NEW ZEALAND
Second needle case found
A needle has been found in a punnet of strawberries sold in the small South Island town of Geraldine over the weekend, police said yesterday, the second incident to hit the nation two months after a contamination crisis erupted in Australia. Supermarket owner Garry Sheed said he had since taken all strawberries off the shelves, but would not comment on whether the punnet was from Australia or New Zealand. The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) said the person who found the needle was not harmed. “The matter has been referred to the police who are leading the criminal investigation,” a ministry spokesman told reporters. “At this stage, MPI does not have any reason to believe this is more widespread than the single discovery. However, as a precautionary measure the store has removed strawberries from shelves.”
ITALY
Di Maio open to deficit cut
Vice Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio yesterday said he was open to lowering the nation’s draft budget deficit, boosting stocks in Milan on hopes it could ease a stand-off with Brussels. The European Commission has rejected the draft budget because it sharply increases spending and the deficit to 2.4 percent of GDP from the previous government’s 0.8 percent, which it says would only add to the nation’s already massive debt mountain. “If, during the negotiating process, the deficit has to be reduced a bit, that’s not a big deal,” Di Maio told Radio Radicale. “The important thing is that not one person misses out on the [pledged] measures,” he said, in reference to a universal basic income and a pension reform promised by the ruling coalition. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Economy Minister Giovanni Tria, Di Maio and his fellow vice prime minister, Matteo Salvini were to discuss the budget late yesterday.
AUSTRALIA
Bhutan twins leave hospital
Formerly conjoined twins from Bhutan were yesterday released from a hospital more than two weeks after they were separated in a delicate surgery. The 15-month-old girls — Nima and Dawa — were joined from the lower chest to just above the pelvis and shared a liver. They were separated during an operation at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital on Nov. 9 that lasted almost six hours. A major challenge had been to reconstruct their abdomens. “Thank you, everyone,” their grateful mother, Bhumchu Zangmo, said, as she wheeled her daughters from the hospital where their lives have been transformed since their arrival on Oct. 2. The hospital’s head of pediatric surgery, Joe Crameri, told reporters the twins had made an “excellent recovery” and were acting independently. Before they return to Bhutan, the girls are to continue their recovery at a retreat in the town of Kilmore outside Melbourne run by the Children First Foundation.
UNITED KINGDON
Royal Mail sending music
Children writing to Father Christmas will have a chance to hear festive jingles break out as they post their wish list. Four letterboxes in as yet undisclosed locations in London, Cardiff, Belfast and Edinburgh are to be installed with sensors that will trigger either the sound of sleigh bells or a jolly message from Old Saint Nick. Anyone putting mail in the special postboxes will hear the merry messages in the coming weeks. The red postboxes are adorned with snowflakes and will be in place throughout the festive season. “We enjoy any way we can add a little extra fun to posting Christmas cards this year,” Royal Mail operations director Simon Barker said.
The pledge by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to “work, work, work, work and work” for her country has been named the catchphrase of the year, recognizing the effort Japan’s first female leader had to make to reach the top. Takaichi uttered the phrase in October when she was elected as head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Many were initially as worried about her work ethic as supportive of her enthusiasm. In a country notorious for long working hours, especially for working women who are also burdened with homemaking and caregiving, overwork is a sensitive topic. The recognition triggered a
‘HEART IS ACHING’: Lee appeared to baffle many when he said he had never heard of six South Koreans being held in North Korea, drawing criticism from the families South Korean President Lee Jae-myung yesterday said he was weighing a possible apology to North Korea over suspicions that his ousted conservative predecessor intentionally sought to raise military tensions between the war-divided rivals in the buildup to his brief martial law declaration in December last year. Speaking to reporters on the first anniversary of imprisoned former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol’s ill-fated power grab, Lee — a liberal who won a snap presidential election following Yoon’s removal from office in April — stressed his desire to repair ties with Pyongyang. A special prosecutor last month indicted Yoon and two of his top
The Philippines deferred the awarding of a project that is part of a plan to build one of the world’s longest marine bridges after local opposition over the potential involvement of a Chinese company due to national security fears. The proposals are “undergoing thorough review” by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which acts as a lender and an overseer of the project to ensure it meets international environmental and governance standards, the Philippine Department of Public Works and Highways said in a statement on Monday in response to queries from Bloomberg. The agency said it would announce the winning bidder once ADB
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
RSS