■ AustraliaChild allowed sex change
The Family Court has allowed a 13-year-old girl to undergo hormone treatment that will make her a boy -- a controversial decision that has ignited public debate. Tuesday's ruling is the first time an Australian child has been given legal approval to undergo sex-change hormone treatment because of psychiatric issues. The girl, who under Family Court rules can only be known as "Alex," will also receive psychiatric care and have surgery when she becomes an adult at 18. Alex regards herself as being male after being brought up as a boy by her now-dead father and being rejected by her mother. She has already begun hormone treatment to prevent menstruation and feminization of her body.
■ Hong Kong
Mobile phone explodes
A man was injured as the Nokia mobile phone he was using exploded, police said yesterday. Restaurant worker Chan Tin-hon, 21, was chatting on his Nokia 3310 phone in a queue outside a bank machine in the Shatin district when it blew up on Monday afternoon. Chan was treated in hospital for
burns to his hand and face, a police spokesman said. Bank customers ran for cover when the explosion took place. Nokia spokeswoman Emily Hung said there had been similar incidents involving the model in other countries. All of the cases involved mobile phones using sub-standard, non-Nokia batteries, she said.
■ India
Banana juice liberated
Indian scientists say they have unpeeled one of the great mysteries of the soft-drinks world -- how to extract juice from bananas cheaply and simply. The breakthrough could lead to fizzy banana juice sold in cans and bottles, banana nectar and banana wine, they say. Despite an 85-percent water content, scientists have long struggled to extract juice from the bendy fruit because when mashed it simply turns to pulp. Costly and complicated techniques were developed to break down walls storing the moisture using enzymes. The technique extracts about 85 percent of the fruit's juice while the solid leftover, could be made into several confectionery items, the scientists said.
■ Singapore
Priest stole millions
A Singaporean Catholic priest pleaded guilty yesterday to stealing S$5.1 million (US$3 million) of church funds during an eight-year crime spree. Father Joachim Kang reversed his claims of innocence three weeks into his trial after prosecutors dropped 13 of an original 19 charges of criminal breach of trust. The six outstanding charges relate to Kang transferring the money from the Church of St Teresa, where he was parish priest, into his bank accounts and unit trusts between 1994 and 2002. Prosecutors allege Kang, 55, used the money to buy computers for two "god-daughters" and register an S$835,000 apartment with one of them.
■ Kyrgyzstan
President slams officials
President Askar Akayev on Tuesday harshly criticized the former Soviet republic's law enforcement agencies for being rife with corruption and falling down on the job in fighting crime. "Criminal networks spread with impunity into state agencies and try to take power and terrorize the state," Akayev said at a meeting with heads of law enforcement agencies. Akayev said the high crime rate was a "serious destabilizing factor" for the country.
■ SerbiaMilosevic wants Clinton
Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic has filed a list of 1,631 people, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former US president Bill Clinton, whom he wants to testify at his war crimes trial, a lawyer assisting him confirmed Tuesday in Belgrade. The list also includes former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright, attorney Zdenko Tomanovic said. Milosevic wants them summoned to testify in the part of the trial allocated to the defense although they would be "hostile witnesses," Tomanovic said. The document justifying each of the witnesses runs to around 5,000 pages, but it would be up to the judges to allow or reject them.
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