JAPAN
Pieces fall from US jet
The US Navy was investigating yesterday how several chunks of one of its aircraft — including one about 2.2m by 1m — fell off as it flew back to its base in Kanagawa Prefecture. Six pieces from an EA-6B Prowler, including a part of the engine cover, plunged to earth as the plane flew over Yamato, near Tokyo, causing “minor damage to a privately owned vehicle,” the US Navy said. The aircraft, from the US Navy’s Yokosuka base, “was returning from a routine training flight when the parts ... fell off and the plane landed safely.” An official from Yamato City said aircraft regularly dropped debris, adding that a house was damaged in 2010 by a piece of falling metal.
CHINA
Taichi proves beneficial
People with Parkinson’s disease who practiced the Chinese martial art of taichi for six months showed better balance than counterparts who did other forms of exercise, a US study said on Wednesday. A total of 195 people took part in the randomized study in four different cities in Oregon, according to the results published in the New England Journal of Medicine. “These results are clinically significant because they suggest that taichi, a low-to-moderate impact exercise, may be used, as an add-on to current physical therapies, to address some of the key clinical problems in Parkinson’s disease,” lead author Fuzhong Li of the Oregon Research Institute said.
NEW ZEALAND
CTV building not up to code
An office block that collapsed, killing 115 people, including 65 foreign students, in last year’s Christchurch earthquake did not meet building standards, an official report found yesterday. The six-floor Canterbury Television (CTV) building crumpled then burst into flames when a magnitude 6.3 quake hit the nation’s second-largest city on Feb. 22 last year. The structure’s failure accounted for almost two-thirds of the 185 fatalities in the nation’s deadliest earthquake in 80 years.
CHINA
Syria row downlplayed
Beijing says that US outrage over its veto of a UN resolution aiming to end Syria’s bloodshed will not affect cooperation on other international issues. Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Cui Tiankai (崔天凱) told reporters yesterday that the two countries would continue to work together on issues such as Iran and North Korea’s nuclear program. He said it was natural for the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to disagree on certain issues. Last week’s double veto of the resolution by China and Russia deeply angered the US, Europe and the Arab League.
CHINA
Officials fired in Tibet
Chinese Communist Party head of Tibet Chen Quanguo (陳全國) has fired three officials for failing to crack down on unrest in the region, state press said yesterday, a day after another Tibetan set himself on fire. The sackings were announced at a Wednesday meeting where Chen also called for increased pressure on Tibetan separatists led by what he called the “Dalai clique,” the Tibet Daily reported. The paper said the three officials were fired for leaving their posts during last month’s Lunar New Year celebrations, in violation of orders. The sackings come after an official in Tibetan areas in Sichuan Province pledged this week to fire any official found lacking in efforts to “safeguard stability,” a term that routinely refers to stamping down on unrest.
FRANCE
Porn shop close to school
The manager of a shop selling sex toys went on trial on Wednesday to determine whether he was violating pornography laws by selling his products within 200m of a school. The manager of the “Love Shop,” 41-year-old Nicolas Busnel, faces up to two years in prison and a 30,000 euro (US$40,000) fine after two Christian groups filed complaints that his shop was within 90m of an elementary school. The two plaintiffs, the National Confederation of Catholic Family Associations and the CLER Love and Family association, are also asking for 10,000 euros each in damages. Busnel denies the shop, at 69 Rue Saint Martin in central Paris, sells pornography and says its products such as dildos and vibrators are simply of an erotic nature.
POLAND
‘Prison riot’ gets out of hand
A training exercise at a prison in which prison guards played the part of guards and prisoners in a mock riot had to be halted when some of those taking part took their roles too seriously, an investigating official said on Tuesday. Five “prisoners” locked themselves in a prison yard and 20 guards were supposed to regain control by pushing them against a wall and incapacitating them one by one, according to plans for the exercise in the eastern city of Chelm in November. “The problem was that nobody really agreed when the ‘prisoners’ were supposed to surrender. So at some point, two of them had had enough and were pushed to the ground, but the three others kept on squabbling and cursing,” said Jacek Zwierzchowski, an official at a unit investigating the incident. “The guards responded with batons and pepper spray in an uncontrolled and unauthorized use of coercive measures.”
UNITED STATES
Rape alarms for hotel staff
Large New York hotels plan to equip their housekeepers and staff with portable alarms so they get help quickly in case of trouble, officials said on Wednesday. Any staff members who must enter guest rooms, such as maids, waiters and mini-bar attendants, will be given the “panic buttons” within the next year, said Lisa Linden, spokeswoman for the Hotel Association of New York. She declined to link the electronic alarms to the case of French politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former International Monetary Fund chief who was accused of sexually assaulting maid Nafissatou Diallo at the Sofitel in New York in May. The charges against him were eventually dropped. “It has been under discussion for some time,” Linden said. The devices were included as a requirement in a new seven-year contract between the Hotel Association of New York and its unions.
CANADA
Official protests over Syria
A senior Canadian government official says Canada lodged a formal protest with Russia for supplying arms to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The official said on Wednesday Canada’s embassy in Moscow delivered a protest note to the Russian foreign ministry. He spoke on condition on anonymity because the official wasn’t authorized to speak publicly. The official says Canada thinks an arms embargo by Russia would send a strong signal to the international community that the Russians do not condone the abhorrent actions of the Assad regime. Russia, a close ally of Syria, and the West are heading down starkly different paths in trying to deal with Syria’s nearly 11 months of bloodshed.
UNITED STATES
Mob boss gets 25 years
A reputed mob boss known for his wide girth and reputation for violence was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Wednesday in a federal court in Chicago. Michael “The Large Guy” Sarno was also ordered to pay nearly US$1.8 million in restitution. A jury convicted Sarno, 54, and four co-defendants in 2010 of racketeering and other charges. Just before Judge Ronald Guzman handed down the sentence, Sarno read from a statement in which he acknowledged “deep regrets.” He asked his lawyers to read the rest after he choked up with emotion. Sarno’s family sobbed as his attorney, Jeffrey Steinback, finished the statement, which referred lovingly to Sarno’s children and wife. Government attorneys say Sarno and his crew wanted to warn a game distributor not to encroach on their video-poker turf on Chicago’s South Side and in the city’s suburbs. To make this point, prosecutors say Sarno ordered C&S Coin Operated Amusements’ Berwyn offices bombed in 2003. Experts say Sarno’s background as an enforcer would not normally have translated into a top mob job, but with aging kingpins behind bars or dying, a weakened outfit offered positions to men such as Sarno. His attorney said before sentencing that Sarno is in poor health and is “not going to live 25 years.” The judge said he recognized the hardship on Sarno’s family was real and “a tragedy,” but said he decided on the sentence to protect the public.
UNITED STATES
Deletion leads to murder
Authorities say a father who was upset after a Tennessee couple deleted his adult daughter as a friend on Facebook has been charged with killing the couple. Sheriff Mike Reece said on Wednesday that the victims had complained to police that Marvin Potter’s daughter was harassing them after they deleted her as a friend on the social networking site. Potter has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in last week’s slayings of Billy Payne Jr and his girlfriend, Billie Jean Hayworth. Their baby was found unharmed in Hayworth’s arms. Potter’s friend Jamie Curd has also been charged in the killings. Police say he had romantic feelings for Potter’s daughter.
UNITED STATES
Housewives smuggling guns
US authorities in San Antonio, Texas, say young housewives who bought assault rifles from gun dealers are among nearly two dozen charged in an alleged plot to smuggle firearms into Mexico. The US Department of Justice said on Wednesday that more than 200 weapons have been seized. The guns include AK-47s and sniper rifles. Federal agents said they were bound for Mexican drug cartels. During a press conference, the Department of Justice trumpeted the arrests as a “big hit” in stopping the flow of guns to Mexico. Authorities also said the suspects successfully moved three shipments of guns into Mexico before being caught.
UNITED STATES
CNN suspends analyst
CNN suspended political analyst Roland Martin on Wednesday for “offensive” tweets during the Super Bowl that some critics said were anti-gay. Martin commented on Twitter about a commercial during the Super Bowl that showed soccer star David Beckham in underwear: “If a dude at your Super Bowl party is hyped about David Beckham’s H&M underwear ad, smack the ish out of him,” he wrote. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation said the remark advocated violence against gays. Martin said that he was making a joke and that he does not support violence against anyone.
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,
SPIRITUAL COUPLE: Martha Louise has said she can talk with angels, while her husband, Durek Verrett, claims that he communicates with a broad range of spirits Social media influencers, reality stars and TV personalities were among the guests as the Norwegian king’s eldest child, Princess Martha Louise, married a self-professed US shaman on Saturday in a wedding ceremony following three days of festivities. The 52-year-old Martha Louise and Durek Verrett, who claims to be a sixth-generation shaman from California, tied the knot in the picturesque small town of Geiranger, one of Norway’s major tourist attractions located on a fjord with stunning views. Following festivities that started on Thursday, the actual wedding ceremony took place in a large white tent set up on a lush lawn. Guests
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
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
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