World News Quick Take

PHOTO: REUTERS

■ The Netherlands
Somewhere, it's legal
The Netherlands became the first country to legalize the medical use of cannabis on Monday, allowing doctors to prescribe the narcotic as a painkiller for those who are seriously ill. In a move that is certain to put pressure on other countries to follow suit, chemists began selling the drug for a price of between 40 euros and 50 euros for a 5g bag. Although that is approximately twice the cost of buying the drug in one of the country's 1,500 coffee shops, the government claimed that there was a huge difference in quality.

■ Iran
Killed Canadian case slows
Tehran's prosecution office on Monday rejected charges laid last month against two Intelligence Ministry agents over the murder of Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, according to a statement released by the office. The statement said Tehran's deputy prosecutor general, Jafar Reshadati, returned the indictments issued Aug. 25 against the agents and called for "further investigations" into the charges. An independent judge charged the agents with complicity in Kazemi's "semi-premeditated murder." She died July 10 after sustaining head injuries while in custody.

■ Argentina
Probe of military to resume
Argentine judges reopened old human rights cases against about 80 former military officers on Monday, the latest challenge to amnesty laws that have shielded them from past prosecution. The renewed probes came on the same day a judge ordered a group of officials -- including ex-naval Captain Alfredo Astiz, known as the "blond angel of death" -- freed from jail after a failed attempt to extradite them to Spain. A court official said one of the probes would cover crimes committed at the Navy Mechanics' School in Buenos Aires.

■ Cyberspace
Star beats cyber-squatter
James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan has won a legal battle to claim the Internet Web site bearing his name, international arbitrators ruled on Monday. The Irish star brought the case against a company which was a front for the now infamous cyber-squatter Jeff Burgar, who redirected piercebrosnan.com to a commercial Web site. Burgar has lost similar cases against singer Celine Dion, rock group Pearl Jam and former Baywatch beauty Pamela Anderson. The UN copyright agency has dealt with 91 cases involving famous people and has ruled in favor of the celebrity on 77 occasions.

■ Brazil
Women top vanity league
Brazilian women care more about looks than any other women in the world, with half prepared to undergo plastic surgery to keep their looks. In Brazil, 86 percent of women said they tried extremely hard to improve their looks compared with an average of 67 percent worldwide, according to a global women's survey by cosmetics company Avon.

■ China
Prostitute causes pile-up
A driver who caused a three-car pile-up when he pulled over on a busy main road in southern China has blamed the accident on a prostitute who flagged him down. The driver says he pulled over when he saw a young woman with an "anxious expression" on her face waving at him as he drove through Shenzhen, Guangdong province, and thought she was in need of help. When he asked her what the matter was, she smiled and asked him, "Want some company?" Before he could react, one car drove into the back of him and another car then collided with the rear of that. The driver had to pay 3,000 yuan (US$360) in compensation to the two drivers. The prostitute fled the scene.

■ Australia
Kangaroos grace passports
Kangaroos are hopping onto the pages of passports to help stop identity fraud. The Department of Foreign Affairs said yesterday that all new Australian passports issued from December will include a hologram of a kangaroo to make the data page tamperproof. The changes are part of the department's campaign to stop passports being used in identity fraud -- which costs Australia an estimated A$4 billion (US$2.5 billion) a year -- and to prevent criminals or terrorists from sneaking into the country. A special laminate and a hologram of a kangaroo will cover the page containing the passport holder's photo and personal information.

■ Afghanistan
Taliban troops besieged
Afghan and US troops overran three suspected Taliban positions in the mountains of southern Afghanistan Tuesday, while American bombing echoed through the rugged region, where hundreds of Taliban holdouts have been offering a week of fierce resistance. General Haji Saifullah Khan, the main Afghan commander in the battle area in Zabul province's Dai Chupan district, said US warplanes and helicopter gunships kept up their barrage until shortly before dawn yesterday. Khan said the Taliban had been pushed back from three hideouts yesterday but were continuing to hunker down, using the rough terrain as their shield.

■ Thailand
Terror suspects charged
Five alleged members of the Southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiyah who were accused of plotting to bomb foreign embassies in Bangkok were charged Tuesday with conspiring to harm national security. They could be imprisoned for 10 years if convicted. The four Thais and one Singaporean, however, were not charged under a new anti-terrorism law that carries the death penalty because of insufficient evidence. The Thais were arrested in the Muslim-dominated southern province of Narathiwat in June.

■ Japan
Disabled climber tries Fuji
An American mountaineer who lost the use of his legs in a car accident seven years ago resumed his slow but steady ascent of Mount Fuji on Tuesday, after a nearly disastrous first day on Japan's highest mountain. Keegan Reilly, using a custom-made device resembling a three-wheeled mountain bike, began pulling himself up the slopes of the 3,776m peak early Monday. The 22-year-old soon ran into problems -- a safety ranger on the trail stopped him and the eight members of his support team. After an eight-hour delay, however, Reilly and his supporters convinced the ranger to relent and let them continue the climb.