■Hong Kong
Boy dies of anthrax
Health officials announced here on Tuesday night the death of a 2-year-old boy from anthrax, but said that the case did not appear to involve biological terrorism. The anthrax appears to have entered the boy orally, first affecting the back of his throat, and does not appear to have been inhaled, said Dr. Tse Lai-yin of the Hong Kong Health Department's disease prevention and control division. Terrorists would be more likely to disperse anthrax in such a way that victims would inhale it, not ingest it, she said.
■ Laos
Journalists arrested
Police in the communist country of Laos have arrested two European journalists and an American citizen in connection with the murder of a Laotian villager, the state news agency said yesterday. Frenchman Vincent Reynaud, Belgian Thierry J.L. Falise, and an American citizen of Laotian origin, Mua Naw Kari, were arrested June 4 in Xieng Khuang province, the official Lao News Agency said in a report monitored in Bangkok. It said the "three foreigners ... cooperated with bandits to kill a village security man of Khai village, Phoukhout district ... when he was on the mission."
■ Australia
Saudis free alcohol trader
An Australian man jailed for two years and sentenced to 600 lashes for trading alcohol in Saudi Arabia has been released early after 10 months in jail, Australian officials said yesterday. A spokeswoman from Australia's foreign office said Robert Laroo, from Queensland state, was arrested and detained last August but convicted in April this year for alcohol trafficking. He did not contest the charges. But after receiving 75 strokes of the cane, he was granted an early release. A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokeswoman said Laroo, 37, was freed on June 7 but did not know the reason for his early release. Saudi daily Arab News reported he had received a royal pardon and was then deported.
■ China
`Swingers' club raided
Police arrested three people after raiding an upmarket wife-swapping club in China, a news report said yesterday. Officers raided the club in an hotel room in Shenyang, and arrested the people they say were the key members, according to the Hong Kong edition of the China Daily. The raid came after a newspaper reporter pretended to be interested in joining the "swingers" club to learn more about their activities and later informed police. Club organizer Wang Hong, who graduated from a prestigious university, said most of the club's members were educated people earning good salaries. They were brought together over the Internet and Wang organized parties at hotels where couples could swap spouses and lovers for sex.
■ China
Detained church leader ill
The leader of the banned South China Church in central China is ailing from being mistreated in prison, a New York-based rights group said yesterday, citing information from his family and friends. Gong Shengliang, head of the underground Protestant church in central China's Hubei province, is passing blood, has lost his hearing and is unable to leave his bed, Human Rights in China said in a statement. It cited an open letter signed by 34 friends and family members of Gong and addressed to organizations such as the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, and the UN Commission on Human Rights.
■Canada
First gay wedding held
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