AUSTRALIA
Black Hawks grounded
The military has grounded its fleet of Black Hawk helicopters after fractured bolts were found during a routine inspection, the defense ministry said yesterday. The 33-aircraft fleet was temporarily grounded on Thursday for further safety checks, although exceptions were made for three aircraft in East Timor required for medical evacuations, the ministry said in a statement. The defense ministry said the navy’s Seahawk operations had not been suspended because the Seahawk differed significantly in the affected area.
INDONESIA
Atheist arrested for FB post
Police said a civil servant who posted: “God does not exist” on Facebook faces a maximum penalty of five years behind bars for blasphemy. Thirty-one-year-old Alexander Aan was taken into police custody on Friday after his remarks triggered a public outcry in West Sumatra Province. He was attacked by a mob on his way to work. The predominantly Muslim nation of 240 million recognizes the right to practice five other religions, but atheism is illegal. Colonel Chairul Azis, police chief in the West Sumatran district of Dharmasraya, said Aan was charged because he used the social networking site to spread beliefs that violate the law. He says Aan also lied on his job application by claiming he was Muslim.
INDONESIA
Food vendor killed in Papua
Gunmen shot and killed a man in the latest deadly attack in Papua Province, police said yesterday. The 31-year-old food vendor was shot in the back late on Friday in a village in Puncak Jaya District in central Papua, believed to be a hub of Papuan separatists, local police chief Alex Korwa said “He was shot dead when he was alone in his kiosk. Nobody saw the incident, but locals heard a series of gunshots and reported it to us,” Korwa said, adding that the body has been sent to a nearby hospital.
GERMANY
Ambassador caught fishing
Authorities say the new North Korean ambassador has been caught by police for fishing without a permit in a Berlin river. Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said on Friday that North Korean Ambassador Ri Si-hong enjoys diplomatic immunity, but has probably gotten the message in view of front-page tabloid articles about the incident that “fishing in Germany is a pursuit that is very strictly regulated.” Police said the incident occurred Sunday, and that the suspect was cited for fishing without a license.
CHINA
Death sentence upheld
A court has upheld a death sentence for an entrepreneur once listed among the country’s richest women after she was convicted of a 380 million yuan (US$60 million) fraud, state media said on Thursday. The supreme court of Zhejiang Province on Wednesday rejected the appeal of former Bense Holding Group owner Wu Ying (吳英), who was convicted for illegal fundraising, the Shanghai Daily said. Wu was the country’s sixth--richest woman in 2006, according to the independent Hurun Report. Her private company, Bense, had business interests ranging from hotels to construction materials, Xinhua news agency said. Wu raised money by promising returns as high as 80 percent annually to investors, but then used the funds to repay other debts. She borrowed more than 700 million yuan from 2005 to 2007. In making the ruling, the court said she deserved “severe” punishment given the amount of funds involved.
UNITED KINGDOM
Men guilty of hate crime
Three men were convicted on Friday of distributing anti-gay leaflets. Prosecutors called it a landmark case regarding the prosecution of hate crimes involving sexual orientation. A jury found the men to have distributed leaflets calling for homosexuals to face the death penalty. Two others were acquitted of the same charge. “Everyone has a right to be protected by the law and we regard homophobic crimes, along with all hate crimes, as particularly serious because they undermine people’s right to feel safe,” said Sue Hemming, chief of the Crown Prosecution Service special crime division. Ihjaz Ali, 42, Kabir Ahmed, 28, and Razwan Javed, 27, were found guilty in Derby Crown Court. Sentencing is set for Feb. 10.
UNITED KINGDOM
Buttock trader arrested
Police on Thursday arrested a 66-year-old man over claims that part of a bronze statue of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, a buttock, was illegally brought over from Iraq after the war. He was held on suspicion of breaching the 2003 Iraq Sanctions Order, which bans dealing in “illegally removed Iraqi cultural property,” including items of archeological, historical, cultural or religious importance. Derbyshire police said the unnamed man had been released on bail pending further inquiries. The 60cm piece of metal was picked up in Baghdad by a former soldier from the elite SAS regiment, Nigel “Spud” Ely. The unnamed suspect is thought to be connected to a company trying to find a buyer for the souvenir. “This is like having a chunk of the Berlin Wall — it’s part of history, but it’s not cultural property,” said Ely, 52.
SWEDEN
Twitter account outsourced
Stockholm has decided to promote the nation by handing over the official (@)Sweden account to an average citizen every week. A Christian minister, an organic sheep farmer and a blogger from an immigrant neighborhood are among the Swedes who have hosted the account since public-private PR agency Visit Sweden launched the idea last month. Last week it was controlled by “Hanna,” who describes herself as “just your average lesbian truck-driver.” Visit Sweden marketing director Maria Ziv on Thursday said the idea was to give the account a more genuine voice and present a different picture of the country.
RUSSIA
Moscow slams extradition
Moscow criticized the US on Thursday for the extradition of a Russian man living in Switzerland who is now on trial in New York on charges of cyberfraud. Vladimir Zdorovenin, 54, pleaded not guilty to charges that he hacked into brokerage accounts, traded other people’s securities and manipulated stock prices. He was detained in Zurich in March and sent to the US last week. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticized Switzerland for extraditing one of its citizens without its consent and demanded that its consular staff in New York be allowed to meet Zdorovenin, who faces up to life in prison if convicted.
UNITED STATES
Etta James dies at 73
Etta James, the influential 1950s rhythm-and-blues singer best known for her show-stopping hit At Last, died on Friday from complications of leukemia in a California hospital surrounded by her family. She was 73. Her death prompted tributes from numerous musicians and artists who were influenced by her singing, from pop star Mariah Carey to Aretha Franklin and legendary rock band The Doors.
ANGER: A video shared online showed residents in a neighborhood confronting the national security minister, attempting to drag her toward floodwaters Argentina’s port city of Bahia Blanca has been “destroyed” after being pummeled by a year’s worth of rain in a matter of hours, killing 13 and driving hundreds from their homes, authorities said on Saturday. Two young girls — reportedly aged four and one — were missing after possibly being swept away by floodwaters in the wake of Friday’s storm. The deluge left hospital rooms underwater, turned neighborhoods into islands and cut electricity to swaths of the city. Argentine Minister of National Security Patricia Bullrich said Bahia Blanca was “destroyed.” The death toll rose to 13 on Saturday, up from 10 on Friday, authorities
DEBT BREAK: Friedrich Merz has vowed to do ‘whatever it takes’ to free up more money for defense and infrastructure at a time of growing geopolitical uncertainty Germany’s likely next leader Friedrich Merz was set yesterday to defend his unprecedented plans to massively ramp up defense and infrastructure spending in the Bundestag as lawmakers begin debating the proposals. Merz unveiled the plans last week, vowing his center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/Christian Social Union (CSU) bloc and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) — in talks to form a coalition after last month’s elections — would quickly push them through before the end of the current legislature. Fraying Europe-US ties under US President Donald Trump have fueled calls for Germany, long dependent on the US security umbrella, to quickly
RARE EVENT: While some cultures have a negative view of eclipses, others see them as a chance to show how people can work together, a scientist said Stargazers across a swathe of the world marveled at a dramatic red “Blood Moon” during a rare total lunar eclipse in the early hours of yesterday morning. The celestial spectacle was visible in the Americas and Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as in the westernmost parts of Europe and Africa. The phenomenon happens when the sun, Earth and moon line up, causing our planet to cast a giant shadow across its satellite. But as the Earth’s shadow crept across the moon, it did not entirely blot out its white glow — instead the moon glowed a reddish color. This is because the
Local officials from Russia’s ruling party have caused controversy by presenting mothers of soldiers killed in Ukraine with gifts of meat grinders, an appliance widely used to describe Russia’s brutal tactics on the front line. The United Russia party in the northern Murmansk region posted photographs on social media showing officials smiling as they visited bereaved mothers with gifts of flowers and boxed meat grinders for International Women’s Day on Saturday, which is widely celebrated in Russia. The post included a message thanking the “dear moms” for their “strength of spirit and the love you put into bringing up your sons.” It
RSS