MORROCCO
Politicians caught in the act
Two senior Muslim politicians have been suspended from their party, the group announced on Monday, following media reports that they were arrested in a “sexual position” on a beach. Moulay Omar Benhammad and Fatima Nejjar, both in their 60s and vice presidents of the Unity and Reform Movement, have been “suspended from all structures of the movement,” the party said in a statement issued after an emergency meeting of its leadership. According to private Web site al-Ahdath, police detained Benhammad and Nejjar early on Saturday last week on a beach in Mohammedia, about 60km south of Rabat. They were allegedly found in a “sexual position” inside a car, it said. Nejjar, a 62-year-old widow and mother of six, faces a charge of complicity to adultery. A married 63-year-old father of seven, Benhammad faces charges of “attempted corruption” of the policemen who detained the couple, the Web site said. Some social media in Morocco have reveled in the case, posting videos of Nejjar in full Islamic headdress exhorting female students not to give in to “temptation and vice.”
JAPAN
Father kills son over exam
A father stabbed his 12-year-old son to death after complaining the boy was failing to study for a school entrance exam, media said yesterday. Kengo Satake, the boy’s 48-year-old father, told police that he “argued with his son for not studying” before a test to enter a private junior-high school, public broadcaster NHK reported. The son, named Ryota, was taken to hospital on Sunday after the stabbing, but died from loss of blood, Aichi prefectural police in the central city of Nagoya told reporters. “The father stabbed his son in the chest with a kitchen knife,” a police spokesman said, declining to provide details of the motive. The father was arrested after police received a call from hospital staff, he said. Satake reportedly told police he had stabbed his son “by mistake.”
INDIA
Man swallows 40 knives
Doctors in northern India say they have surgically removed 40 knives from the stomach of a man who had swallowed them over the past two months. The 42-year-old man is recovering in a hospital in Punjab State after undergoing surgery on Friday in which doctors removed the knives — some folded and some with exposed blades up to 18cm long. Jatinder Malhotra, a doctor who was present during the five-hour operation, said yesterday that the man, who works as a police constable, was apparently suffering from a psychiatric disorder and is now being counseled. He said the man could not explain why he swallowed the knives. Malhotra said he had never before heard of a case of a person swallowing knives.
JAPAN
Sea Shepherd deal reached
The Institute of Cetacean Research and Kyodo Senpaku, which conduct the nation’s whale hunts, say they reached a mediation agreement with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and its founder Paul Watson. Under the terms of the negotiated agreement, Sea Shepherd and Watson are prohibited from “physically attacking” Japan’s whaling vessels or crew, or approaching closer than 457m to the vessels on the high seas. The agreement settles a case brought by the Japanese institutions against Sea Shepherd at a Seattle court in 2011, in which the Japanese institutions sought an injunction from “violent behavior” of protesters which they said endangered the safety of the whaling vessels’ crew.
PARLIAMENT CHAOS: Police forcibly removed Brazilian Deputy Glauber Braga after he called the legislation part of a ‘coup offensive’ and occupied the speaker’s chair Brazil’s lower house of Congress early yesterday approved a bill that could slash former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s prison sentence for plotting a coup, after efforts by a lawmaker to disrupt the proceedings sparked chaos in parliament. Bolsonaro has been serving a 27-year term since last month after his conviction for a scheme to stop Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 election. Lawmakers had been discussing a bill that would significantly reduce sentences for several crimes, including attempting a coup d’etat — opening up the prospect that Bolsonaro, 70, could have his sentence cut to
A plan by Switzerland’s right-wing People’s Party to cap the population at 10 million has the backing of almost half the country, according to a poll before an expected vote next year. The party, which has long campaigned against immigration, argues that too-fast population growth is overwhelming housing, transport and public services. The level of support comes despite the government urging voters to reject it, warning that strict curbs would damage the economy and prosperity, as Swiss companies depend on foreign workers. The poll by newspaper group Tamedia/20 Minuten and released yesterday showed that 48 percent of the population plan to vote
A powerful magnitude 7.6 earthquake shook Japan’s northeast region late on Monday, prompting tsunami warnings and orders for residents to evacuate. A tsunami as high as three metres (10 feet) could hit Japan’s northeastern coast after an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.6 occurred offshore at 11:15 p.m. (1415 GMT), the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said. Tsunami warnings were issued for the prefectures of Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate, and a tsunami of 40cm had been observed at Aomori’s Mutsu Ogawara and Hokkaido’s Urakawa ports before midnight, JMA said. The epicentre of the quake was 80 km (50 miles) off the coast of
Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro on Friday said that his father, jailed former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, has chosen him to lead the country’s powerful conservative movement, shaking up next year’s election race. The 44-year-old senator said on social media that he will carry forward the political legacy that reshaped Brazilian politics. His announcement makes him an instant contender for the presidency. Jair Bolsonaro, 70, is unlikely to run after being sentenced to 27 years for plotting a coup and banned from public office. He is appealing and seeking a legislative pardon. The former president also faces serious health issues, including complications from a
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