■ GERMANY
Fish sex is electric business
Sex among electric fish in the Congo River is a rather charged business, a new study reporting on an unusual experiment showed. Mormyrids are fish that use low-voltage discharges from an electrical organ to hunt for food. Intrigued as to how these unusual creatures locate each other for reproduction in almost zero visibility, a German team replicated the mood for mormyrid love in a tank on the outskirts of Berlin. “All males showed a kink in their anal fin base indicating sexual maturity,” the study recounted, a touch breathlessly. The females, were placed at night in the middle of a large tank with a small zone at either end that was sectioned off with a grill. The results of the study showed that the females showed the same interest in the right electric signals as they did for a male from their own species, suggesting that — as in human love — it’s the electricity that counts.
■ NEW ZEALAND
Hand wash plea fails to wash
A surgeon who blamed the alcoholic hand wash he used to scrub up after operations for failing a breathalyzer test was convicted yesterday of a drunk-driving charge, news reports said. Ian Denholm, 53, head of orthopedic surgery at Wairarapa Hospital, north of Wellington, said he had only two glasses of wine and blamed an extraordinary ability to absorb alcohol in the hand wash gel because of eczema for putting him over the limit. His not guilty plea failed to wash with Judge Stephen Harrop at the Wellington District Court who fined him NZ$500 (US$275) and banned him from driving for six months.
■ NETHERLANDS
Internet baby placed in care
A Belgian baby bought over the Internet for adoption by a Dutch couple must be placed in the temporary care of the Dutch authorities, a court ruled on Thursday. Media reported that the couple bought the boy in July from a Belgian couple in Ghent. One TV report said between 5,000 and 10,000 euros (US$6,450 to US$12,900) was paid. The Dutch couple denies buying the baby, saying on Dutch TV that they only paid the pregnancy costs incurred by the parents. The court said the couple had broken the laws for adopting foreign children and had to hand the baby over to child welfare authorities.
■ MALAYSIA
Christian sues government
A Christian is suing the government for allegedly violating her religious rights after airport officials seized Christian educational CDs that she brought from Indonesia, the woman’s lawyer said. Customs authorities confiscated eight CDs from Jill Ireland when she flew back to Kuala Lumpur on May 11 after a trip to Jakarta, her lawyer Annou Xavier said late on Thursday. The Home Ministry informed her in a letter that the CDs were seized mainly because their cover titles contained the word “Allah,” which is prohibited in non-Muslim religious material, Xavier said.
■ FRANCE
Sikh loses license battle
The European Court of Human Rights on Thursday dismissed a case brought by a French Sikh man who wanted to wear a turban on his driving license photograph in breach of French rules. Shingara Mann Singh, 52, a French national, lost a series of appeals in France against the refusal by authorities to issue a new license with a photograph of him wearing a turban. In a statement, it recognized that the rule on photographs “amounted to interference with the exercise of the right to freedom of religion,” but judged that this was justified.
■ MEXICO
‘Good Samaritan’ robbed
A driver got himself into a sticky situation when he pulled over to help a woman whose pickup appeared to have broken down by the highway. Anadel Carrizales was driving on Wednesday near Monterrey when a blonde woman in a black miniskirt motioned for him to pull over. Once he had stopped, the woman walked up and told him an accomplice was pointing a gun at him, said David Perales, a spokesman for state investigators. She then tied him up with packing tape, super-glued his hands to the steering wheel of his truck and demanded money. Carrizales didn’t have any cash, but the woman took his credit cards and fled. With his motor still running and his hands glued to the wheel, Carrizales managed to drive a few kilometers down the road until he found a police officer to help him.
■ NETHERLANDS
No home for ex-alderwoman
A former businesswoman of the year who later served as alderwoman of the city of Rotterdam was found to be homeless after checking herself in at a local night shelter, the daily newspaper Metro reported on Thursday. Rabella de Faria has lived on the streets most of this year but is now staying with friends, Rotterdam city councilor Driesch Mosch told Metro. De Faria, 48, was the city’s alderwoman for security and public health between 2002 and 2004. After her resignation as alderwoman in 2004, de Faria could not find a new job. She lost her home after her husband divorced her.
■ GERMANY
Boy crashes teacher’s car
An eight-year-old schoolboy who wanted to complain to his mother about being sent out of class took his teacher’s car and crashed it, police said. The boy, banished from class for disrupting a lesson, pinched the 40-year-old teacher’s car key when she was not looking and managed to start up her compact car, accelerating and putting the vehicle into first gear. “The little fellow drove for about 25m before crashing into a Volvo, also parked in the car park outside the school,” a police spokesman in the city of Zwickau said on Thursday.
■ UNITED STATES
‘Pumpkin’ moves to Disney
Better to be the main attraction than the main dish. “Pumpkin” the turkey was honored as the grand marshal of Disneyland’s Thanksgiving Day parade on Thursday, a day after being pardoned by President George W. Bush at the White House. The 20kg tom and National Turkey Federation chairman Paul Hill then flew first-class from Washington to Los Angeles. After the parade, Pumpkin and his backup bird, “Pecan,” moved into their winter residence next to the theme park’s seasonal display of live reindeer. The two turkeys will live out their days at a coop for celebrity turkeys at Disney’s Big Thunder Ranch.
■ IRAN
Court orders man be blinded
A man who blinded a woman with acid after she spurned his marriage proposals will also be blinded with acid under the nation’s Islamic law, the Etemad-e Melli newspaper said on Thursday. The court made the ruling on Wednesday based on the system of qisas, or fair retribution, Etemad-e Melli said. The man identified as Majid proposed several times but was spurned by the woman, identified as Ameneh, it said. In revenge, he threw acid in her face as she left her work in 2004, it said. Ameneh traveled to Spain for surgery to reconstruct her face but efforts to restore her sight failed. On return from Spain, she asked the court for retribution, the newspaper said.
MINERAL DEPOSITS: The Pacific nation is looking for new foreign partners after its agreement with Canada’s Metals Co was terminated ‘mutually’ at the end of last year Pacific nation Kiribati says it is exploring a deep-sea mining partnership with China, dangling access to a vast patch of Pacific Ocean harboring coveted metals and minerals. Beijing has been ramping up efforts to court Pacific nations sitting on lucrative seafloor deposits of cobalt, nickel and copper — recently inking a cooperation deal with Cook Islands. Kiribati opened discussions with Chinese Ambassador Zhou Limin (周立民) after a longstanding agreement with leading deep-sea mining outfit The Metals Co fell through. “The talk provides an exciting opportunity to explore potential collaboration for the sustainable exploration of the deep-ocean resources in Kiribati,” the government said
The head of Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, was sacked yesterday, days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he no longer trusts him, and fallout from a report on the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. “The Government unanimously approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to end ISA Director Ronen Bar’s term of office,” a statement said. He is to leave his post when his successor is appointed by April 10 at the latest, the statement said. Netanyahu on Sunday cited an “ongoing lack of trust” as the reason for moving to dismiss Bar, who joined the agency in 1993. Bar, meant to
Indonesia’s parliament yesterday amended a law to allow members of the military to hold more government roles, despite criticisms that it would expand the armed forces’ role in civilian affairs. The revision to the armed forces law, pushed mainly by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s coalition, was aimed at expanding the military’s role beyond defense in a country long influenced by its armed forces. The amendment has sparked fears of a return to the era of former Indonesian president Suharto, who ex-general Prabowo once served and who used military figures to crack down on dissent. “Now it’s the time for us to ask the
The central Dutch city of Utrecht has installed a “fish doorbell” on a river lock that lets viewers of an online livestream alert authorities to fish being held up as they make their springtime migration to shallow spawning grounds. The idea is simple: An underwater camera at Utrecht’s Weerdsluis lock sends live footage to a Web site. When somebody watching the site sees a fish, they can click a button that sends a screenshot to organizers. When they see enough fish, they alert a water worker who opens the lock to let the fish swim through. Now in its fifth year, the
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