World Briefs

A doll designer conceived and began developing the popular, multi-billion dollar Bratz doll line while working for toy giant Mattel Inc before taking the idea to a relatively new company that went on to build a thriving, competitive business with the dolls, an attorney for Mattel told jurors.

The allegation came during closing arguments in the three-month federal copyright infringement and trade secrets trial pitting Mattel against Los Angeles-based MGA Entertainment Inc, which exploded onto the toy scene in 2001 with the hip hop-inspired dolls marketed to the “tween” generation.

The jury will begin deliberations tomorrow. (PA)

Fireworks explosion

A storage facility containing fireworks exploded in a Honolulu suburb yesterday, killing at least two workers, injuring two others and leaving two more missing, authorities said.

The blast happened in a former military bunker where fireworks and other items were stored, said Peter Savio, who handles the leases for the facility. Explosions continued hours after the initial one, preventing firefighters from entering the bunker to search for the two missing men.

The blast was reported at the Waikele Business Centre on Oahu, badly burning one man and giving another minor injuries. Two other men last seen in the bunker are missing and are not believed to have survived the blast. (PA)

Iceland votes on repaying UK debt

Icelanders are voting on whether to approve a deal to repay Britain and the Netherlands for their citizens’ deposits in the failed online bank Icesave, with the result too close to call.

Polls suggest the ‘no’ side is slightly ahead as polls opened yesterday.

The dispute stems from the collapse of Iceland’s banks – and the tiny island nation’s overheated economy – in 2008.

British and Dutch savers deposited more than €3.4 billionin Icesave’s high-interest accounts. After Icesave collapsed, British and Dutch authorities borrowed money to compensate their citizens, then turned to Iceland for repayment.

A repayment schedule was approved by Iceland’s parliament in January but vetoed by the president amid public opposition.

Results were expected early today. (PA)

Failed suicide bomber says sorry

A Pakistani boy who took part in a suicide mission that killed more than 40 people at a Sufi shrine sought forgiveness in a television interview from his hospital bed.

The boy, who police said is 14, was arrested after his belt of explosives failed to go off in last Sunday’s attack.

He said he had been trained by militants close to the Afghan border, and that his handlers spoke of “more than 350 other boys going through the training”.

Police initially said he was unrepentant, and that he told them he wanted to “send them to hell”. However, in the interview, he said he is “seeking forgiveness” from the families of those killed and wounded. (PA)

Koreas squabble over mountain tours

North Korea is threatening to strip a South Korean conglomerate of its exclusive right to conduct tours to the impoverished country over what it calls the South’s strategy of isolating it through international sanctions.

South Korea suspended tours to the North’s scenic Diamond Mountain resort in 2008 after a South Korean was shot to death there.

Pyongyang has proposed resuming the tours but rebuffed Seoul’scalls for an investigation into the shooting.

An unidentified spokesman for the Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee said in a statement released early yesterday by the Korean Central News Agency that the North had informed South Korea’s Hyundai Group that it “may terminate” the conglomerate’s monopoly right to conduct the tours. (PA)

Thousands rally across Yemen

Hundreds of thousands are rallying across Yemen to protest against the killing of dozens of anti-government demonstrators during a two-month-old uprising.

About 100,000 marched yesterday in the city of Taiz, where four protesters were killed and about 400 injured last Friday.

Protesters blamed the local governor, chief of security and leader of the ruling party for the deaths.

Over 120 people have been killed since protests against president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, began on February 11. (AFP)