■HONG KONG
Tsang angers lawmakers
A group of lawmakers walked out of a legislature session on Thursday after Chief Executive Donald Tsang (曾蔭權) said many people thought China had made great progress since the 1989 crackdown on democracy. Tsang said he understood that Hong Kong people would have their own views and feelings on the anniversary of the June 4 incident. “After 20 years the country has seen remarkable development in various aspects and I believe that Hong Kong will formulate an objective view of the development of the nation,” he said, adding that his views represented those of Hong Kongers in general. That comment prompted more than 20 pro-democracy legislators to walk out. Democratic Party Deputy Chairwoman Emily Lau (劉慧卿) said the group felt “very offended and angered … We are asking him to retract the statement and apologize. He has made a big mistake, this is a really raw nerve,” she said. “We don’t think many Hong Kong people feel that way. Yes, there is economic development, but it doesn’t mean you can forget about the massacre.” Tsang later added that he had misspoken when he said his views were those of Hong Kong people, and apologized for any misunderstanding.
■PHILIPPINES
Ex-governor survives attack
Former Maguindanao Province governor Andal Ampatuan survived a roadside bomb attack that killed one of his security escorts yesterday and wounded two others, the military and police said. An army spokesman blamed the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, but the rebels denied involvement. Three homemade bombs fashioned from mortar shells exploded seconds apart as Ampatuan’s convoy made its way to his farm in Shariff Aguak township, a military spokesman said.
■NEW ZEALAND
Airline to help lonely hearts
Air New Zealand said yesterday it would offer a lonely-hearts trip for US singles in what it is billing as the world’s first matchmaking flight. Singles are being offered the chance to fly from Los Angeles in October to “get amongst it” at the “Great Matchmaking Ball” in Auckland. Passengers will attend a pre-flight gate party at Los Angeles Airport, and themed food, drink, entertainment and games will be offered during the flight, airline spokesman Steve Bayliss said.
■BANGLADESH
Sexual harassment banned
The High Court moved on Thursday to plug a gaping hole in the country’s laws by introducing a first-ever ban on sexual harassment, an official said. The decision was immediately hailed by activists as a major step forward for the protection of women. Deputy Attorney-General Rajik Al Jalil said the new guidelines covered verbal abuse and physical attacks, including suggestive text messages. He said the ban was an interim measure until new legislation could be passed in parliament. No punishment had been finalized and each offence would be considered on a case-by-case basis, he said.
■INDIA
Gandhi ordered released
The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered that charges be dropped against the grandson of the late prime minister Indira Gandhi for inciting communal hatred during a campaign event in Uttar Pradesh. Varun Gandhi, a candidate of the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, has been on parole since April after his arrest under the National Security Act by the state government.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Village finds buyer
The leafy English village of Linkenholt with its 21 cottages and a manor house has found a buyer. Real estate agent Tim Sherston said on Thursday that the village, which had a £23 million (US$35 million) asking price and was for sale as a whole, is off the market. But he could not say who the buyer was nor how much was paid because of a confidentiality agreement. Linkenholt is about 110km west of London. The village is made up of 21 cottages, a manor house, plus a cricket pitch and accompanying pavilion. There are also 600 hectares of farmland and 170 hectares of woods. The only part of the village that was not for sale was St Peter’s Church.
■BOSNIA
Croatian to be extradited
The state court said on Wednesday that it would set a legal precedent and extradite to Croatia a parliamentary deputy who fled to the country shortly before being sentenced to jail for war crimes against Serbs. Branimir Glavas is the first senior Croatian official to be convicted of war crimes during the breakup of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. He also holds local citizenship. The two countries do not have an extradition agreement. A court spokeswoman said Glavas would be kept in detention for up to 40 days pending extradition. His lawyer Nikica Grzic said Glavas would appeal against the decision.
■TURKEY
Loving worker reinstated
A court has ordered an employer to reinstate a woman who was fired after she kissed her boyfriend at work, ruling it was just a stolen kiss and that no customers saw it, the state-run Anatolian said on Wednesday. The woman was confronted by her boss after she was caught kissing on tape on the business’s closed circuit TV, Anatolian said. The business in the capital was not identified.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Expense scandal claims two
The growing scandal over the misuse of parliamentary expenses claimed its first victims on Thursday when a former Labour Party minister was suspended and a top Conservative lost his job as adviser to party leader David Cameron. Elliot Morley, a former agriculture minister under former prime minister Tony Blair, was suspended from the parliamentary Labour Party after it was revealed that he continued to claim expenses on a mortgage on a second home that had long been paid off.
■IRAN
Warship to combat pirates
State TV says the country will send two warships to join an international flotilla protecting cargo ships from pirates off the Somali coast. Thursday’s report says the ambassador to the UN, Mohammad Khazaei, made the commitment in a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The report appeared on the Web site of Press TV. In the letter sent on Wednesday, Khazaei said the warships would leave for the Gulf of Aden within the next two days for a five-month assignment. The ships will join vessels from the US, Denmark, Italy, Russia, China and other countries.
■GERMANY
Cash flies out of convertible
A man lost 23,000 euros (US$31,180) to the wind when an envelope with the money he had stuck in the passenger seat pocket of his convertible blew away during a test drive in northern Germany. The cash — in 500, 200s and 100 euro notes — fluttered across the motorway in the midst of speeding traffic near the city of Hanover, police said.
■UNITED STATES
Court sentences pilot dad
A pilot who landed his four-seat airplane on an Illinois golf course so his 14-year-old son wouldn’t be late for a tennis lesson has been sentenced to 18 months of court supervision. Lake Villa resident Robert Kadera pleaded guilty on Wednesday to criminal trespass and disorderly conduct. Lake County Associate Judge Charles Johnson also ordered the 66-year-old to pay a US$500 fine and perform 60 hours of community service.
■BRAZIL
Alleged killer’s trial starts
A man accused of murdering and chopping up his British girlfriend in July last year went on trial on Thursday. Mohammed D’Ali Carvalho dos Santos, 21, was led into the courtroom in the city of Goiania in handcuffs and escorted by six police officers. He is charged with murdering Cara Marie Burke, 17, whose body parts were found in a suitcase and a bag in rivers near the apartment they shared. The accusation states that Santos confessed to stabbing Burke to death on July 26 when she threatened to reveal his drug addiction to family and police. He then allegedly took a photo of her corpse with his cellphone before heading out to a party.
■UNITED STATES
Obama dog beanie babied
The presidential popularity of the Obamas’ new puppy Bo is complete. The company that makes Beanie Babies has released a shaggy black and white version of the dog named “Bo” — and he’s selling fast. The company has previously run into trouble taking inspiration from the Obama family. The company released two dolls resembling the Obama children as part of its Ty Girlz collection but retired the names “Marvelous Malia” and “Sweet Sasha” after Michelle Obama said using her daughters’ names was inappropriate.
■VENEZUELA
Chavez denies vulgarity
President Hugo Chavez used a televised speech to rebut a Guardian report earlier this week that some Venezuelans had been offended by the name of his mobile phone, which is derived from a slang word for penis. The government-made subsidized telephone — at US$15, one of the world’s cheapest handsets — went on sale this week, the latest pro-poor initiative from Chavez’s self-styled socialist revolution. In a televised address to ministers at Caracas’s Miraflores palace, Chavez distanced vergatario from verga, slang for penis. He cited the Spanish language reference dictionary, the Real Academia Espanola, which defined vergatario as an adjective signifying quality and value. The Guardian said the word denoted excellence but that some locals considered it vulgar. Part of the Real Academia’s definition — “adj. vulg. Ven” — acknowledges the connotation. Residents of Maracaibo are renowned for constructing swear words derived from verga.
■UNITED STATES
Park fires geyser urinator
Two seasonal Yellowstone National Park concession workers have been fired after a live Web cam caught them urinating into the Old Faithful geyser. Park spokesman Al Nash says a 23-year-old man on Tuesday was fined US$750 and placed on three years of unsupervised probation for urinating, being off trail in a restricted area and taking items from the area. The man also was banned from Yellowstone for two years. The second employee’s case is pending. The park’s dispatch center was called after someone watching a Web cam on the geyser saw six employees leaving the trail and walking on Old Faithful on May 4. The geyser was not erupting at the time.
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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