■ Afghanistan
Abuse claims investigated
The US military announced yesterday it had launched an investigation into a complaint of detainee abuse in Afghanistan. The US embassy in Kabul said an Afghan police officer, reportedly held by US-led forces in the city of Gardez and the US base at Bagram last year, said he had been stripped naked, photographed, kicked and subjected to "sexual taunting." "To the best of our knowledge this is the first time anyone in the military chain of command or the United States Embassy has heard of this alleged mistreatment," US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said.
■ Nepal
General strike continues
A general strike brought normal life in Nepal to a halt for the second straight day yesterday as political parties pressed King Gyanendra to restore democracy and resolve a prolonged political crisis. Five key political parties had called the 48-hour strike on Tuesday after the monarch ignored weeks of sustained, often violent, street protests and calls for a multi-party government. Streets in the temple-studded capital were deserted as taxis, public and private vehicles stayed off the roads, businesses downed shutters and schools as well as colleges closed.
■ Indonesia
Pedophile kills himself
A former Australian diplomat jailed for 13 years on the holiday island of Bali for lewd conduct with minors has killed himself less than a day after sentencing, a witness who saw the body said yesterday. William Brown had been found guilty of sexually abusing two teenage boys on the Indonesian resort isle. When the Karangasem district court handed down the sentence on Tuesday, Brown had reacted with rage, shouting expletives and shaking his fist at the judge, while spectators clapped and cheered the verdict. "Another convict found Brown's body early in the morning around 6:30am. He hanged himself using a mattress rope tied to a window," said the witness, a photographer who saw the body being moved from the jail to a local hospital.
■ South Korea
Generals in bribe probe
South Korean prosecutors are investigating embezzlement and bribery allegations against three former generals, a news agency reported yesterday. The report came just days after the arrest of a high-ranking South Korean general who works closely with American forces stationed in the South on embezzlement charges. Prosecutors are also looking into allegations that a former lieutenant general of the Korea Marine Corps embezzled about 80 million won (US$67,600) of military funds, Yonhap news agency reported yesterday.
■ Singapore
Conviction for child abuser
A convicted cheat and armed robber pleaded guilty of inflicting more than 140 injuries on a 7-year-old boy who died after seven months of the brutality, a newspaper reported yesterday. Chong Keng Chye, 36, will be sentenced at a later date, said District Judge Kow Keng Siong, who called for a report to see if Chong should be put in preventive detention, The Straits Times said. An autopsy found more than 140 injuries on the child's body, including spinal fractures, bleeding in the brain and wounds that appeared to stem from cigarette burns and cuts. Every day from October 1998 until June 3, 1999, Chong would slap the boy, kick him and hit him with a bamboo pole at the home of his girlfriend, the mother of the boy, the court was told.
■ United States
Grandma jailed over heists
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