■ Singapore
Bribe attempt leads to jail
A woman from China was sentenced to five months' jail and fined 2,000 Singapore dollars for overstaying her visa and trying to bribe a policeman, said a report in The Straits Times newspaper yesterday. On May 27, Liang Zhu Rong, 32, tried to run away from two police officers, but they caught up with her and she threw herself to the ground and begged them to let her go. When they refused, the 32-year-old woman from China took out a wad of cash from her handbag and offered it to Staff Sergeant Benny Quah Kang Hai. He declined and Liang was arrested. She could have been jailed for five years and fined US$100,000.
■ Hong Kong
Harry Potter locked up
Thousands of copies of the new Harry Potter book were under lock and key in Hong Kong yesterday after being delivered to the territory ahead of next Saturday's worldwide launch. Book shops around the territory are preparing for huge queues when Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix goes on sale next Saturday morning with thousands of advance orders already placed. Copies of J.K. Rowling's new blockbuster were delivered under tight security on Friday after being flown into the territory, which has a huge Harry Potter following among its young readers, but were then placed in locked storerooms under a strict embargo put in place by the publisher.
■ Laos
Free reporters, group asks
Reporters Without Borders on Friday called for the immediate release of two European journalists arrested earlier this month in Laos on murder-related charges. The Paris-based journalism watchdog group also called on the Laotian government to allow the journalists to receive visits from French and Belgian diplomats and their relatives. The group, along with friends and colleagues of the journalists, have formed a committee seeking the release of Belgian photojournalist Thierry Falise and French cameraman Vincent Reynaud. In a statement, the committee said it is worried about their physical and mental well-being.
■ Indonesia
Group claims violations
The Indonesian national commission on human rights (Komnas HAM) has strongly defended its previous statement that seven unarmed civilians, including a 13-year-old boy, were shot dead in the war-torn Aceh province, news reports said yesterday. Komnas HAM, the government-funded independent human rights body, also claimed a "number of human rights violations," including extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, torture and sexual harassment since martial law was enforced in Aceh on May 19.
■ Philippines
Christian man beheaded
Authorities are looking into the possible involvement of Muslim Abu Sayyaf rebels in the beheading of a young Christian man who had gone missing in the southern Philippine island of Basilan, the military said yesterday. Ariel Royo, 18, went missing on Friday near the rebel-plagued town of Lantawan and his body was found later in the day. He was decapitated and his head was still missing, Basilan army chief Colonel Bonifacio Ramos said. "We are not discounting the involvement of the Abu Sayyaf here. We are still investigating and we cannot be conclusive on our suspicion," Ramos said.
■ Italy
Berlusconi faces new test
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi faced fresh legal embarrassment on Friday with the launch of a probe over suspected tax fraud in the sprawling business empire of the country's richest man. The new case, involving alleged irregularities in dealings over television and cinema rights for Berlusconi's Mediaset empire in the 1990s, comes as Italy prepares to take over the EU presidency from July 1. Judicial sources said the Milan magistrates in charge of the case had decided to extend their investigations to Berlusconi because he was the owner of Mediaset at the time of the alleged irregularities.
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