang crowned Miss World
The country gave a cheer to its first Miss World yesterday, with Internet chat rooms filled with praise for the 23-year-old beauty queen. Zhang Zilin (張梓琳), a Beijing secretary who was born in Shijiazhuang, scooped the title late on Saturday in Hainan. A blog by Zhang on the Web portal Sina.com had over 1 million hits as of yesterday, with many fans posting their congratulations. "You've brought honor to our country! We're all happy for you! We're proud for China!" wrote a fan named "Tango." Long frowned upon by Beijing's Communist leadership, beauty pageants and other such contests have become hugely popular over the past several years.
■ JAPAN
Police arrest US sailor
Police arrested a US sailor early yesterday for allegedly assaulting two Japanese women on the street near a US naval base south of Tokyo, police said yesterday. Police arrested Jon Michael Cockrell, 30, after he allegedly assaulted the women, both 50, on the street in the naval base town of Yokosuka. "Cockrell is accused of attacking the women from behind and injuring them in the head," a police spokesman said. He also reportedly chased one of the victims into a nearby parking lot and attacked her in the face. The women suffered injuries that will require two weeks of treatment, he said. The sailor, reportedly intoxicated at the time of the incident, denied the allegations, a report said.
■ NEW ZEALAND
Thieves steal rare medals
Brazen thieves have raided the New Zealand Defence Force museum and stolen several rare military medals worth millions of dollars, officials said yesterday. The haul included nine Victoria Crosses (VC), the British military's highest award for bravery in battle, and two George Medals. The haul included the only VC and Bar awarded to a combatant which was presented to New Zealander Charles Upham in World War II for heroism during campaigns in Crete and North Africa. Army chief Major General Lou Gardiner said that security staff were alerted to the break-in when alarms were activated, but by the time guards arrived, the thieves had gone.
■ INDONESIA
Flights resume after fire
Domestic flights resumed at one of the country's busiest airports yesterday after a fire destroyed the terminal and left one person injured, an official said. Polonia Airport is located in the country's third-largest city, Medan, the regional capital of Sumatra. It handles about 4.5 million passengers a year and has been criticized in the past for reportedly operating far beyond its capacity. The cause of the fire, which broke out late on Saturday, was believed to be a short circuit on the domestic terminal's second floor, North Sumatra police chief Major General Nurudin Usman said.
■ PHILIPPINES
Protesters storm embassy
About two dozen protesters stormed the US embassy in Manila yesterday, pounding a government seal at the gate with their fists and a brick before surprised policemen pushed them away. The protesters demanded the transfer to a Philippine jail of US Marine Lance Corporal. Daniel Smith, who was convicted exactly a year ago of raping a Filipino woman but has remained under US government custody at the embassy. A suburban Manila court convicted and handed a 40-year prison term to Smith last year for raping the woman in a van as fellow Marines cheered him on.
■ IRAN
Three hanged in public
Authorities hanged two convicted drug traffickers and a convicted rapist in public in the clerical city of Qom yesterday, the latest in a growing number of executions, state news agency IRNA reported. The drug traffickers, identified as Yahya Madadi and Atollah Poolzehi, had been found guilty of trafficking more than 100kg of heroin. Hossein Safarlou was convicted of rape and drug trafficking. "The police are serious in their policy of decisively combatting thugs and drug traffickers," Rahim Khorshid, Qom's police commander told the crowd during the public hangings.
■ UKRAINE
Circus crocodile dies
A small Nile crocodile that had escaped from a circus died on Friday, two days after its capture, the emergency situations ministry announced. "Godzik," a diminutive of Godzilla, "died in the morning, then he was incinerated," ministry regional chief Andri Bondarenko said. On May 31 Godzik escaped from his cage at the Donetsk Circus, where he was on display by the Azov Sea and bolted into the water. The 20cm reptile took refuge on a barge in the Azov Sea, where he sunbathed all summer. In autumn he stayed by a steel mill that discharged hot water. Godzik was captured on Wednesday, but died soon after.
■ IRAN
Police check winter wear
Police will crack down on women in Tehran flouting Islamic dress codes with winter fashions deemed immodest, such as tight trousers tucked into long boots, an officer was quoted as saying on Saturday. "Considering the start of the cold season and its special way of dressing, police will start early next week a drive against women who wear improper dress," Tehran police chief Ahmad Reza Radan said. "Tight trousers tucked inside long boots while wearing short overcoats are against Islamic codes," he said. "A hat or cap instead of scarves is also against Islamic dress codes."
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Sleep can be dangerous
Sleeping too little or too much can significantly increase the risk of mortality, according to a study conducted in Britain, the results of which were published in the US on Saturday. A decrease in sleep among participants sleeping six, seven or eight hours was associated with a 110 percent higher risk of cardiovascular mortality, the study published in the journal Sleep found. But an increase in sleep among those sleeping seven or eight hours was associated with a 110 percent higher risk of non-cardiovascular mortality. The report recommends seven or eight hours of sleep per night consistently.
■ GERMANY
Merkel dismisses criticism
Chancellor Angela Merkel brushed off criticism from China over having received Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, in a radio interview broadcast yesterday. "I receive who I think should be received," Merkel told Deutchlandfunk radio. Beijing reacted angrily to the September meeting, calling on Berlin to acknowledge it had made a mistake. "Germany and its government are partisans of a united China, there is no question about it. The Dalai Lama [only] wants cultural independence ... which is why it in no way brings brings China into question," she said.
■ UNITED STATES
Student pies Santa Claus
A college student accused of shoving a pumpkin pie into the face of a shopping-mall Santa Claus has been charged with misdemeanor assault in Missoula, Montana. Clint Westwood, 22, said he "lightly smooshed" the pie into the man's face on Wednesday and shouted, "What do you think of that, Santa?" Westwood, a drama student at the University of Montana, was charged on Friday. He said he videotaped the encounter and plans to include the clip in an upcoming film. He said that after the pie ruckus, he expected to approach Santa for a signature on a film-release form, but police arrived first.
■ UNITED STATES
Cat lives with jar on head
Tabitha Cain of Bartlett, Tennessee, has fed the cat, which she calls Wild Oats, for several years. The family saw the cat several times with the peanut butter jar on its head and tried in vain to catch it. But after not seeing the cat for a week, the Cains feared the worst. "I thought she was going to die with that jar on her head," said Cain, 25. They found the once chubby cat on Wednesday, too thin and weak to flee. They caught her with a fishing net and used some oil to get the jar off her head. They gave her water and treated her wounds and on Friday she began to eat again.
■ UNITED STATES
Girl Scout finally gets award
A Girl Scout who failed to receive a Golden Eaglet Award because she had the mumps finally got the accolade -- 69 years later. Faith Iames Schremp, 86, joined Girl Scouts in 1938 and earned all the proficiency badges needed to win the award. But the morning Schremp, of Wausau, Wisconsin, was to leave for Girl Scout Camp, she woke up with the mumps. Going to camp was the final rite of passage in earning the award. Schremp said she was heartbroken. That is until Fran Raley, chief executive officer of the Girl Scouts of the Fox River Area, presented Schremp with her long-deserved award on Saturday during the Girl Scouts' 2007 Holiday Folk Fair. Receiving the Golden Eaglet Award, the predecessor to the Gold Award, is the highest achievement in Girl Scouting.
CONDITIONS: The Russian president said a deal that was scuppered by ‘elites’ in the US and Europe should be revived, as Ukraine was generally satisfied with it Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday said that he was ready for talks with Ukraine, after having previously rebuffed the idea of negotiations while Kyiv’s offensive into the Kursk region was ongoing. Ukraine last month launched a cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, sending thousands of troops across the border and seizing several villages. Putin said shortly after there could be no talk of negotiations. Speaking at a question and answer session at Russia’s Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Putin said that Russia was ready for talks, but on the basis of an aborted deal between Moscow’s and Kyiv’s negotiators reached in Istanbul, Turkey,
In months, Lo Yuet-ping would bid farewell to a centuries-old village he has called home in Hong Kong for more than seven decades. The Cha Kwo Ling village in east Kowloon is filled with small houses built from metal sheets and stones, as well as old granite buildings, contrasting sharply with the high-rise structures that dominate much of the Asian financial hub. Lo, 72, has spent his entire life here and is among an estimated 860 households required to move under a government redevelopment plan. He said he would miss the rich history, unique culture and warm interpersonal kindness that defined life in
A French woman whose husband has admitted to enlisting dozens of strangers to rape her while she was drugged on Thursday told his trial that police had saved her life by uncovering the crimes. “The police saved my life by investigating Mister Pelicot’s computer,” Gisele Pelicot told the court in the southern city of Avignon, referring to her husband — one of 51 of her alleged abusers on trial — by only his surname. Speaking for the first time since the extraordinary trial began on Monday, Gisele Pelicot, now 71, revealed her emotion in almost 90 minutes of testimony, recounting her mysterious
Thailand has netted more than 1.3 million kilograms of highly destructive blackchin tilapia fish, the government said yesterday, as it battles to stamp out the invasive species. Shoals of blackchin tilapia, which can produce up to 500 young at a time, have been found in 19 provinces, damaging ecosystems in rivers, swamps and canals by preying on small fish, shrimp and snail larvae. As well as the ecological impact, the government is worried about the effect on the kingdom’s crucial fish-farming industry. Fishing authorities caught 1,332,000kg of blackchin tilapia from February to Wednesday last week, said Nattacha Boonchaiinsawat, vice president of a parliamentary
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