A woman suffering from an incurable and disfiguring cancer failed yesterday in her bid to set a legal precedent in France for patients seeking medical help to end their own lives.
A court ruled that Chantal Sebire, 52, could not have a doctor help her die because it would breach both the code of medical ethics and the law.
Although active euthanasia is illegal in France, a 2005 law allows doctors to withhold treatment with a patient's consent in certain circumstances.
Ms Sebire, whose face is painfully bloated and distorted by the rare tumour growing in her sinuses, sought permission for assisted suicide in the hope of establishing a precedent. Ms Sebire's doctors say she would fall into a coma and die if she stopped taking medication to deal with the rare tumour, but she insisted on going to court to try to secure the right to an assisted suicide. Opponents of euthanasia, including the Roman Catholic Church, say the sanctity of life overrides all other factors.
Sailor takes on Pacific
A Japanese sailor has set out from Hawaii for Japan, hoping to complete the 7,000 kilometre journey using only the power of the waves beneath his boat.
The 69-year-old adventurer Kenichi Horie plans to sail on the Suntory Mermaid II which has two wings in front that convert the energy from waves into a movement similar to a dolphin's kicks, making it the world's first boat to be powered by the vertical motion of waves.
"Twenty years ago while sailing, an accident broke my main mast which actually fell in the sea," Mr Horie said before setting sail from Honolulu. "The boat kept rocking and I thought how great it would be to actually harness the power of those waves to push the boat forward."
He plans to reach his destination - at a leisurely pace. The speed of the boat is just faster than a human walking pace.
Defends blacklisted actress
Award-winning Hong Kong actor Tony Leung said Chinese actress Tang Wei should not have been singled out and blacklisted by Beijing, following her sexually explicit role in the acclaimed movie Lust, Caution.
China's State Administration of Radio Film and Television recently demanded local stations cease airing ads starring Ms Tang, which local media have linked to her sexually explicit and politically sensitive role in Lust.
"Our work is only to express our roles and I don't think that an actor should be blacklisted because of this," Mr Leung said after picking up the best actor award at the Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong yesterday night.
Czechs to recruit more spies
The Czech government wants the country's intelligence service to recruit more spies this year because of fears of terrorism and Russia's growing energy muscle, a document showed yesterday.
The centre-right cabinet has been keen to protect the Czech Republic's energy sector from the might of Russia, its main oil and gas supplier, since coming to power in January last year. The interior ministry document proposed boosting spy ranks by 46 new operatives and analysts to counter growing security threats.
The Czechs, as well as their other ex-communist neighbours, are more dependent on Russian energy supplies than western Europe. The cabinet has irked Moscow by talking to Washington about placing a US radar station on Czech soil and interceptor missiles in Poland as part of what Washington says will be a global shield against "rogue" states like Iran or North Korea.
State funeral for WWI veteran
France paid tribute yesterday to the dead of WWI, holding a state funeral for its last surviving veteran of the four-year conflict, who died last week at the age of 110.
President Nicolas Sarkozy joined govern-ment and military leaders at the cere-mony in Paris for Lazare Ponticelli, an Italian immigrant who joined the Foreign Legion aged 16 at the outbreak of the war with Germany in 1914. He later led tributes in a separate ceremony to all of France's 1.3 million war dead at Les Invalides in Paris.
"The solemn homage that the whole nation offers to Lazare Ponticelli today is a homage to all his comrades in combat, most of whom were unknown to him but who all became brothers in pain and suffering," Mr Sarkozy said.
Mr Ponticelli had initially refused former President Jacques Chirac's offer of a state funeral but he relented shortly before he died, saying he would accept a simple ceremony in homage to his comrades who were killed in the war.