■ IndiaBlonde-crazy Bollywood
Indian film directors are recruiting young, fair and blonde leading ladies from abroad to reach out to a larger international market, it was reported yesterday. A slew of new Bollywood films feature little-known actresses from Britain, South Africa and the US, the Telegraph reported. Flashy Bollywood director Subhash Ghai held lengthy auditions in London to find the female lead for his film Kisna. His latest discovery
is British actress Antonia Bernath. "My story needed Antonia," Ghai said, adding that she was busy practicing the dance steps required in every Bollywood film.
■ China
Life in jail for porn barons
Chinese makers and distributors of pornographic materials sent through the Internet, mobile phones and other communication devices will face penalties as severe as life imprisonment under new rules that took effect yesterday. The crackdown is part of a renewed campaign for greater control over the Internet by authorities, who have closed thousands of Internet cafes, stepped up surveillance and fortified filters aimed at shutting out such material. The tougher punishments also apply to phone-sex services, it said. Cases involving pornographic Web sites that have been clicked on more than 250,000 times will be considered "very severe," with convictions resulting in life sentences, Xinhua said.
■ China
Flooding kills 76
Torrential floods in southwest China have claimed at least 76 lives, prompting beleaguered officials to seek help from the military in rescuing hundreds trapped by mudslides and caved-in roads, state media reported. Days of heavy rain in Sichuan province and the municipality of Chongqing have swamped entire villages and ruined huge swathes of farmland, Xinhua said. The downpours, which began on Thursday, were forecast to last through today, the agency said.
■ Singapore
Bullies targeted by SMS
Singapore's latest behavior modification campaign is taking on schoolchildren
as the city-state tackles bullying through mobile-phone text messaging, local media reported yesterday. The campaign is organized by the independent, nonprofit Singapore Children's Society. The Straits Times said "Bully Free Week" starting Sept. 13 will be counting on "SMS-keen teens" to spread the anti-bullying message by mobile phone. Students will be encouraged to send the common "Be cool, be bully-free" message to their friends, the paper said. In Singapore, "taunting and name-calling are the most-often cited forms of bullying," the paper said, quoting the society.
■ North Korea
Power plants on hold
The international consortium overseeing a frozen plan to build two nuclear power plants in North Korea have agreed to extend the suspension by another year, according to reports yesterday. The decision by Japan, South Korea and the US to extend the freeze is aimed at making Pyongyang completely abandon its nuclear development programs, the Yomiuri Shimbun said. The project had been promoted by the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO), an international consortium set up in 1995. Board members consist of Japan, the EU, South Korea and the US. KEDO's board is expected to formally adopt the agreement at a meeting scheduled for Oct. 13 in New York, the paper said.
■ United KingdomCigarettes worse than cars
Cigarette smoke produces 10 times more air pollution than diesel car fumes, according to research by British scientists. The study in the magazine Tobacco Control, published by the British Medical Journal, also showed that air pollution levels from cigarettes in a confined space were 15 times more than those recorded outside. The experiment was carried out in a garage in the town of Chiavenna, northern Italy, which enjoys low levels of outdoor particulate matter (PM). PM is the most dangerous element of air pollution and comes from various sources including cigarettes and car exhausts.
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