Mon, May 26, 2008 page5

• World News Quick Take

  • AGENCIES
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  ■ SOUTH KORE

  Police detain protesters

  Police detained 37 protesters yesterday during a rally against the government’s decision to resume importing US beef, officials said. The detentions came when police dispersed hundreds of demonstrators who had held a candle-lit vigil in central Seoul amid public concern about the safety of the beef. “We have taken 37 people to nearby police stations as they resisted dispersal,” a police spokesman said. “They are under questioning for illegally occupying streets.” Hundreds of demonstrators, including students, continued to rally at roadsides, denouncing the police action and President Lee Myung-bak.

  ■HONG KONG

  Painting sets new record

  A painting that uses imagery from China’s Cultural Revolution sold for US$9.7 million at an auction, setting yet another new record for Chinese contemporary art. Zeng Fanzhi’s (曾梵志) Mask Series 1996 No.6 sold for HK$74.2 million at the evening sale run by auction house Christie’s on Saturday, a spokeswoman for the event said. The painting pipped the record for Chinese contemporary art set last November in Hong Kong by Cai Guoqiang’s (蔡國強) Set of 14 drawings for Asia-Pacific economic cooperation, which sold for US$9.5 million. The evening sale fetched a total of US$60.1 million.

  ■JAPAN

  Cat boosts rail business

  Tama, a nine-year-old cat, has become the country’s most famous rail worker. Born and raised at Kishi Station on the provincial Kishigawa Line, Tama wears a formal uniform cap of Wakayama Electric Railway and calmly watches passing passengers who greet her. “Tama is the only stationmaster as we have to reduce personnel costs,” Wakayama Electric spokeswoman Keiko Yamaki said. The company feeds her in lieu of salary. She rose to national stardom in January 2007 as the railway company formally appointed her as “stationmaster.” Her appointment had a positive effect, boosting the number of passengers in January by 17 percent from a year earlier. The company promoted Tama to “super-stationmaster” in January this year, making her “the only female in a managerial position” in the company’s 36-strong workforce.

  ■AFGHANISTAN

  Border guards exchange fire

  Afghan and Pakistani border guards exchanged fire, leaving an Afghan guard and a civilian wounded, officials said yesterday. Saturday’s gunfight forced the closure of the Torkham border for about 90 minutes, a Pakistani official said. The commander of the Afghan border police said the dispute erupted after Pakistan’s guards assaulted a young boy who smuggles sacks of flour across the border every day. One of his men confronted the Pakistanis and they started fighting. Guards exchanged fire and an Afghan was wounded, he said.

  ■NEW ZEALAND

  Two die in microlight crash

  Two men died in an airplane crash yesterday after taking a microlight aircraft on a late-night flight in poor weather conditions. The pair left North Island’s Wairoa Airdrome at 3:15am. The Rescue Coordination Center said conditions at the time were unfavorable, with heavy showers, lightning and patches of fog. The center said a rescue helicopter found the wreckage about 120m from the end of the airstrip at daybreak. Wairoa Aero Club secretary Richard Tollison said he could not understand why the pair would try to fly in poor weather in the middle of the night.

  ■GERMANY

  Authorities seize eBay baby

  Authorities have taken custody of a seven-month-old boy after his parents posted an ad on eBay offering to sell him for 1 euro (US$1.57). Police spokesman Peter Hieber said the baby was placed in the care of youth services in the southwestern Allgaeu region. Hieber said on Saturday that the mother told police the Internet ad was only a joke. Authorities have begun an investigation into possible child trafficking against the parents. No offers were made for the child in the 2 hours, 30 minutes the ad was posted. The Internet auction site deleted the posting later. Several people who saw the ad alerted police.

  ■UKRAINE

  Kiev residents go to polls

  Residents of Kiev went to the polls yesterday to elect a new mayor in a vote that could bring to power former world heavyweight boxing champion Vitaly Klitschko. Polling stations opened at 7am and were due to close at 10pm. The first results were expected early today. The favorite to win the race is the incumbent, Leonid Chernovetsky, but Klitschko has been ranked second in some opinion polls out of a total of 70 candidates running for the post. Klitschko, 36, has brought in extra muscle for his campaign in the form of his brother Vladimir, the current IBF and WBO boxing champion of the world.

  ■GERMANY

  Anti-nazi protest held

  Up to 4,000 demonstrators on Saturday protested against a congress of the minority neo-Nazi National Democratic Party (NPD), saying there was no place in the Bavarian town of Bamberg for Nazis. A large police turnout prevented incidents after it was feared there could be clashes with left-wing extremists. A police spokesman said only 10 people were briefly detained on Saturday. Various local associations and several mainstream political parties had called for a major demonstration against the NPD congress with the slogan: “Bamberg is multi-colored, not brown.” Brown was the color of Nazi stormtroopers’ uniforms and the color is still associated in German minds with the Nazis.

  ■ITALY

  Gang attacks three shops

  Immigrants and witnesses say a gang armed with sticks and a baseball bat has attacked three shops in Rome run by immigrants from Bangladesh. Shop windows have been smashed, but no one has been injured. One shopkeeper in the neighborhood, which is heavily populated by foreigners, told state TV the attackers wore ski masks and yelled “Bastards.” Rome’s new mayor, Gianni Alemanno, condemned Saturday’s attack. It came during a crackdown on illegal immigration by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government, which includes an anti-immigrant ally.

  ■ITALY

  Clashes in garbage protest

  Tensions remained high on Saturday after a night of clashes between police and protesters furious at plans by the government to dump mountains of trash from nearby Naples in their towns. Police in riot gear watched but did not intervene on Saturday when a protester threw what appeared to be a firebomb near the town of Chiaiano, a suburb of Naples. Demonstrators also hurled cans and other garbage at police. A few hours later, police chased protesters, who scattered and then regrouped.

  ■UNITED STATES

  Tour helicopter crashes

  A tour helicopter crashed on an island off the Southern California coast on Saturday morning, killing three people and injuring three others, a county sheriff’s deputy said. The helicopter shot flames from its exhaust pipe while it was over water, then went down on the west end of Santa Catalina Island near Two Harbors, causing a small fire that was quickly doused, county sheriff spokesman Steve Whitmore said. Two injured women and one injured man were taken by helicopter to hospitals, Whitmore said. Two of the injured were in critical condition with broken bones and other injuries. The cause of the crash was not immediately known.

  ■HONDURAS

  Legislator electrocuted

  A legislator said one of his colleagues had been electrocuted while making repairs on his ranch. Eric Amador said Victor Argenal of the opposition National Party died when a metal tube he was holding came in contact with a high-tension public utility cable. Amador told Radio America that Argenal died on Saturday in Choluteca. He was 51. Argenal was a civil engineer by training and became a businessman, rancher and president of the National Sugar Cane Producers Association. He represented Choluteca as a congressman for 16 years.

  ■UNITED STATES

  Mystery safe opened

  A locksmith has managed to open a 159-year-old safe from Oregon that baffled other professional safecrackers and an expert from MIT. In two-and-a-half hours, Tom Gorham of Longview, Washington, got the safe open by spinning the dial and feeling for grooves to get the combination — a technique called manipulation. “You’ve got to have a lot of patience, and concentration doesn’t hurt,” Gorham said. Gorham trekked to Astoria, a town about 64km west of Longview to try his luck with the 1-tonne safe found during renovation at a cannery there. The cannery’s owner, Floyd Holcomb, wanted it opened without damage. Holcomb won’t reveal what was inside until he tells the cannery’s board next month.

  ■COLOMBIA

  Earthquake kills seven

  A strong earthquake struck on Saturday, killing at least seven people and sending thousands of panicked residents into Bogota’s streets, authorities said. The quake shook the capital for several seconds. State geological agency Ingeominas put the strength of the quake at 5.5 on the Richter scale — the strongest temblor to jolt the capital in a decade. Seven people were killed in at least three car crashes on highways as a result of the temblor, officials said. Thousands panicked in the streets under heavy drizzle as firefighters and police were mobilized and residents reported several aftershocks. The city of 7 million people suffered only minor damage.

  ■UNITED STATES

  Knievel stunt successful

  Robbie “Kaptain” Knievel, son of the late daredevil Evel Knievel, successfully jumped over 24 delivery trucks on Saturday at the site of one of his father’s most famous stunts. “Hopefully I’ll see you after the jump,” Knievel told the crowd before he climbed the start ramp. Knievel, 46, had said he would need to be going 153kph at take off for the 61m jump, which began from a three-story tall ramp and was completed amid wild cheers, booming explosions and shooting flames at Kings Island amusement park near Cincinnati, Ohio. Robbie Knievel dedicated his stunt to his father, US war veterans and those serving in the military.
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