Nigeria

Newspaper office burned to protest article

Muslims burned down a newspaper office Wednesday to protest an article suggesting Islam’s prophet might have chosen a wife from among contestants in the Miss World beauty pageant being staged in Nigeria.

The local office of ThisDay in the northern city of Kaduna was destroyed, police and newspaper officials said. No one was in the building, editor Eniola Bello told The Associated Press.

The article, published Saturday, questioned the reasoning of Muslim groups that have condemned the pageant. It is scheduled to be Dec. 8 in the capital, Abuja.

“The Muslims thought it was immoral to bring 92 women to Nigeria and ask them to revel in vanity. What would (the prophet) Muhammad think? In all honesty, he would probably have chosen a wife from among them,” the article’s author, Isioma Daniel, wrote.

On Monday, ThisDay ran a brief front page editor’s note apologizing for “portions that may be considered offensive to … our Muslim brothers,” which it said had been “published in error after being removed by the supervising editor.”

Belgium

EU tries again to ban tobacco ad

The European Union Parliament on Wednesday approved a bill to outlaw cigarette ads in newspapers and magazines, on the Internet and at international sports events in the 15-nation bloc.

The proposed restrictions replace a previous EU ban, struck down last year after a court challenge by the German government, tobacco firms and advertising companies.

EU health and consumer affairs commissioner David Byrne said in Brussels that he expected the new measure to win approval from EU governments, withstand any legal challenges and become law in July 2005. All EU bills need approval from the EU parliament and member nations before becoming law.

“This will help reduce tobacco consumption by removing messages that smoking is cool,” Byrne said.

Canada

Criminal charges filed in tainted-blood scandal

Police filed charges Wednesday in what is considered one of Canada’s worst public health disasters, a tainted blood scandal that infected thousands of people with HIV and Hepatitis C.

The Canadian Red Cross, four doctors and an American pharmaceutical company were all charged after a five-year investigation by a Royal Canadian Mounted Police task force.

About 1,200 people were infected with HIV and thousands more contracted hepatitis C after receiving tainted blood and blood products in the 1970s and 1980s, some allegedly from U.S. prison inmates.

While no figures exist on the number of victims who died, organizations involved say there were many deaths. The Canadian Red Cross began screening donors for HIV in 1985 and for hepatitis C in 1990.