■ AUSTRALIA
Food crisis warning given
The Murray-Darling river basin where one-third of the nation’s food is grown is in dire straits because upstream farmers are taking too much water for irrigation, scientists warned yesterday. They said parts of the basin would be “beyond the point of recovery” unless the government bought back water allocations and got more water flowing by October. The scientists leaked their report to the press because the government that took delivery of it last month said it would not respond until the end of the year.
■ HONG KONG
Faye is top sexy veggie
Hong Kong singer-actress Faye Wong (王菲) has been voted Asia’s sexiest vegetarian female in a survey by an animal rights group yesterday. Bollywood star Amitabh Bachan was voted Asia’s sexiest vegetarian male in the poll conducted among members of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). Runners-up included Taiwanese drama star Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), Hong Kong actress Maggie Q (李美琪) and Cantopop singer and actress Stephy Tang (鄧麗欣). Outside Asia, Coldplay singer Chris Martin, pop star Leona Lewis and camp British TV host Russell Brand were among those who polled most votes as sexiest vegetarians.
■ HONG KONG
Apartment sets sale record
A luxury apartment has sold for HK$225 million (US$28.8 million), the most expensive per square meter ever sold in Asia, a report said yesterday. The 80th floor penthouse with a private swimming pool and spectacular view of Victoria Harbour sold for HK$440,300 per square meter, a report in the Sing Tao Daily said, citing an unnamed real estate source. The 511m² apartment, with its own rooftop terrace, is located in a new complex called The Arch on the Kowloon Peninsula.
■ EQUATORIAL GUINEA
UK mercenary stands trial
British mercenary Simon Mann, one of Africa’s last “dogs of war,” went on trial on Tuesday and the prosecution asked he be jailed for nearly 32 years for his role in a failed 2004 coup plot. Public Prosecutor Jose Olo Obono said Mann plotted to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. The defense lawyer for Mann said that while his client was part of the coup plot he was a “mere instrument.” After the prosecution and defense cases were heard for Mann and eight others, including a former Cabinet minister, the trial was adjourned until yesterday.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Amnesty awards journalist
Rights group Amnesty International on Tuesday awarded its annual Special Award for Human Rights Journalism Under Threat to a Yemeni newspaper editor. Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani, the former editor of al-Shora, a political weekly, was jailed last week for six years for his coverage of clashes between government forces and backers of the late Shiite cleric Hussein Badr al-Din al-Huthi in Yemen.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Radical preacher released
The government will appeal a court ruling that has led to the release from jail of a radical preacher once described as “Osama bin Laden’s right-hand man in Europe,” it was reported yesterday. Abu Qatada, 47, was freed on bail from a prison in Worcestershire on Tuesday following a court ruling in April banning ministers from extraditing him to Jordan. Qatada, whose release was tied to strict conditions of surveillance while he is at home in London, has been convicted in his absence in the Middle East of involvement with terrorist attacks in 1998.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Minister’s computer stolen
A computer containing “restricted” information was stolen from the office of a Cabinet minister in a break-in, the government said on Tuesday. Police said they were investigating a weekend burglary at the constituency office of Communities and Local Government Secretary Hazel Blears in Manchester. “There was a break-in at the constituency office of Hazel Blears,” a government statement said. “A PC was stolen,” it said. “There was some restricted information on the PC, but as we have made clear, there is no secret or top secret information,” it said.
■ ITALY
No cheating for Carabinieri
The country’s highest court has ruled that the Carabinieri paramilitary police may not have extra-marital affairs, in order to avoid sullying the force’s name. The ruling stemmed from one Carabiniere’s appeal against a lower court ruling sentencing him to four months in jail for insulting and threatening to throw a desk at his boss, who had asked the policeman to end an affair with a married woman. The Court of Cassation agreed that any affair is a private matter, but noted that the military police were called to “exemplary conduct and could not bring discredit to the armed forces with extra-marital relationships.”
■ RUSSIA
New charges in murder case
Prosecutors charged three men with a role in the 2006 killing of anti-Kremlin journalist Anna Politkovskaya. A gunman shot Politkovskaya in her Moscow apartment block in October 2006. Prosecutors named the accused as Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, Dzhabrail Makhmudov and Ibragim Makhmudov. Politkovskaya was well known in the West for her human rights reporting in Chechnya.
■ ICELAND
Polar bear sighted
In the second case of its kind in two weeks, a polar bear was sighted in northern Iceland after apparently making a journey of several hundred kilometers atop an ice floe from Greenland, the broadcaster RUV reported on Tuesday. A 12-year-old girl on a farm near the town of Saudarkrokur, on the Skaga fjord, spotted the bear on Monday and alerted the authorities. Two weeks earlier, another polar bear was spotted in Iceland — the first such spotting in 20 years. Authorities permitted police marksmen to kill the polar bear, sparking protests from environmentalists and animal rights’ groups. Authorities are now making plans to capture the second bear and have it shipped in a cage back to Greenland.
■ UNITED STATES
Dancing film star dies
Cyd Charisse, whose elegant dance moves on the silver screen wooed her co-stars Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, has died at the age of 86 in a Los Angeles hospital of an apparent heart attack, her agent, Scott Stander, told the news media. Born Tula Ellice Finklea in Texas, Charisse began her dancing career with the Ballet Russe, but fame came after the film studio MGM discovered her and cast her in leading roles at the height of the popularity of the Hollywood musical. She had minor roles in movies for nearly a decade before her breakout role came in 1952’s Singin’ in the Rain. A year later, she secured her first leading role in the musical comedy The Band Wagon opposite Astaire.
■ UNITED STATES
Girl chases lemonade thief
A young girl whose lemonade stand was robbed of US$17.50 chased the suspect to a nearby home and called police, who spent nearly an hour trying to coax the man into surrendering. “The guy came up and was, like, ‘Give me your money,’” 12-year-old Dominique Morefield said. “I was shocked. It was just my immediate reaction to chase after him.” Dominique dashed after the man, who ran into a house, and then she called police. Officers eventually persuaded Steve Tryon, 18, to come outside after 45 minutes and arrested him on a preliminary felony charge of robbery. Tyron, currently held in the Vigo County Jail in Indiana, will be formally charged tomorrow, a county prosecutor said.
■ UNITED STATES
Man threatens police
Police in Connecticut say they arrested a man after he ordered his pet to attack two officers. Lucky for them that 2.7m-long pythons are not very obedient. Bridgeport Police Lieutenant James Viadero said 21-year-old Victor Rodriguez was charged with threatening police and disorderly conduct after Monday’s incident. No one was hurt. Officers were called to Rodriguez’s apartment on a report that he was threatening his girlfriend with the pet reptile.
■ UNITED STATES
Man alleges torture
Videotapes alleging torture could become evidence in a federal lawsuit against Sheik Issa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, son of the late United Arab Emirates (UAE) president and brother of Abu Dhabi’s crown prince. Texas businessman Bassam Nabulsi, a former adviser to the sheik, is suing for millions he says he is owed for various business deals. He also charges Sheik Issa and other members of the royal family with false imprisonment and with torturing him. The tapes have not been made public, but “ultimately this video, or certainly large portions of it, will be played in court,” said Nabulsi’s lawyer, Anthony Buzbee, on Tuesday.
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners of war in the latest such swap that saw the release of hundreds of captives and was brokered with the help of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), officials said on Monday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that 189 Ukrainian prisoners, including military personnel, border guards and national guards — along with two civilians — were freed. He thanked the UAE for helping negotiate the exchange. The Russian Ministry of Defense said that 150 Russian troops were freed from captivity as part of the exchange in which each side released 150 people. The reason for the discrepancy in numbers
A shark attack off Egypt’s Red Sea coast killed a tourist and injured another, authorities said on Sunday, with an Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs source identifying both as Italian nationals. “Two foreigners were attacked by a shark in the northern Marsa Alam area, which led to the injury of one and the death of the other,” the Egyptian Ministry of Environment said in a statement. A source at the Italian foreign ministry said that the man killed was a 48-year-old resident of Rome. The injured man was 69 years old. They were both taken to hospital in Port Ghalib, about 50km north
The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland on Tuesday expressed concern about “the political crisis” in Georgia, two days after Mikheil Kavelashvili was formally inaugurated as president of the South Caucasus nation, cementing the ruling party’s grip in what the opposition calls a blow to the country’s EU aspirations and a victory for former imperial ruler Russia. “We strongly condemn last week’s violence against peaceful protesters, media and opposition leaders, and recall Georgian authorities’ responsibility to respect human rights and protect fundamental freedoms, including the freedom to assembly and media freedom,” the three ministers wrote in a joint statement. In reaction
BARRIER BLAME: An aviation expert questioned the location of a solid wall past the end of the runway, saying that it was ‘very bad luck for this particular airplane’ A team of US investigators, including representatives from Boeing, on Tuesday examined the site of a plane crash that killed 179 people in South Korea, while authorities were conducting safety inspections on all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by the country’s airlines. All but two of the 181 people aboard the Boeing 737-800 operated by South Korean budget airline Jeju Air died in Sunday’s crash. Video showed the aircraft, without its landing gear deployed, crash-landed on its belly and overshoot a runaway at Muan International Airport before it slammed into a barrier and burst into flames. The plane was seen having engine trouble.
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