■ Indonesia
Graft accusations fly
Indonesian prosecutors have accused an entire district council and a former mayor of corruption for allegedly marking up their allowances, reports said yesterday. Suraini Dahlan, chief prosecutor at Cirebon in West Java, was quoted by Kompas newspaper as saying that 30 people had been declared suspects in the case, which dates back to 2001. They include then-Cirebon mayor Lasman Suriaatmadja and the current deputy mayor, who was a councilor in 2001.
■ Indonesia
Swedes interview rebels
A team of Swedish prosecutors arrived yesterday in Indonesia's Aceh to interview detained separatist rebels about possible links between exiled rebel leaders and violence in the province. The six-strong team from the Stockholm prosecutor's office was accompanied by Indonesian officials. The team will stay in Aceh until tomorrow and interview 13 Free Aceh Movement (GAM) members held by police in Banda Aceh and at Meulaboh in West Aceh, a police source told AFP. The Free Aceh Movement was founded in 1976 by Hasan Tiro, who lives in exile in Sweden with other top GAM officials. Most of them, including Tiro, have Swedish citizenship. Indonesia has pressed Sweden to curb their activities.
■ China
Chemicals foul Yangtze
Some 80 tonnes of the poisonous and flammable chemical cyclohexanone has leaked into the waters of the Yangtze river near Nanjing after a collision between two tankers, state media reported yesterday. The accident occurred on Sunday when the chemical tanker Changrun, loaded with cyclohexanone, collided with the Chicheng during docking maneuvers, Xinhua news agency said. Nobody was injured in the accident. An official from the Maritime Supervision Administration of Nanjing said the contamination of the city's water supply was limited and clean-up of the deadly liquid was near completion. "Since cyclohexanone does not really dissolve in water we can collect it in this way," the report quoted the unnamed official as saying.
■ Singapore
Couples in cable car contest
Thirty-six couples began a stomach-churning competition this week to live for seven days in cable cars dangling above Singapore, vying for a US$30,000 prize. By day two on Wednesday, 10 had dropped out, several after vomiting, which is banned in the "Survive the Sky" high-wire contest. As the cars move between Singapore and nearby Sentosa island, each couple must stay inside cabins equipped only with benches and a basic intercom system, except for one 10-minute break a day when they can step out at cable car stations. They are allowed no more than three meals and three liters of water daily. Each car holds two couples.
■ Australia
Koala bear goes to town
An indecisive koala caused traffic havoc yesterday as it weaved its way across the main intersection of a southeast country town in search of the perfect gum leaf. Motorists reported high levels of tension as the normally shy critter wandered from one side of the road to the other with scant regard for road safety or traffic signals. Police in Churchill in the state of Victoria said they spent the better part of the morning trying to catch the wayward koala as it tested the quality of the leaves on roadside eucalyptus trees.
■ United States
Popcorn leads to damages
A US jury has awarded US$20 million in damages to a man who suffered irreversible lung damage from workplace exposure to chemicals used in popcorn flavoring, lawyers said. The jury handed down the judgment on Monday following a two-week trial during which jurors heard how Eric Peoples developed a rare lung condition following a stint as an employee at a microwave popcorn factory in Missouri. The 32-year-old has been diagnosed with bronchiolitis obliterans, a rare and incurable lung disease. He requires oxygen to breathe and will need a double lung transplant within 10 years, according to his doctors.
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