■ Cambodia
Old missiles to be destroyed
Cambodia is set to become the first Asian nation to destroy its cache of outdated anti-aircraft missiles after the US embassy announced yesterday it would pay for the weapons to be destroyed. The US has initiated a global drive to secure or eliminate Man Portable Air Defense Systems, or MANPADS, which it fears international terrorists could use to launch devastating attacks on civilian aircraft. "I am pleased to announce today that US government funding has been approved so that Cambodia can implement this initiative and that the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces ... will destroy the entire stock of Cambodian MANPADS," US ambassador to Phnom Penh Charles Ray told a press briefing.
■ Myanmar
UN envoy tries again
UN envoy Razali Ismail met Myanmar's Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt yesterday as he began a fresh mission to spur democratic reforms in the military-run state, witnesses said. Razali held the talks with Khin Nyunt at the junta's reception hall in Yangon after discussions with ethnic parties including their spokesman Khun Tun Oo of the Shan National League for Democracy (NLD). Khun Tun Oo said Razali told the political leaders that he hoped to see detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi twice during his 12th visit expected to run until tomorrow.
■ India
Marriage solves rape charge
An Indian court has acquitted a man charged with raping a mentally-challenged girl after he agreed to marry her, it was reported yesterday. Additional Sessions Judge Bimla Makin said accused Karan Singh had already spent three-and-a-half years in jail during the trial. While the offence could not be pardoned, the accused had repented and wished to rectify his mistake, the judge said. The judge also ordered Singh to pay a fine of 5,000 rupees (US$111), or he would have to stay in jail for another three months, the Times of India newspaper reported. Ramwati alleged that Singh raped her mentally-challenged daughter on July 14, 2000.
■ Bangladesh
Lion takes a stroll
A lioness that escaped from a Bangladeshi zoo took a swim in a lake, wandered through a village and then sat down beneath a tree to savour her new-found freedom, a report said yesterday. The lioness, named Monisha, forced open cage bars weakened by rust at Dhaka Zoo early Monday, creating panic among people living nearby. Zoo staff used tranquilizer darts to recapture her a few hours later after she was spotted sitting by the tree. The English language Daily Star said villagers near the zoo spotted the lioness wandering around and swimming in the lake behind the zoo. She then settled down beneath the tree in a garden.
■ Pakistan
Gunmen fire on pilgrims
At least 17 people were killed and more than a dozen wounded when a religious procession of Shiite Muslim mourners was attacked in the southwestern city of Quetta yesterday, officials said. Police officials said the shooting took place as a procession of hundreds of Shiite Muslims marking the Muharram holiday passed by. Interior Ministry chief secretary Tasneem Noorani said four or five people had died and that 20 to 25 people were wounded. Gunshots continued to ring out in the city nearly an hour after the killings, said a local police official. Security had been stepped up in anticipation of Muharram, a month of mourning when Shiite Muslims recall the seventh-century death of Hussein, grandson of Islam's prophet, Muhammad.
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