■ CHINA
Bird flu father improving
A 52-year-old man whose son died recently from bird flu and who himself has been infected with the virus is gradually recovering, a report said yesterday. The patient, surnamed Lu, showed signs of improvement on Saturday, five days after he developed fever and pneumonia symptoms, Xinhua news agency said, citing medical officials in Jiangsu Province. His son died last Sunday from the H5N1 avian flu strain, which has killed more than 200 people worldwide since 2003.
■ CHINA
Food safety drive launched
A nationwide drive is being launched to boost food safety and healthy diets among children following repeated poisoning incidents and scandals over phoney milk powder and other substandard products, a news report said yesterday. Xinhua news agency said officials will focus on small retailers in rural areas, where processed foods are commonly mislabeled or contain inferior ingredients and where nutritional knowledge is lowest.
■ HONG KONG
US family calls for probe
The family of two Americans found dead in their hotel room after a night out suspect they were murdered and are demanding an inquest, a report said yesterday. The businessmen were found dead in the Grand Hyatt hotel in October. Reports have variously linked the deaths to a possible overdose and that the pair were drugged with the date rape drug flunitrazepam, better known as Rohypnol. Cynthia Nielson, Cherry's sister, conceded that Cherry did use drugs, but said "Paul was larger than life and dabbled in cocaine but definitely not heroin."
■ JAPAN
Princess delivers message
Crown princess Masako said yesterday in a 44th birthday message that she was trying to take on more public duties as she battles to overcome a stress disorder. Masako, a former diplomat educated in the US and Britain, has been fighting stress as she tries to fit in with the world's oldest monarchy, and had made few public appearances in recent years. The scope of her outings has expanded in the past year but she has not yet returned to ritual ceremonies at the palace sanctuary. In her message, she voiced appreciation for the medical and psychological help she has received from her family and the public. "I want to reiterate my thanks to the Japanese people for their concerns and show of their warm feeling," she said.
■ AUSTRALIA
Officials deny troop report
The government yesterday denied reports that it had made a commitment to keep troops in Afghanistan until 2010. The denial came in response to newspaper reports that the Dutch government had told its parliament that Australia would join in an extension of troop deployments until that time. Defense Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said there has been no decision made on extending Canberra's commitment beyond August next year. "While the government continues to recognize the importance of continuing the effort in Afghanistan, no formal decisions have yet been made about future commitments beyond the current mandate," his spokeswoman said.
■ AUSTRALIA
PM meets with Helen Clark
New Prime Minister Kevin Rudd met with his New Zealand counterpart Helen Clark yesterday in his first face-to-face meeting with a foreign head of government since being sworn-in a week ago. The informal meeting at Rudd's Brisbane home covered issues in the South Pacific, the relationship between the two countries and the UN climate change conference in Bali, Rudd told reporters. "I've always been impressed by what the Kiwis have done on the ground in the South Pacific," he said. "[They have] always been very attentive to emerging problems and what needs to be done.
■ LIBERIA
Bryant released from jail
Former Liberian president Gyude Bryant was released from the capital's central prison on Saturday after he agreed to follow through on his promise to appear in court. Bryant, accused of pilfering US$1.3 million from the country's coffers, was jailed on Friday after failing to show up in court. He was released when he signed a court notice committing himself to appearing in court today. "I will go to court alone ... I have no lawyers," said Bryant, who served as interim president for two years beginning in 2003 following the end of the country's 14-year civil war.
■ FRANCE
Cops release bomb suspect
Paris police released without charge on Saturday a man held for questioning over a parcel bomb that killed a secretary and left a lawyer badly injured last week, judicial sources said. The unnamed 45-year-old architect detained had been the object of a harassment complaint two years ago from the senior lawyer at the office, Catherine Gouet-Jenselme, 60. The explosion in Paris' fashionable eighth district on Thursday killed 74-year-old secretary Jacqueline Belbouai, who opened the packet, and injured Olivier Brane, 58.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Returned canoeist charged
A man who "returned from the dead" after apparently being lost at sea in a canoeing accident five years ago was charged by police on Saturday with obtaining money by deception and making a false declaration to get a passport. The charges come after a week of revelations that began with John Darwin, 57, walking into a London police station claiming amnesia and ended with his wife Anne telling newspapers she had hidden him at the family home during the missing years. Anne Darwin described how her husband had avoided discovery by using a small passage to an apartment in an adjoining house owned by the couple. She was also arrested yesterday upon her arrival at Manchester airport.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Detainees to be released
Four British-linked detainees at Guantanamo Bay are to be released, their lawyer said on Saturday, insisting they posed no threat to security as rights campaigners renewed demands for the US camp's closure. Clive Stafford Smith confirmed a BBC report that all but one of five inmates who were previously resident in Britain are set to be freed, although he would not forecast when. Jamil El Banna, Omar Deghayes and Abdennour Samuer will return to Britain, while Shaker Aamer will return to his native Saudi Arabia, the BBC report said.
■ GERMANY
Swan falls in love with boat
Tchaikovsky gave the world Swan Lake, from Yeats' came Leda and the Swan. Now comes another contribution to aquatic fowl legend -- the swan and the pedal boat. Petra is a rare Australian black swan, her pedal-boat lover is plastic, shaped like a common white swan. Yet, as in all proper romances, love is blind. To curious visitors flocking to watch the lovers over the past year, it is clear Petra has lost her heart to the polyurethane version of herself that people rent out to glide around the waters of a boating pond in Muenster. Despite the efforts of municipal workers at the lake to separate her from her inanimate sweetheart, the love affair goes on and the staff have had to accept the unusual bond. The Allwetter Zoo has agreed to house both Petra and the object of her affection over the winter.
■ CANADA
Former PM Clark attacked
Former prime minister Joe Clark was walking down the street in Montreal, minding his own business, when he was suddenly punched in the face by an unknown man, media reported on Saturday. "A fellow called my name and said are you Joe Clark, the former prime minister? ... And he then hit me once on the face," Clark was quoted as saying by the daily Gazette newspaper. "He then swiveled and was away quickly ... My nose was sort of bloodied briefly, internally, but nothing serious. I was stunned. It hasn't happened to me before."
■ UNITED STATES
Man hopes to keep record
Matthew McKnight hopes nobody manages to top his feat in the Guinness Book of World Records. That's because McKnight holds the record for "Greatest Distance Thrown in a Car Accident" in the book's latest edition. The 29-year-old record-holder lived to tell about being thrown 36m by a car that hit him while traveling about 113kph. He was struck on Oct. 26, 2001, while trying to help accident victims along Interstate 376 in Monroeville, about 24km east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He suffered two dislocated shoulders plus a broken shoulder, pelvis, leg and tailbone.
■ UNITED STATES
Body from crash found
Searchers have found a body and some wreckage from a medical helicopter missing since Monday, a spokesman for the rescue effort said. The body of John Stumpff, 47, a flight nurse from Sterling, Alaska, washed up on the north shore of Passage Canal near Whittier, in Prince William Sound, said McHugh Pierre, a spokesman for the Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. Still missing are three other people aboard the helicopter: patient Gaye McDowell, 60, pilot Lance Brabham, 42, and paramedic Cameron Carter, 25. The search was to resume before dawn yesterday.
■ UNITED STATES
Swinger parties threatened
The most popular address on Cedar Ridge Drive is Jim Trulock's split-level home, which has a group sex room and attracts as many as 100 people to swinger parties. But the festivities could soon be over. In response to neighbors' complaints, Duncanville, Texas, has outlawed sex clubs in residential areas. Citations have been issued, and search warrants may be next. "It's crazy that they want to force their morality down our throats," said Dawn Burton, 45, a regular guest at the parties. "We're all frustrated." So are those who complain of the noise, traffic and parking problems that occur in their otherwise quiet, upscale suburban Dallas neighborhood.
■ UNITED STATES
Diocese leaves Church
An entire California diocese voted to secede from the Episcopal Church on Saturday in a historic split following years of disagreement over the Church's expanding support for gay and women's rights. The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, based in Fresno, California, voted to leave the Church, which has been in significant upheaval since 2003 when Episcopals consecrated the first openly gay bishop in the church's more than four centuries of history. The vote was 173 lay and clergy convention delegates in favor, with 22 against. The Episcopal Church said 32 of its 7,600 congregations had left, with another 23 voting to leave but not taking the final step.
Nauru has started selling passports to fund climate action, but is so far struggling to attract new citizens to the low-lying, largely barren island in the Pacific Ocean. Nauru, one of the world’s smallest nations, has a novel plan to fund its fight against climate change by selling so-called “Golden Passports.” Selling for US$105,000 each, Nauru plans to drum up more than US$5 million in the first year of the “climate resilience citizenship” program. Almost six months after the scheme opened in February, Nauru has so far approved just six applications — covering two families and four individuals. Despite the slow start —
YELLOW SHIRTS: Many protesters were associated with pro-royalist groups that had previously supported the ouster of Paetongtarn’s father, Thaksin, in 2006 Protesters rallied on Saturday in the Thai capital to demand the resignation of court-suspended Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and in support of the armed forces following a violent border dispute with Cambodia that killed more than three dozen people and displaced more than 260,000. Gathered at Bangkok’s Victory Monument despite soaring temperatures, many sang patriotic songs and listened to speeches denouncing Paetongtarn and her father, former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and voiced their backing of the country’s army, which has always retained substantial power in the Southeast Asian country. Police said there were about 2,000 protesters by mid-afternoon, although
MOGAMI-CLASS FRIGATES: The deal is a ‘big step toward elevating national security cooperation with Australia, which is our special strategic partner,’ a Japanese official said Australia is to upgrade its navy with 11 Mogami-class frigates built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles said yesterday. Billed as Japan’s biggest defense export deal since World War II, Australia is to pay US$6 billion over the next 10 years to acquire the fleet of stealth frigates. Australia is in the midst of a major military restructure, bolstering its navy with long-range firepower in an effort to deter China. It is striving to expand its fleet of major warships from 11 to 26 over the next decade. “This is clearly the biggest defense-industry agreement that has ever
DEADLY TASTE TEST: Erin Patterson tried to kill her estranged husband three times, police said in one of the major claims not heard during her initial trial Australia’s recently convicted mushroom murderer also tried to poison her husband with bolognese pasta and chicken korma curry, according to testimony aired yesterday after a suppression order lapsed. Home cook Erin Patterson was found guilty last month of murdering her husband’s parents and elderly aunt in 2023, lacing their beef Wellington lunch with lethal death cap mushrooms. A series of potentially damning allegations about Patterson’s behavior in the lead-up to the meal were withheld from the jury to give the mother-of-two a fair trial. Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale yesterday rejected an application to keep these allegations secret. Patterson tried to kill her
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