Analysts watching the leadership succession process in secretive and bitterly cold North Korea are pondering a potential new clue – Kim Jong-Un’s furry hat.
The youngest son and heir apparent of leader Kim Jong-Il was seen wearing the same pricey otter fur headgear as his father during a visit to an art studio in Pyongyang reported by state media on January 23.
A clear sign of Jong-Un’s rising status “is that he now wears the top-quality fur hat reserved for Kim Jong-Il”, said a Seoul government official quoted by Chosun Ilbo newspaper on Saturday.
The headgear – designed by a foreign craftsman – is a luxury only allowed the leader, it quoted a defector, also unidentified, as saying. (AFP)
Swine flu deaths
An Australian tourist and a child have died in Russia after suffering from swine flu, local media reported yesterday.
The 61-year old Australian, who was visiting the country on a tourist visa to marry his Russian girlfriend, died in Ufa in the Volga region earlier in January, the reports said.
The man was allegedly contaminated during a flight by his neighbour who had embarked from Hong Kong, popular daily Komsomolskaia pravda reported.
Separately, a Russian boy died on Saturday in northern Kirovsk, a day after being hospitalised, local doctor Liudmila Stepina told Itar-Tass news agency.
“The child was not innoculated against this type of flu,” she added, without revealing his age. (AFP)
‘Sex addict’
A French father-of-two is to take GlaxoSmithKline to court today, alleging the British firm’s drug to treat Parkinson’s disease turned him into a gay sex and gambling addict.
The 51-year-old’s lawyers say their client’s behaviour changed radically after he was first administered the drug in 2003 for the illness, which causes tremors, slows movement and disrupts speech.
Didier Jambart, a married father-of-two who says he has attempted suicide three times, claims he became addicted to internet gambling, losing the family’s savings and stealing to feed his habit. He also became a compulsive gay sex addict and began exposing himself on the internet and cross-dressing. His risky sexual encounters led to him being raped, his lawyers said. The behaviour stopped when he stopped taking the drugs in 2005 but by then he had been demoted in his Ministry of Defence job and was suffering from psychological trauma resulting from his addictions, his lawyers said. (AFP)
Bond composer dies
Oscar-winning composer John Barry, best known for his work on the James Bond films, has died aged 77.
Mr Barry, who grew up in York, wrote scores for films including The Ipcress File, Zulu and Midnight Cowboy but is best known for his long association with 007.
Lyricist Don Black, who co-wrote songs including Born Free and Diamonds Are Forever with Mr Barry, said success never changed him and hailed him as “a wonderful talent”.
Sir Tim Rice, who collaborated with Mr Barry on the theme to the 1983 Bond film Octopussy, said he was “a magnificent figure”. (PA)
‘Top Gun’ scene!
China’s state broadcaster is facing questions after internet users spotted that footage in a report on air force manoeuvres in a national newscast was taken from the 1980s Hollywood film Top Gun.
China Central Television, or CCTV, aired the footage in a January 23 report on a People’s Liberation Army Air Force training exercise, showing a plane firing a missile at another.
The second aircraft plane was destroyed in a fiery explosion, and the dramatic footage was shown in between interviews with air force officers.
However, some internet users recognised the explosion from the dogfight in the final scene of the 1986 film Top Gun starring Tom Cruise. (AFP)