■SOUTH KOREA
Lottery addict arrested
Police arrested a bank official for allegedly swindling investors out of millions of dollars and spending more than US$3 million on lottery tickets, police said yesterday. The 45-year-old head of a Community Credit Cooperative branch in Seoul allegedly promised high interest rates and collected 8.7 billion won (US$7 million) from nine investors since 2000, police officer Kim Kyung-man said. The accused, identified only by his surname, Kim, put the money into his bank accounts, gave US$2.8 million back to investors as interest, and spent the rest — including US$3.2 million on a sports lottery. Kim spent more than US$8,000 on lottery tickets in one day, the officer said. He won a total of US$80,000 in the lottery spree but now has only US$12,000 left. Kim told police he kept buying lottery tickets to make up for the loss of his customers’ money.
■NORTH KOREA
Hamburger joint opens
While the government has little appetite for “US imperialism,” its people are finally able to get a taste of that iconic American food the hamburger at the country’s first fast-food restaurant. The Samtaeseong restaurant opened in the capital Pyongyang last month in cooperation with a Singaporean firm, Choson Sinbo, a Japan-based newspaper for ethnic North Koreans, reported on the weekend. The regime has long restricted or banned what it calls the Western or “US imperialist influences” on its people. The restaurant — which serves such fast food as burgers made of minced beef, fish or vegetables — however does not call them “hamburgers,” Choson Sinbo said. The menu lists “minced beef and bread” or “minced fish and bread” or “vegetables and bread,” all served together with the Korean pickled cabbage dish, kimchi, it said. The minced beef and bread costs US$1.7, it said, a price exceeding half the average worker’s daily income. The state’s per capita income was US$1,065 last year. Choson Sinbo said in March that leader Kim Jong-il had also ordered the opening of the country’s first Italian restaurant in Pyongyang.
■CHINA
Ten die in heavy rains
Heavy rains have triggered landslides and floods that left 10 people dead and forced more than 110,000 others to flee their homes, a state news broadcaster said yesterday. The rains swept across five cities in Hunan Province on Friday and Saturday, and in one badly hit area sent waves of mud tumbling onto a road, a river and several homes, China Central Television said in its midday bulletin. The broadcaster said 10 people died in Hongjiang, a district in the city of Huaihua. The report showed footage of a mountain road hit by a landslide. Several brick and mud houses along the road were evacuated.
■MALAYSIA
Director Yasmin Ahmad dies
Film director Yasmin Ahmad, who won accolades for her deeply felt depictions of everyday struggles with racial prejudice and social barriers, has died of complications from a stroke. She was 51. Yasmin’s close friend, Fatimah Abu Bakar, confirmed her death late on Saturday at a news conference in a Kuala Lumpur hospital. Relatives earlier said Yasmin underwent brain surgery to remove a blood clot on Friday after she suffered a stroke. Tributes poured in yesterday from politicians, entertainers and movie-goers who hailed her films and TV commercials for inspiring people to strive for racial understanding in the multiethnic, Muslim-majority country.
■GERMANY
Holidays from hell
The holiday season has been anything but relaxing for two politicians. Health Minister Ulla Schmidt was under fire yesterday after it emerged that thieves had made off with her 90,000 euro (US$128,000) official Mercedes during her holiday on the Costa Blanca in Spain. The minister flew to Alicante at her own expense but her driver drove the 2,387km from Berlin to assist her in carrying out some official duties, prompting outrage from the press and rival politicians. The press was somewhat kinder however to the former head of the state of Bavaria, Guenther Beckstein, who said he “came within a whisker of being eaten by an alligator.” The 65-year-old was on a trip through the Florida everglades to observe alligators when their boat suddenly capsized. “Thank God, no alligator attacked us,” he told the Ausburger Allgemeine Zeitung.
■RUSSIA
Lion left in city center
A lion cub was left in a wooden cage on Saturday in the heart of Moscow, and authorities were trying to locate the owner of the animal, Interfax news agency reported. Weighing about 50kg, the lion was found in the courtyard of an apartment building, the agency said, citing a police official. Police planned to contact Moscow’s zoo so specialists could be dispatched.
■GERMANY
Fishing boat lands old bone
A fishing boat trawling for mussels off the Dutch coast has instead landed a 40,000 year-old human bone, German scientists said yesterday after examining the find. Anthropologists from the University of Leipzig confirmed that the forehead bone was “at least 40,000 years old and therefore the oldest ever found underwater,” according to this month’s edition of GEO magazine. The fishermen also found the caveman’s “tool kit,” consisting of a hand-axe and flints. However, despite the fact the bone was found under the sea, the man dwelt on land and primarily ate meat, the scientists said. When he lived, the Netherlands and Britain were one land mass.
■INDIA
Nuclear sub takes to seas
The country yesterday launched the first nuclear-powered submarine built on its soil, joining just five other countries that can design and construct such vessels, the prime minister’s office announced. The Indian navy flooded a dry dock housing the submarine to send it out for trials at a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. India does not seek to threaten anyone, Singh said at the ceremony in the southern port city of Vishakhapatnam. “Nevertheless, it is incumbent upon us to take all measures necessary to safeguard our country and to keep pace with technological advancements worldwide.” Until now, only the US, Russia, France, Britain and China had the capabilities to develop nuclear submarines.
■NIGERIA
Security forces kill 32
Security forces killed at least 32 people in northeast Bauchi state yesterday after an armed gang attacked a police station in retaliation for the arrests of their leaders. Around 70 people armed with guns and hand grenades attacked a local police station in the city of Bauchi, the state’s capital, early yesterday but retreated after a gunbattle with security forces, the police said. Security forces responded by raiding the group’s neighborhoods and hideouts, arresting hundreds. A reporter counted 32 bodies at two Bauchi police stations.
■CANADA
Ship in whale of a mystery
A cruise ship arrived at the Port of Vancouver with a dead whale lodged in its bow. The Princess Cruise Lines’ Sapphire Princess was docked at the Canada Place terminal on Saturday with the whale stuck to it. It wasn’t immediately known when it arrived or when the collision occurred.
■UNITED STATES
Cop nabs police imposter
Oakland police say a man impersonating a police officer tried to pull over a real undercover officer and was arrested. Police say 21-year-old Antonio Fernandez Martinez of Oakland was arrested on Wednesday in the Fruitvale district after trying to pull over an unmarked police vehicle. Martinez was driving a Ford Crown Victoria outfitted with flashing lights, a microphone and speakers. Martinez, a convicted car thief, will have his felony probation revoked and could face a prison term. The officer, Jim Beere, said Martinez probably thought he’d be an easy mark to rob.
■UNITED STATES
Old church builds bodies
A developer has found new life for an old church in northeast Ohio by redesigning it as a workout center. Developer and bodybuilder Al Horvath converted a Methodist church in Barberton into a training facility he calls Faith Gym. Horvath kept the church’s original 1892 stained-glass windows and added murals depicting such biblical characters as David and Goliath and Samson and Delilah. He created a Superman theme for the church’s sanctuary and replaced the pews with rows of workout equipment. He donated the pews to a Kentucky church gutted by fire. Horvath bought the building in 2005 after the former Moore Memorial United Methodist Church merged with another Methodist church and moved.
■UNITED STATES
Wedding dance is Web hit
A Minnesota couple’s joyous wedding dance featuring the bride and groom boogieing down the aisle to the altar has become a Web sensation on YouTube. The dance sequence opening the wedding ceremony of Kevin Heinz and Jill Peterson in St. Paul, Minnesota, has been viewed more than 6 million times since it went up on the site less than a week ago. In the five-minute video, ushers, bridesmaids and groomsmen shimmy down the aisle to the strains of the Chris Brown song Forever and the surprise of the guests in the church. The groom performs a somersault on his way and his bride receives a standing ovation as she joins him for the exchange of vows. Peterson and Heinz, interviewed by NBC’s Today Show, said the dance was her idea — and the only other people who knew what was going to happen were their parents. Peterson said she has always “loved dance as a way to express yourself and share joy.” Her husband said of his somersault stunt: “I’m just glad I didn’t hurt myself.”
■UNITED STATES
Exotic pets turned in
Owners of exotic animals in Connecticut were given a day of amnesty on Saturday to turn in their illegally owned pets. The state Department of Environmental Protection’s hosted its first exotic amnesty day at the Bridgeport Zoo. Deputy Commissioner Susan Frechette said at least 135 animals were handed in, most of them exotic reptiles. The collection included 15 boa constrictors, 15 pythons, seven alligators, a small monkey, a rattlesnake and an anaconda. Officials asked about the animals’ diets, medical history and temperament but didn’t ask the owners their names.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
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