■ Thailand
Taxi driver injures tourist
A Chinese tourist was seriously injured when she was attacked, run over and left for dead by a taxi driver in the second violent assault on a foreign cab rider in Bangkok in a month, police said yesterday. Lee Yan-chuan, 39, was taken to hospital after locals found her lying unconscious by a motorway in a suburb of the Thai capital early Monday, said police Colonel Sophon Pongthaisong. She suffered a broken left leg and internal abdominal injuries when she was struck by the vehicle, Sophon said. Lee told police she had taken a taxi from central Bangkok to her sister's home nearby when the driver demanded she hand over her money and personal belongings. A Japanese flight attendant on a private visit to Bangkok was shot twice in the stomach in late November by a taxi driver who was taking her to her hotel.
■ Cambodia
Missiles to be destroyed
Cambodia's prime minister has ordered the destruction of the country's surface-to-air missiles in a bid to prevent them from falling into the hands of terrorists, a statement said. Hun Sen issued the order after a meeting in the capital, Phnom Penh, with US Ambassador Charles Ray "to promote closer cooperation between Cambodia and the US in the fight against their common enemy -- terrorists." The prime minister called for "the destruction of all anti-aircraft weapons, which are the type A-72 surface-to-air missiles, from the depots of Cambodia's Ministry of Defense," said the statement dated Monday. There were 233 of the missiles in the Defense Ministry's arsenal, it said.
■ India
Cyclone kills 11
A cyclone tore into India's southeastern coast yesterday, killing 11 people, officials said. Packing winds of 100kph, the storm triggered heavy rains and flooding, destroying houses in several villages across four coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh state, according to J.V.M. Naidu, head of the regional cyclone center. A cyclone warning was issued on Monday, and authorities said they evacuated nearly 20,000 residents from villages considered vulnerable.
■ Indonesia
Train rolls in to town
A loose parking block caused a runaway and driverless train to roll 45km into the center of the Indonesian capital, a spokesman for the state railway said yesterday. Vibrations from a nearby train and the track's slope shifted the eight-carriage train from its parking spot at the station in the town of Bogor and sent it heading toward Jakarta at about 65km an hour. Gravity finally took its course and the train stopped on an upslope in the Cikini area of Central Jakarta, early on Friday. Staff alerted stations and level crossings along the track to make sure nothing was in the way of the runaway train.
■ Australia
Cannabis grower busted
An Australian who called police to report thieves were trying to break into his home and steal his cannabis plants wound up getting arrested himself. Police called to a house in Adelaide, capital of the state of South Australia just after midnight discovered four men trying to steal the plants, which were being grown in two rooms there. They arrested the men -- and the 23-year-old homeowner, who was later charged with illegally growing 16 cannabis plants. "He was calling from underneath his bed," a police spokesman said. "I don't know what he was thinking. Perhaps he was smoking too much of his own product."
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