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Bush healthy but laments ‘too many doughnuts’ BETHESDA, Dec 12: US President George W Bush was declared to be in "superior" health after his annual physical exam but lamented a weight gain .....more Gay theme movie sweeps Indonesia festival awards JAKARTA, Dec 12: A gay-theme movie took best film honours and most of the acting awards at the Indonesian film festival, the first in the world’s ......more Poe, Philippine actor who sought Presidency, in coma MANILA, Dec 12: Fernando Poe Jr, a Philippine movie icon who came close to unseating Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as ....more Portugal PM, cabinet LISBON, Dec 12: Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes said he and his ...more |
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S Africa Churches urge referendum on Gay marriage JOHANNESBURG, Dec 12: South Africa’s leading Churches urged President Thabo Mbeki to call a referendum on Gay marriages, saying a . ....more Nazi
officer acquitted ROME, Dec 12: An Italian military court acquitted former Nazi officer Hermann Langer of a 1944 massacre of some 60 people at ....more Deported Imam may return to Italy, court says ROME, Dec 12: A controversial Senegalese Imam, once branded a national security threat in Italy for his vocal .....more Spain holds Syrian, alleges militant Islamist links MADRID, Dec 12: A Spanish Judge leading the probe into the Madrid train bombings ordered a Syrian man to be held pending trial ........more |
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Bush healthy but laments ‘too many doughnuts’ BETHESDA, Dec 12: US President George W Bush was declared to be in "superior" health after his annual physical exam but lamented a weight gain he blamed on months of campaign travel. "Although I think the doctor put out a report that shows me to be physically fit — I’m still able to get on the stress test — I’m a little overweight," he said. "Therefore, I fully intend to lose some inches off my waistline and pounds off my frame. But other than that, I feel great." Bush, 58, said it was clear he had just gone through a campaign after he stepped on the scale during his exam yesterday at the national naval medical center in the Washington suburb of Bethesda, Maryland. "I’ve obviously have gone through a campaign where I probably ate too many doughnuts, if you get my drift" he said. "My new year’s resolution has become apparent by getting on the scales." The nearly 6-foot (183 cm) Bush weighs just shy of (200 pounds) 91 kg. His weight had crept up from (194 pounds) 88 kg at his last physical in August 2003. Although many people often remark on Bush’s fitness, his weight gain gives him a body mass index of 27, putting him in the category of the more than 60 percent of Americans who are overweight. A body mass index of 25 or above is considered overweight. But Bush’s blood pressure and pulse were in a very healthy range, in keeping with his fitness habits of working out six times per week. A team of 10 doctors led by Dr Richard Tubb, Bush’s personal physician, and Dr Kenneth Cooper, head of the cooper aerobics center, issued a statement saying they "find him to be fit for duty and have every reasonable expectation that he will remain fit for duty for the duration of his Presidency." The doctors described Bush’s health as being in the top fifth percentile for a man his age. Elaborating on the physical exam, white house spokesman Claire Buchan said, "they determined that he is in superior health overall for a man his age." Bush, who was an avid runner for decades, had to give up that sport after he suffered knee problems. He now does elliptical training, mountain biking, weight training and stretching to keep fit. Bush no longer drinks alcohol and prides himself on physical fitness. The President’s body fat percentage rose to 18.25, within the normal range but above the 14.5 percent of his last physical. His resting heart rate was 52 beats per minute and his blood pressure is also a healthy 110 over 60. During the exam, Bush had removed a lesion caused by being in the sun and the doctors told him a few more small spots should be frozen off later. These are normal for light-skinned people who spend a lot of time outside. Bush does not routinely take any medications but does take vitamins and supplements called chondroitin and glucosamine. Many people believe this combination can prevent and treat arthritis and other joint problems but it is an unproven alternative remedy. He has an occasional cigar and drinks diet sodas and coffee, the doctors noted. The latest exam would normally have taken place in August but bush delayed it by four months because of the campaign. (AGENCIES) |
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Gay theme movie sweeps Indonesia festival awards JAKARTA, Dec 12: A gay-theme movie took best film honours and most of the acting awards at the Indonesian film festival, the first in the world’s largest Muslim nation for 12 years, the Jakarta Post reported today. The actors who played the gay couple won for best actor and best supporting actor in the movie "Arisan", a satirical comedy mocking the life of the small super-rich set in the nation’s capital and tackling the taboo subject of homosexuality. Scenes that helped win the movie recognition included an aerial shot of oral sex in a public toilet and the gay couple kissing. The festival’s revival after a hiatus of more than a decade comes as local film production is picking up after faltering in the early 1990s due to the stranglehold of Hollywood movies in local theatres. Nominations for this year’s awards spanned 2000-2004. Just one film was released in 2000 while 31 were made in the past two years, the report said. (AGENCIES) |
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Poe, Philippine actor who sought Presidency, in coma MANILA, Dec 12: Fernando Poe Jr, a Philippine movie icon who came close to unseating Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as President, fell into a coma today after suffering a stroke, friends and supporters said. Known across the nation as FPJ and "Da King", the 65-year-old parlayed his roles as the strong, silent hero of 200 films into an election campaign that wooed the poor masses but made analysts nervous with little beyond vague plans for the economy. "He is in a comatose condition, so we are asking the people for prayers," Francis Escudero, Poe’s campaign spokesman, told . "FPJ is strong. He will fight to survive." Escudero said a blood vessel in Poe’s brain was blocked but he was responding to medication. Doctors would keep the film star under observation for the next 72 hours, he added. "Oh my God. Let’s pray for his safety," Ging Beato, a domestic helper and Poe fan, said when she heard the news. Political backers and movie stars were talking to officials at a seminary near the hospital about hosting a prayer vigil. In the may election, Poe came within 3 percent of blocking a new term for arroyo, exploiting the popular appeal that had propelled his friend and fellow actor Joseph Estrada into a Presidency which ended in 2001 with massive street protests. Arroyo, an economist, has seen her popularity slide in recent months as costs rise and the public grows more concerned about rampant corruption and the state of the economy. After the election, the opposition filed scattered charges of fraud as Poe returned to the film world and an unusually private life for an action hero. Jejomar Binay, Mayor of Manila’s financial hub Makati, said Poe was hosting a party for politicians, movie friends and campaign supporters at his film studio on Saturday evening when he felt dizzy and had searing pain in the back of his head. Poe was rushed to hospital, where he lost consciousness in the early hours today. (AGENCIES) |
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Portugal PM, cabinet submit resignations LISBON, Dec 12: Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes said he and his cabinet had submitted their resignations to President Jorge Sampaio. "Before this address, I informed the President of my and the Government’s decision, taken in the cabinet meeting just held," the Centre-right Prime Minister said on television. The resignations came a day after Sampaio dissolved Parliament and scheduled snap elections for Feb 20. The President said instability in Santana Lopes’s Government threatened to damage Portugal and its institutions. (AGENCIES) |
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S Africa Churches urge referendum on Gay marriage JOHANNESBURG, Dec 12: South Africa’s leading Churches urged President Thabo Mbeki to call a referendum on Gay marriages, saying a recent court ruling in favour of the unions ignored overwhelming public opposition. On Nov 30 the Supreme Court of appeal ruled that the current definition of marriage, excluding Gays and Lesbians, was unconstitutional. Gay activists cheered the decision as another step in attaining equal rights, but several Christian groups denounced it and criticised the court for going against public opinion. The newly formed South African Christian leadership Assembly (SACLA), said in a statement yesterday it believed in reaching out "in love and acceptance of homosexuals" but that their marriages were contrary to scripture. "The decision to legalise same-sex marriage cannot be left to the courts, as all South Africans, both now and in the future, will be affected by this decision," the group said in a statement on behalf of 30 of South Africa’s biggest Churches. "Therefore, before any such legislation is contemplated, a referendum should be held and we call for such. "As a society, we cannot afford to adopt laws that are also in conflict with God’s law as encapsulated in the Bible and in the writings of all major religions." The issue of Gay nuptials has elicited fierce debate in largely Christian South Africa, with polls showing most people are against it. Bishop Lunga Ka Siboto, one of Sacla’s leaders, told the President’s office had responded. It had given no sign that the demand would be met, but had agreed to a meeting at a later date. The President’s office could not be reached for comment. Legal experts expect the constitutional court, the highest in the land, to uphold the Supreme Court decision given past rulings in favour of Gays and Lesbians. It will then be up to Parliament to enact legalisation to allow same-sex marriages. South Africa adopted one of the world’s most Gay-friendly constitutions in 1996, two years after its first democratic elections. Gays and Lesbians have also won a number of legal rounds since then, including the right to adopt children and inherit from a partner’s will. Analysts see marriages for Gay and Lesbians as the next move to granting equal rights enshrined in the constitution. (AGENCIES) |
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Nazi officer acquitted in Italy massacre trial ROME, Dec 12: An Italian military court acquitted former Nazi officer Hermann Langer of a 1944 massacre of some 60 people at a Tuscan monastery, where Jews were hiding during World War Two, the prosecuting attorney said. The ruling, handed down late on Friday, clears perhaps the last surviving member of the Nazi unit behind the killings on Sept 2, 1944. Several children and members of the Church were among the dead. "We’re shocked, because (Langer’s) specific responsibility emerges from the hearings and the documentation," Enrico Cecchetiti, a regional Government official close to the case, told local media. Military prosecutor Marco De Paolis, who is leading Italy’s probe into Nazi war crimes, told he might appeal the case. But de Paolis said he will wait first to read the court’s explanation for the ruling, which is due within 90 days. Langer, 85, was tried in absentia and could not be immediately reached for comment. Italian officials had been looking for him since 1948, when Nazi second Lieutenant Edoardo Florin, on trial for the massacre, identified langer as his superior officer but confused authorities by giving Langer’s job title with his name. "Hermann langer after the war worked as a gardener, which in German, is ‘gartner’. So, for years, they were looking for Herman Langer-Gartner, obviously without any success," De Paolis said. Langer was only found a year and a half ago. According to recent historical studies, allied forces had initially wanted an "Italian nuremberg" after the war, a version of the trials which involved top Nazi officials in 1945-46. But the plans were shelved in 1947, and by the late 1940s only a dozen court martial proceedings were closed. In August, Germany Interior Minister Otto Schily visited Italy to recall one of the country’s most horrific Nazi massacres on Aug 12, 1944 when 560 men, women and children in a Tuscan village were shot dead. Schily called it a "day of shame in Germany’s darkest period". The massacre’s youngest victim, Anna Pardini, was 20 days old. (AGENCIES) |
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Deported Imam may return to Italy, court says ROME, Dec 12: A controversial Senegalese Imam, once branded a national security threat in Italy for his vocal support of Osama bin Laden, will be allowed to return to Italy after being deported a year ago. A regional tribunal in Lazio has ruled that mamour fall was expressing his personal views when he spoke fondly of Bin Laden and predicted attacks, while living in the small Italian northern town of Carmagnola, authorities said yesterday. But Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said in a statement that, although he would respect the court ruling, he did not intend to change "even a comma in my (report) ... About the danger of the so-called Imam of Carmagnola." Fall, who lived in Italy for 11 years before being deported, made several controversial television appearances, including one where he said he had once fought alongside Bin Laden and was linked to the Al-Qaeda leader by a "blood pact". He told in an interview last year that "I know bin Laden. People want me to insult him and I will not do it. He is a great man." He said the two met in Sudan while both were working in the diamond business. Reforms Minister Roberto Calderoli criticised the court ruling, saying: "I want a country and a justice system that has the courage to throw in jail an Imam that instigates violence." "There’s a saying: Tell me who you’re with, and I’ll tell you who you are. And this person says he’s with Bin Laden," Calderoli was quoted by saying by Italian news agency Ansa. Fall told Ansa he had no plans to return to Italy anytime soon, saying: "I’m more useful to my African brothers in Senegal." (AGENCIES) |
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Spain holds Syrian, alleges militant Islamist links MADRID, Dec 12: A Spanish Judge leading the probe into the Madrid train bombings ordered a Syrian man to be held pending trial on suspicion of involvement with a militant Islamist group, court documents showed. The documents said investigations into the attacks which killed 191 people showed Adnan Waki had a close relationship with some of the suspected train bombers who blew themselves up when police cornered them in a suburban apartment weeks after the attack. Judge Juan Del Olmo yesterday ordered the 38-year-old Syrian held for "alleged involvement in a crime of belonging to ... An Islamist terrorist organisation". He has not yet been formally charged. Ahmed Ibrahim Kassem, an Egyptian who was arrested with Waki in the border town of Irun on Wednesday, was freed, a court official said. Del Olmo has formally accused 30 suspects of a role in the morning rush-hour attacks just three days before a march general election. The accused, either in jail or under court supervision, are mostly north Africans who Del Olmo says were waging what they believed to be an Islamic holy war against the west. (AGENCIES) Greek police destroy makeshift bomb in Athens ATHENS, Dec 12: Greek police destroyed a makeshift bomb outside the headquarters of a construction company in southern Athens following an anonymous phone call, police officials said. "An anonymous caller phoned a newspaper giving a 15-minute deadline for the bomb to explode," a police official said. "He did not say who had placed the bomb or why." Bomb squads cordoned off the area around the company building in the Kalamaki neighbourhood and proceeded with a controlled explosion after the deadline passed without any blast. The official yesterday said there were no damages or injuries and the yet unknown explosive device was of minor strength. The construction firm, Olympiaki Techniki, was at the centre of a political storm earlier this year when several then ruling socialist deputies were accused of attempting to pass legislation that would favour the company. (AGENCIES) Cosco Pacific in talks on China port plan: Media HONG KONG, Dec 12: Beijing-backed container leasing and port investor Cosco Pacific 1199.Hk is in talks with China’s Ningbo port about investing in a new container terminal, newspapers reported on Sunday. The port of Ningbo, China’s busiest after Shanghai, said in November it planned a 1.05 billion expansion with three Hong Kong firms to build up to nine container berths. The port, in the wealthy eastern province of Zhejiang, declined to name the partners but said the Hong Kong firms would cover half the investment and the city of Ningbo would stump up the rest. "We are interested in all important ports in China," the south China morning post quoted Wei Jiafu, chief executive of Cosco’s parent firm, China Ocean Shipping Group, as saying on the sidelines of a logistics forum in Shenzhen on Saturday. "It is the Hong Kong-based company, Cosco Pacific, which is involved in the discussions." Trade in China, the world’s seventh-largest economy, is booming as multinationals set up factories to tap cheap labour to produce export goods and as the country gorges on imported resources and finished goods. Ningbo port group already runs port joint ventures with Asia’s richest businessman, Li-Ka-Shing, via his ports-to-telecom conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa 0013.Hk . (AGENCIES) UK police arrest nine in lottery fraud probe LONDON, Dec 12: Police have arrested nine people over an alleged multi-million pound swindle of Britain’s national lottery and children’s charities, Scotland yard and media reports said today. The scam used bogus grant applications to defraud the charities and the big lottery fund, which distributes 600 million pounds a year of national lottery money to good causes, the reports said. "We are investigating allegations relating to lottery grants and we have arrested nine people so far", a Scotland yard spokesman said. The nine were arrested yesterday. (AGENCIES) |
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