﹥CHINA
Quake city replaced
Work on building a new town called ※Eternal Prosperity§ will begin next month to replace one of the cities destroyed in last year＊s Sichuan earthquake, state media reported on Monday. Billions of dollars will be spent on the new seat of Beichuan County that will be built 23km from the old town and well away from geological fault lines, Xinhua news agency said, citing one of the planners. Beichuan was one of the worst-hit towns in the May 12 quake because it lay at the juncture of two fault lines. Roughly half of Beichuan＊s 26,000 residents died during the May 12 quake.
PHOTO: AFP/AUSTRALIAN CUSTOMS
﹥JAPAN
Prince to visit Vietnam
Crown Prince Naruhito will make a week-long visit to Vietnam next month to promote bilateral ties while his sick wife stays at home, officials said yesterday. The prince will leave Tokyo on Feb. 9 for Hanoi and return on Feb. 15, the imperial household agency said. His first trip to Vietnam marks the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. During his stay the prince will make a courtesy call on Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet in the capital.
﹥CHINA
Two HIV drugs rolled out
Beijing will provide two imported HIV drugs to patients who develop resistance to cheaper, domestic alternatives, state media said on Monday, going some way to meeting a key demand of AIDS treatment activists. The decision to hand out the new drugs means that nine of 20 drugs to combat AIDS are now available to patients, the China Daily said. Treatment with Tenofovir, marketed by Gilead Sciences Inc under the brand Viread, and Kaletra, manufactured by Abbott Laboratories, cost over US$1,500 a year each. Other drugs already available cost as little as US$730.
﹥AUSTRALIA
Men survive 25 days in box
Two men from Myanmar told rescuers they survived for 25 days floating in a large icebox in waters off the north coast after their fishing boat sank, authorities said yesterday. The men were spotted in the cooler on Saturday by a routine aerial border patrol over the Torres Strait off Cape York, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said. The men described seeing the other 18 crew members on board the Thai boat go into the water without life vests or any flotation devices as it sank, she said. There was no chance they could have survived until now and the agency had decided no search would be launched, Jiggins said.
﹥CHINA
Beijing blocks more porn
Authorities have blocked 244 new pornographic Web sites over the last week, Xinhua news agency said, bringing the total number of sites shut down in a campaign against ※vulgar§ content to over 700. Many of the targeted Web sites were unregistered and broke laws about distribution of sexual content, the report said. China promised last week that the campaign, which Xinhua said was scheduled to last a month, would be no ※flash in the pan.§ It has been extended to cover content in mobile phone games, online novels and radio programs.
﹥COSTA RICA
China free trade talks start
China and Costa Rica on Monday began talks for a free trade treaty under which the Central American nation hopes to export meat, plants, fruit and coffee to the Asian giant, officials said. Chinese President Hu Jintao (?党啈) announced the talks in November, during the 〝highest-level visit by a Chinese official to Costa Rica, a little over a year after San Jose gave up six decades of ties with Taiwan. The first round of talks in San Jose are due to end today and the process is due to end before President Oscar Arias leaves office in May next year.
﹥CANADA
Former radical denied entry
William Ayers, a former US radical who featured prominently in Republican efforts to thwart incoming US president Barack Obama＊s campaign last year, has been denied entry to Canada. The University of Toronto＊s Centre for Urban Schooling issued a statement on Monday saying Ayers was denied entry on Sunday night because of a 1969 conviction during an anti-war demonstration. Ayers, now a professor, was to deliver a speech at the center. Forty years ago Ayers was a member of the Weather Underground, a radical group that claimed responsibility for a series of bombings in the early 1970s. Ayers became an issue in last year＊s presidential race after Republican claims that Obama was ※palling around with terrorists,§ as Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin put it. Ayers told Canada＊s Globe and Mail newspaper that he has traveled to Canada more than a dozen times in the past.
﹥GABON
Foreigners caught in jail riot
Two French, a Chinese and a Thai prisoner were taken hostage on Monday during a day-long jail riot that saw two people killed during a police siege in Libreville, a government source said. Rioters seized ※women and foreign [detainees],§ the source said. ※The toll is two dead and several wounded, who have been taken to hospital. We were close to catastrophe,§ Interior Minister Andre Mba Obame said. ※There could have been many more deaths§ save for dozens of special forces who fought their way into Libreville＊s main jail, according to an AFP correspondent and locals who reported hearing gunfire.
﹥MOLDOVA
Poet dies in car crash
Poet Grigore Vieru, admired for his courage in promoting Romanian, the country＊s native language, when Moldova was a Soviet republic, has died. He was 73. Vieru died on Sunday in a hospital in Chisinau. He had been in a car crash there on Friday. President Vladimir Voronin declared yesterday a day of national mourning.
﹥UNITED STATES
Detroit razes fixer-upper
There are thousands of buildings that should be demolished in Detroit. Eric Roslonski says his house wasn＊t one of them. Roslonski filed a lawsuit against the city on Monday, more than two years after a house he was restoring was suddenly destroyed. He said he put more than US$30,000 into the property on the east side of Detroit after buying it for US$7,000. One day in summer 2006, he couldn＊t find 13405 Flanders. His lawyer, Jeffrey Dworin, said the house was taken off a demolition list, then apparently reinstated without Roslonski＊s knowledge. A message seeking comment was left with the city＊s law department, which was closed for a federal holiday on Monday. Roslonski is suing Detroit for his losses under a federal civil rights law. He fixed another house on the same street and sold it for US$85,000.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Hundreds of people in rainbow colors gathered on Saturday in South Africa’s tourist magnet Cape Town to honor the world’s first openly gay imam, who was killed last month. Muhsin Hendricks, who ran a mosque for marginalized Muslims, was shot dead last month near the southern city of Gqeberha. “I was heartbroken. I think it’s sad especially how far we’ve come, considering how progressive South Africa has been,” attendee Keisha Jensen said. Led by motorcycle riders, the mostly young crowd walked through the streets of the coastal city, some waving placards emblazoned with Hendricks’s image and reading: “#JUSTICEFORMUHSIN.” No arrest
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