The roofs of many houses barely emerge from the flooded streets in Trizidela do Vale, a small town on the banks of the Mearin River, northern Brazil yesterday. Many residents chose to remain in their houses, despite the inconveniences, out of fear of having their belongings stolen in their absence. (AFP)
Father wanted prostitute for son, 14
A man who tried to hire a prostitute to take his 14-year-old son's virginity as a present was spared jail by a court last Friday.
The Polish national took the boy out in his car and allowed him to pick out the prostitute, who was standing at the side of the road in the red-light district of Nottingham.
But the 42-year-old father was arrested because the teenager had chosen an undercover police officer. (Reuters)
13 die in Egypt road crash
Thirteen factory workers were killed yesterday when their small pickup truck crashed head on into a large lorry in southern Egypt, a security official said.
The workers were on their way to their factory in Zaafarana, close to the popular Red Sea resort of Hurghada, when the driver lost control of the steering wheel.
"The 13, including the driver, died instantly. Three people are in hospital in critical condition," the official said. Egypt's roads are among the most chaotic and dangerous in the world, with traffic laws flouted widely. Road accidents kill about 6,000 people each year, according to transport ministry figures. (AFP)
Ghana for Obama's first African trip
Barack Obama will visit Africa for the first time as US President when he travels to Ghana in July, the Ghanaian Foreign Ministry said yesterday.
Obama, the first black leader of the United States and a hugely popular figure in Africa, will visit the former British colony on July 10 and 11. "During his visit, President Obama will hold bilateral talks with his Ghanaian counterpart, President John Evans Atta Mills, aimed at strengthening the fraternal relations existing between the two countries," the ministry said in a statement.
Obama, whose late father was Kenyan, sparked a wave of high expectation throughout Africa when he won elections, though the world's poorest continent has barely featured on his agenda since he took power. (Reuters)
Film captures spirit of Woodstock
Oscar-winning director Ang Lee conjures the optimism of late 1960s America in a touching film based on the true story of Elliot Tiber, who was instrumental in organising the legendary Woodstock concert.
In Taking Woodstock, news footage and the presence in the cast of troubled Vietnam war veteran Billy, played by Emile Hirsch, are reminders of the violent backdrop to the event.
But they barely intrude upon what a feel-good film in which Lee aimed to capture what he called "the last moment of innocence", and a contrast to his most recent films Brokeback Mountain and Lust, Caution, both tragedies. (Reuters)
Poland sells its second shipyard
Poland said yesterday it will sell its state-owned Szczecin shipyard, one of the birthplaces of the Solidarity trade union which helped topple communism, to United International Trust.
The sale is part of a plan agreed with the European Commission to try to save jobs and production in Polish shipyards after the commission ordered them to repay more than €2 billion of illegal state aid.
Treasury Minister Aleksander Grad said United International Trust, which is also buying another shipyard in Gdynia, had promised to keep producing ships at both plants. (Reuters)
Spanish party barred from elections
Spain's Supreme Court decided yesterday to disqualify an extreme-left group thought to be linked to Basque separatists from running in next month's European elections, a spokesman said.
The government and the prosecution service had called for a ban on the list named Internationalist Initiative, saying it was controlled by Batasuna, the banned political wing of the armed separatist group ETA.
Batasuna, banned since 2003 and with most of its leadership in jail, has had alleged proxies barred by the courts from running in the municipal elections of 2007, the legislatives of 2008 and the regional polls earlier this year. (AFP)