■HONG KONG
Judge gives convicts vote
A court ruling yesterday set the stage for prison inmates to be able to vote in elections for the first time in the territory’s history. Justice Andrew Cheung ruled that inmates have the constitutional right to register as voters and cast their ballots while serving sentences. The case was brought by two men, Chan Kin-sum and Choi Chuen-sun, who are currently in jail, and legislator Leung Kwok-hung, who had previously served time for offenses against public order. Cheung gave the justice department and the electoral commission 14 days to work out how to implement his decision.
■AUSTRALIA
Sex-crazed rhino unzips pen
A sex-crazed rhinoceros that smashed through the steel bars of its pen in search of female company had to be shot with a tranquilizer dart to keep him within the bounds of Adelaide’s Monarto Zoo. Monarto chief executive Chris West said keepers used a helicopter to locate the white rhino called Satara in the open-range zoo while visitors were kept out. “It was before zoo opening times so as soon as there’d been a realization then we’d have secured the whole site,” West said. Satara, 18, was captured in Africa’s Kruger National Park and brought to Australia six years ago as part of a captive breeding program.
■JAPAN
Fire at nuclear plant
A fire broke out at a nuclear power plant and a worker was sickened by smoke inhalation, but there was no release of radioactivity, the plant operator said yesterday. A small fire broke out at a turbine facility at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear complex during welding of pipes aimed at enhancing quake resistance, Tokyo Electric Power Co said in a statement. A worker was sickened from inhaling smoke, but not seriously, said the company, known as TEPCO. The fire was extinguished within one hour and there was no radiation leak from the incident, the company said.
■AUSTRALIA
Raunchy calendar not hot
Is a bare-all calendar a sure-fire way for your community group to raise funds this Christmas? A researcher said yesterday total exposure was a turn-off and that calendars leaving something to the imagination were the better sellers. University of Tasmania lecturer Pamela Turton-Turner said that pubic hair and nipples were out and strategically held teacups and flowers were in. What makes a charity calendar a success, she said, was the “stark comparison between the ageing, sometimes bizarre, non-classic bodies of the men and women in them compared with the classic, idealized and erotic bodies of people in movies and advertising.”
■UNITED KINGDOM
Protesters arrested at airport
Four people were arrested early yesterday after 50 demonstrators against global warming broke into a secure area of Stansted Airport near London, police said. The demonstrators occupied the area near the runway of the airport north of London at around 3:15am, organizers Plane Stupid said. The area had been closed for renovation. “About 50 protesters have gained access to Stansted Airport and they are airside,” an Essex police spokeswoman said. “We have arrested four people so far. Police have contained the area where the protesters are and they will be dealing with them in due course.” In a statement, Plane Stupid said the disruption to flights would prevent “the release of thousands of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.” The organization said the demonstrators had chained themselves up and were protected by barricades. They wanted to remain near the runway to prevent the airport from opening to traffic at 5am.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Winter wonderland canceled
A Christmas theme park that promised ice rinks, elves and reindeer canceled its opening on Saturday after a local council warned customers the event was no winter wonderland. Lapland West Midlands had promised visitors an “authentic taste of Christmas” with huskies, reindeer and snow blown every hour at a site at Essington, 220km northwest of London, but early visitors previewing the event saw only a handful of tents in a muddy field, garishly painted figurines, and no sign of the promised ice rink. Local authorities warned people not to show up. “There aren’t any animals up at the site. There’s not a lot up there in the way of an event,” said Carol Dean, an official from the local Staffordshire County Council. Another Christmas park in southern England closed earlier this week after customers complained the decorations were shoddy and events badly organized. Some customers there reportedly became so irate they attacked the park’s Santa Claus and physically abused an elf.
■EGYPT
Eleven killed in bus accident
Eleven Egyptian Christians were killed and 30 injured when their bus overturned yesterday during a church outing, police sources said. The Christians were traveling from the central town of Minya to the city of Alexandria and the crash took place about 30km southwest of Cairo.
■SPAIN
Politician sparks outrage
A Spanish politician’s shout of “Death to the Bourbons,” Spain’s royal family, has stirred nationalist tensions and sparked demands he resign. Lower-house deputy Joan Tarda made the cry as members of his Catalan nationalist party, which seeks independence from Spain, burnt a coffin symbolizing the Spanish constitution to mark its 30th anniversary on Saturday. Under Spanish law, anybody who insults the royal family can face up to two years in prison. Leaders from across Spain’s political spectrum said his comments were unacceptable and the conservative opposition Popular Party demanded Tarda, a member of the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), be thrown out of Congress. In a statement on Sunday, Tarda said he did not suggest anyone kill members of the royal family and he meant to criticize the monarchy as an institution. Opinion polls show Spain’s King Juan Carlos remains broadly popular three decades after he helped usher in the constitution and end 40 years of dictatorship under General Francisco Franco.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
RELEASE: The move follows Washington’s removal of Havana from its list of terrorism sponsors. Most of the inmates were arrested for taking part in anti-government protests Cuba has freed 127 prisoners, including opposition leader Jose Daniel Ferrer, in a landmark deal with departing US President Joe Biden that has led to emotional reunions across the communist island. Ferrer, 54, is the most high-profile of the prisoners that Cuba began freeing on Wednesday after Biden agreed to remove the country from Washington’s list of terrorism sponsors — part of an eleventh-hour bid to cement his legacy before handing power on Monday to US president-elect Donald Trump. “Thank God we have him home,” Nelva Ortega said of her husband, Ferrer, who has been in and out of prison for the
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