■ Bangladesh
Ferry collision kills 12
Two ferries collided in southern Bangladesh yesterday, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens, an eyewitness said. Police have confirmed the accident in the remote area but could not immediately say if there were any casualties. The two ferries ran into each other on the Meghna river near Barisal, 112km from the capital Dhaka, police and a TV network reported. Bangladesh is crisscrossed by more than 230 rivers and ferries are one of the main modes of transport.
■ Australia
Contract killings come cheap
Want someone killed in Australia? The average price for a "hit" is US$12,700, but you can get it as cheap as US$380. A study of contract killings in Australia has found most are not ordered by criminals, but by angry spouses and jilted lovers. The Australian Institute of Criminology and South Australia's major crime investigation branch studied 163 attempted and actual killings between 1989 and 2002. "The most common motive or reason for hiring the services of a hit man was in relation to the dissolution of an intimate relationship," Toni Makkai, acting director of the Australian Institute of Criminology, said in a statement on Wednesday.
■ Vietnam
Agent Orange victims sue US
For the first time, Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange have filed a suit against the US companies that produced the toxic defoliant used by American forces during the Vietnam War. The lawsuit, filed by the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange on behalf of three people, was submitted to the US Federal Court in Brooklyn, New York, on Jan. 30, said the group's vice president Nguyen Trong Nhan. Nhan said 10 companies are named in the suit, though he declined to specify them by name.
■ Singapore
Teacher jailed for sex
A teacher was jailed for seven years for having sex with a 14-year-old student whom he wooed with flowers and jewelry. The 27-year-old man was solemn as Singapore District Judge Jasvender Kaur said on Wednesday that he had disgraced the teaching profession, The Straits Times reported. During the time he was romancing the student, he married his steady girlfriend, also a teacher, and enjoyed a fling with a woman he met over the Internet. When he appeared in court five days earlier, the secondary school mathematics teacher admitted to having sex with the student 18 times from May 2002 to July last year. The affair came to light after her father read a message on her mobile phone.
■ China
Attack victim wants action
He Jinsheng says he was just trying to help. Trouble is, he says, no one returned the favor. The deliveryman pointed out a man who had just stolen a fellow bus passenger's wallet, the newspaper Shanghai Daily reported yesterday. But after the wallet was returned and the victim had left, the pickpocket and two accomplices attacked the deliveryman while bus staff and other passengers stood by. Now He is suing the bus company, saying the bus driver and ticket taker should have at least tried to intervene. The case hints at citizens' growing impatience with rising crime and the lack of an effective response from authorities -- and other citizens eager to avoid entanglements with criminals seeking revenge.
■ United Nations
Funds sought for Liberia
The UN and the US are asking rich nations for nearly US$500 million to put Liberia firmly on the road to peace after nearly two decades of civil war. A two-day donors conference to address Liberia's reconstruction needs opened yesterday with technical discussions. But today's pledging session will be attended by US Secretary of State Colin Powell, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin and other high-level representatives. "I think the international community has an obligation to help Liberia pick itself up," UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Wednesday.
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