■ AUSTRALIA
Gillard calls for debate
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard challenged her opponent yesterday to a public debate on the economy in a move one analyst said suggests her campaign for re-election this month is becoming desperate. Gillard threw down the challenge to debate Tony Abbott, leader of the conservative Liberal Party, for a second time during the five-week campaign ahead of a general election on Aug. 21. Abbott, however, refused. “It’s becoming even clearer that with the economy at the center of this campaign ... Mr Abbott should step up to a debate on the economy,” Gillard told reporters.
■ VIETNAM
Activists receive award
An international human rights group has honored six Vietnamese activists for their courage in the face of political persecution in Vietnam. The six were among 42 writers from 20 countries to receive the annual Hellman/Hammmett award, New York-based Human Rights Watch announced yesterday. All of this year’s awardees from Vietnam are activist writers whose work was suppressed by the government in its efforts to restrict free speech, control independent media and limit access and use of the Internet, it said.
■NORTH KOREA
US may blacklist financiers
The US is expected to blacklist three key North Korean figures suspected of handling secret funds for leader Kim Jong-il as part of its new sanctions, a report said yesterday. Washington is devising the measures to punish the North for an alleged deadly March attack on a South Korean warship and to push it to abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions. Yonhap news agency, quoting an unidentified government source, said one of the three officials is Kim Tong-myong, head of the North’s Tanchon Commercial Bank. Overall, the US is expected to add 10 to 20 North Korean entities and individuals to its blacklist, the report said.
■NEPAL
Peace agreement threatened
Nepal’s former rebels threatened yesterday to recruit new members for their military wing, raising fears the peace process that ended a decade of fierce fighting may be in jeopardy in the Himalayan nation. The communists’ threat followed an announcement this week by Nepal’s army that it wanted 3,400 personnel to join. New recruits would be sought for the communist party’s military wing because the army violated the peace agreement by launching its own recruitment drive, Chandra Prakash Khanal, deputy commander of the Maoist’s People’s Liberation Army, said. Khanal said it was still to be decided how many personnel it plans to retain. “Recruitment by either the Nepal Army or the Maoist army constitutes a breach of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement,” the UN said.
■AUSTRALIA
PETA attacks queen’s boots
A pair of high-heeled woolly Ugg boots to be worn by the country’s representative at the Miss Universe Pageant later this month has come under fire on two fronts — tackiness and animal cruelty. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) asked Jesinta Campbell not to wear Ugg boots or a lamb’s wool shrug at the pageant in Las Vegas on Aug. 23 because it was cruel and unethical, using Australian wool sourced from mulesed sheep. Mulesing, a common practice among Australian farmers, involves removing strips of wool-bearing skin from the buttocks of sheep in a bid to reduce a potentially lethal maggot infestation called flystrike.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Extradition overshadowed
A high-profile extradition case between London and Moscow has taken a surprise pause amid an investigation into the mysterious death of a Russian millionaire’s mother, who was found covered in blood in her Moscow apartment. A London court on Monday postponed a hearing into the extradition of Yevgeny Chichvarkin, a 35-year-old businessman who insists he should not be sent back to Russia because someone has murdered his mother and his own life is in danger. Chichvarkin says the extradition request by Russia is politically motivated because he had spoken out against corruption in Russia’s police force.
■IRAN
Offer likely to be refused
The country signaled on Tuesday it would likely reject the Brazilian president’s offer to give refuge to an Iranian woman convicted of adultery and sentenced to death by stoning. The case of 43-year-old Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani triggered an international outcry that prompted Iran to at least temporarily withdraw the stoning part of her sentence. The mother of two could still be hanged, however. Iran says the woman has also been convicted of murder.
■THE NETHERLANDS
Campbell given security
War crimes judges on Tuesday ordered special security measures for fashion model Naomi Campbell when she testifies at the trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor, barring photographers from catching her entering or leaving the courtroom. The judges say Campbell’s fears for her safety and privacy are legitimate because of her high profile and the intense media interest in her appearance. Campbell was summoned to testify about whether she received diamonds from Taylor after a celebrity-studded dinner in South Africa in 1997.
■DR CONGO
Kidnapped pilot released
An Indian pilot who was taken hostage by rebels has been released unharmed after being forced to walk through the bush for five days, the Indian embassy said on Tuesday. Syed Mazher, 25, a co-pilot for a local airline, was taken hostage on July 24 when rebels attacked his plane after he landed at Walikale airstrip, a bumpy track that doubles as the town’s main road and is the route out for locally mined tin ore. Indian Ambassador Devendra Srivastava said the pilot’s toenails had fallen off as a result of the long bush walks. “It has been a great effort by everyone and we are very grateful to get our man back,” he said, adding that two helicopters from the UN peacekeeping force had flown into the area to assist in the rescue.
■AUSTRIA
Qaddafi funded party: report
Prosecutors said on Tuesday they were investigating after a respected weekly newspaper published excerpts of what it said was a diary suggesting there were transfers of money from Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi and former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein to late far-right politician Joerg Haider’s inner circle. Falter said it had obtained the diary of Walter Meischberger, a former member of Haider’s Freedom Party. Falter is publishing what is describes as excerpts of the diary that mention a transfer of 45 million euros (US$59.4 million) by the Libyan leader in connection with an unnamed Haider confidant and say others visiting Iraq also received millions of euros from Iraq and from accounts belonging to Hussein’s family. It says Meischberger had secondhand knowledge of the transfers.
■UNITED STATES
Wyclef Jean will run: ‘Time’
Haitian-American music star Wyclef Jean will announce his bid for president of Haiti this week, Time magazine reported on Tuesday. Haiti is scheduled to vote on Nov. 28 to elect a new leader to replace President Rene Preval, whose term ends in February. “If I can’t take five years out to serve my country as President, then everything I’ve been singing about, like equal rights, doesn’t mean anything,” Jean said in an interview with Time. Last week he said he was taking the necessary legal steps toward running for president. Many analysts predict Jean would easily win the presidential election. Jean emigrated to the US when he was nine, but has maintained his Haitian citizenship.
■ UNITED STATES
Palin engagement off, again
Bristol Palin has broken off her engagement to Levi Johnston for a second time — less than a month after telling the world she planned to marry the father of her son. The 19-year-old daughter of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin was quoted on Tuesday as telling People magazine “It’s over. I broke up with him.” She said her on-again, off-again relationship with Johnston, 20, soured on July 14 — the day the couple announced in Us Weekly that they had secretly become engaged again. Palin said Johnston told her that same evening he might have fathered a baby with another teenage girl. The girl has since denied Johnston is the father.
■UNITED STATES
Man happy dog ate toe
A Michigan man says he’s grateful his dog ate most of his toe while he was passed out drunk. Jerry Douthett says Kiko’s action helped uncover an undiagnosed diabetic condition and led to treatment that could save his life. The Grand Rapids Press reported that the 48-year-old musician knew for a while something was wrong with his foot. He resisted seeking care until giving in to his wife’s pressure. Before going for an appointment, Douthett says he went out drinking, then came home and passed out. When he awoke, the terrier was beside him in bed and lots of blood was where his toe used to be. His wife rushed him to a hospital, where doctors found a bone infection and amputated the rest of the toe.
■UNITED STATES
Toes text plea for help
Police say an Atlanta woman tied to her bed by an armed burglar was freed by police after she used her toes to type a message to her boyfriend. Atlanta police Captain Van Hobbs says the woman’s boyfriend called police dispatchers on Tuesday morning to say she told him she’d been bound since midnight, media reports said. Hobbs says the 39-year-old woman told police the intruder, who had a handgun and wore a ski mask, went through her belongings, then bound her before stealing her car. He says the laptop was on her bed with her and she was able to use her toes to type and contact her boyfriend.
■UNITED STATES
Lady Gaga makes list
Singer Lady Gaga, France’s first lady Carla Bruni and Spanish actor Javier Bardem were chosen by Vanity Fair magazine as among the world’s 45 best dressed people. Also included in the list in next month’s edition were actresses Diane Kruger, Carey Mulligan, Princess Maria of Denmark and US first lady Michelle Obama, along with Samantha Cameron, wife of British Prime Minister David Cameron, filmmaker Martin Scorcese, designer John Galliano, soccer player David Beckham and Argentine polo player Nacho Figueras.
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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