■ Hong Kong
Murder suspect wife in court
An American woman appeared in court yesterday on a charge of murdering her investment banker husband and was ordered to stay in custody while police continue their investigation. Nancy Kissel, 39, is accused in the beating death of 40-year-old Rob Kissel, who was a managing director in debt markets in the Hong Kong office of Wall Street investment bank Merrill Lynch. Kissel kept her eyes downcast during her first court appearance and nodded when Magistrate Timothy Jenkins asked if she understood the charge. She did not have to enter a plea. Police found her husband's body on Nov. 6 wrapped in plastic sheets and carpet in an underground storeroom the couple had rented.
■ cambodia
King admonishes police
Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk yesterday sent a handwritten letter to the national police demanding the institution lose its "Fascist" ways. "If our dear National Police wants to be worthy of the people, it should not spurn and suppress peaceful and unarmed demonstrators by using dogs that are trained to kill, electric batons and other inhuman and fascist methods," wrote the monarch. "Our National Police must be `Buddhist' and not `Fascist'." The letter, faxed to news agencies, came just two days after riot police beat approximately 300 garment workers with electric batons when they attempted to march from a Phnom Penh garment factory to the National Assembly.
■ China
Cops that gamble, drink fired
China has fired 259 police officers this year for gambling, drinking on duty, drunk driving and carrying guns off duty, as part of attempts to professionalize the country's force, state media reported yesterday. The sackings follow new rules imposed earlier this year explicitly forbidding such behavior, resulting in investigations of 587 police officers, the Shanghai Daily reported. Fifteen inspection teams are monitoring police behavior nationwide, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
■ Nepal
UN investigation requested
Human rights group Amnesty International has asked Nepal to let UN experts investigate alleged illegal detention, torture and disappearance of people suspected of being Maoist rebels. "Several people who have recently been released have made serious allegations of torture and ill-treatment during their period of detention. Most are held blindfolded all the time," the London-based group said in a statement yesterday. Amnesty said it has asked Nepal to let experts from the UN Human Rights Commission investigate reports that at least 60 people have been illegally arrested or had disappeared since late August, when fighting resumed after the rebels pulled out of peace talks.
■ Malaysia
Newspaper chief sacked
The editor-in-chief of Malaysia's New Straits Times group has lost his job after publishing comments that media executives said had upset the country's ruling party, media sources said yesterday. The sacking of Abdullah Ahmad, following what one source said was a Saudi protest over an article criticizing the kingdom's royal family, is set to cause ripples in the industry because media editors usually rise and fall with the government's nod. The New Straits Times is linked to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's ruling United Malays National Organisation.
■ Singapore
Al-Jazeera wants journalists
The controversial Arabic television station, al-Jazeera, is seeking journalists in Singapore and "anywhere we can find them" for its English-language Web site, a spokesman said in a published interview yesterday. The station has already advertised in The Staits Times, seeking experienced journalists with a good grasp of international and Middle East affairs. The spokesman told the daily newspaper Streats that vacancies have been filled and its English Web site is expanding. The Qatar-based news network has been criticized by the US and Britain for its news coverage that is viewed as inflammatory and biased.
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