■ Hong Kong
Drug syndicate busted
Hong Kong customs agents have made a record seizure of the party drug ketamine and arrested four Singaporeans and three Malaysians. In an operation at the Hong Kong International Airport and other locations in the Chinese enclave, authorities seized 87.5kg of high-grade ketamine with an estimated retail value of US$3.8 million. They said they had "smashed a transnational ketamine syndicate." The statement did not name the suspects but said they will be charged with trafficking dangerous drugs, which carries a maximum term of life in prison. Ketamine is an animal tranquillizer that has become popular among nightclubbers.
■ India
`Couch culture' exposed
One of Bollywood's favorite villains was filmed apparently offering a woman help with her acting career in return for sex. Shakti Kapoor denied any wrongdoing and accused a TV network of framing him. The clip purportedly shows Kapoor in a hotel room telling the undercover reporter: "I want to make love to you ... and if you want to come in this line [of business], you have to do what I am telling [you] to do." Kapoor tells the woman he will put her through acting and dance classes before introducing her to top directors and names three Indian actresses who allegedly had sex in exchange for roles. "So you have to do it just once," he says. In the last two months, the fledgling channel has aired footage of Hindu holy men sexually harassing female devotees and former MPs sleeping with call girls.
■ United States
Pedophile pleads guilty
A 61-year-old man has pleaded guilty to having sex with underage boys in the Philippines and producing child pornography and is expected to be sentenced to 17 years in prison. Edilberto Datan, a retired state real estate auditor from San Diego, acknowledged that he had sex with eight boys, ages 14 and 15. Datan had faced four criminal counts after he was arrested Nov. 4 at Los Angeles Airport while returning from a trip to his native Philippines. Authorities found about 200 sexually explicit digital images of teenage Filipino boys in his luggage. More child pornography was found in a search of his home. Authorities said Datan paid Filipino boys for sex with money, clothing and food.
■ Hong Kong
Hacker transmits to China
The Falun Gong spiritual movement yesterday dismissed accusations that it had hacked into a satellite to beam transmissions into mainland China. Xinhua reported that Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co Ltd (AsiaSat) said Falun Gong interrupted transmissions on Monday on several provincial channels to broadcast information about the group into China, where Falun Gong is banned as an "evil cult."
■ China
Parks halt `gory eating'
Safari parks in China have agreed to stop feeding their lions and tigers large live animals such as horses -- at least in public. The gory eating habits could lead visitors to believe that animals, both hunter and prey, were only human playthings, said the deputy general manager of the Wild Animal World in Chengdu. "The bloody scene could also have implanted violent tendencies in youngsters," he said. But the safari park agreement only restricts the release of large domestic animals, such as oxen and horses, during the presence of visitors. "Feeding when the park is not open is permitted. Parks are allowed to continue to sell small birds for visitors to feed the wild beasts."
■ United Nations
Darfur deathtoll raised
The UN now estimates that about 180,000 people have died in Sudan's western Darfur region as a result of violence, disease or malnutrition since October 2003 -- 2 1/2 times the previous estimate. UN emergency relief officials believe the rate of death has recently decreased because of increased humanitarian aid and improved access to the vast region, but the Sudanese government hasn't given a green light for a new UN mortality survey. Last week, UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland said that far more people died in Darfur than the 70,000 reported since last year. But this week Egeland came up with the 180,000 figure -- about 10,000 deaths a month.
■ Italy
Guerrilla woman sentenced
A woman from ultra-left guerrilla group new Red Brigades was handed a 16 year prison sentence Tuesday by a court for the 2002 killing of a government labor consultant. It was the second conviction this month for Cinzia Banelli, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing another senior government adviser in 1999. The defense asked for a reduced sentence for Banelli due to her collaboration which led to arrests, and for her public denouncement of terrorism. Authorities last year discovered detailed hit lists kept by the new Red Brigades, targeting numerous prominent Italians including Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Banelli told the court last month that she had decided to spill secrets about the group to give her son "a more or less normal life."
■ United Kingdom
Flesh-eater gets life
A convicted killer who told a London court that consuming human flesh was like "eating forbidden fruit" was given a double life sentence for killing two men. Peter Bryan, 35, had told investigators that he felt "comforted and relaxed" when he cut up bodies as part of a voodoo ritual. Bryan killed his friend Brian Cherry, 43, during an outing from a mental health unit. Alerted by neighbors who had heard screams, police found the defendant preparing to eat his victim's brain and body parts, which he had cooked in a frying pan. His second victim was a fellow mental hospital inmate.
■ South Africa
Lion mauls cocky teen
Lions mauled a South African teenager who came too close to their enclosure while trying to impress his girlfriend in the breeding section of a park. Sixteen-year-old Dane Kieser, his girlfriend and his mother were having lunch with the lionkeeper when he ignored advice and went off with his girlfriend to see the lions in the park's breeding section. The boy went into an off-limits area and touched a lion through the mesh fence. The lion quickly sank its teeth into his arm and dragged him under the fence before the curator came, drove the four adult lions in the enclosure away and rescued the teen.
■ United Kingdom
Old man axed to death
A 37-year-old man was charged with murder, accused of hacking a pensioner to death with an axe in a busy London street. Joseph Sheehan, a waiter, was arrested by police who found him standing over the body of 67-year-old Brian Messitt. Witnesses said the attacker appeared calm as he bludgeoned Messitt to death in an affluent north London neighborhood during the morning rush hour. Police said Sheehan did not resist arrest and his weapon -- a 60cm axe -- was recovered at the scene. Police have not suggested a motive.
■ United States
Student sells dope brownies
Police in Florida on Tuesday arrested a student for selling brownies baked with marijuana outside a school cafeteria during lunch time. The student, identified as 18-year-old Andrew Perrault, was selling brownies without authorization for US$5 each. A school official confronted Perrault, a resident of Weston, a town north of Miami. Perrault admitted baking the brownies with marijuana himself. He now faces up to 15 years in prison and a US$10,000 fine if convicted.
■ United States
Pond alligator kills man
A man found dead in a pond was the victim of a nearly 2.7m alligator that was captured and killed, the Florida medical examiner's office said on Tuesday. Officials did not know what Don Owen, 56, a truck driver from Bartow, was doing at the pond about 19km from his home. He had been missing since Wednesday when he was seen at a convenience store. On Saturday his remains were found by several men fishing in Six Pound Pond. An autopsy determined he had been killed by the 2.67m alligator, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said. Trappers caught the alligator on Monday. Owen's forearm was found in its stomach.
■ Colombia
Top woman rebel caught
Colombian police on Tuesday captured a top figure in the urban guerrillas of the leftist rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Luz Mery Lopez was arrested in downtown Bogota by Dijin judiciary police agents, a spokesman said. He said Lopez is an explosives expert and led attacks against the Bogota prosecutor's office in November 2002. Lopez, also known as "Valentina" or "La Negra," is one of the leaders of a FARC urban commando blamed for numerous deadly attacks in the Colombian capital. She is romantically linked to Jose Hurtado, known as "Carlos Huevo," who was arrested last year and then informed on her.
■ Canada
Women pay more: legislator
Most women, accustomed to paying more than men for goods and services like clothes and hair cuts, simply shrug it off as part of life, but an Ontario legislator hopes to end all that. Lorenzo Berardinetti wants to brand so-called gender-based pricing a human-rights violation and he has introduced a bill in the Ontario legislature to make the practice illegal. Berardinetti said on Tuesday he was shocked when he and his wife took clothes to a dry cleaners and she ended up paying more for similar items. Berardinetti said that opened his eyes to an experience women have long learned to deal with, namely higher prices for clothes, shoes, hair cuts and other services.
■ United States
Sex shops make comeback
Sex-related stores have made a comeback in New York City's Times Square 10 years after an anti-smut campaign carried out by city authorities cleaned up the area frequented by tourists, news reports said. Times Square, where most of the Broadway theaters are located, has seen the biggest resurgence, with the number of adult entertain-ment shops increasing from six to 18 in the past 18 months. City officials said the new shops have circumvented zoning laws, which prohibits sex shops in residential areas and near schools, or are willing to pay high rents.
The Burmese junta has said that detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi is “in good health,” a day after her son said he has received little information about the 80-year-old’s condition and fears she could die without him knowing. In an interview in Tokyo earlier this week, Kim Aris said he had not heard from his mother in years and believes she is being held incommunicado in the capital, Naypyidaw. Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was detained after a 2021 military coup that ousted her elected civilian government and sparked a civil war. She is serving a
China yesterday held a low-key memorial ceremony for the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) not attending, despite a diplomatic crisis between Beijing and Tokyo over Taiwan. Beijing has raged at Tokyo since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last month said that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a military response from Japan. China and Japan have long sparred over their painful history. China consistently reminds its people of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, in which it says Japanese troops killed 300,000 people in what was then its capital. A post-World War II Allied tribunal put the death toll
‘NO AMNESTY’: Tens of thousands of people joined the rally against a bill that would slash the former president’s prison term; President Lula has said he would veto the bill Tens of thousands of Brazilians on Sunday demonstrated against a bill that advanced in Congress this week that would reduce the time former president Jair Bolsonaro spends behind bars following his sentence of more than 27 years for attempting a coup. Protests took place in the capital, Brasilia, and in other major cities across the nation, including Sao Paulo, Florianopolis, Salvador and Recife. On Copacabana’s boardwalk in Rio de Janeiro, crowds composed of left-wing voters chanted “No amnesty” and “Out with Hugo Motta,” a reference to the speaker of the lower house, which approved the bill on Wednesday last week. It is
FALLEN: The nine soldiers who were killed while carrying out combat and engineering tasks in Russia were given the title of Hero of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended a welcoming ceremony for an army engineering unit that had returned home after carrying out duties in Russia, North Korean state media KCNA reported on Saturday. In a speech carried by KCNA, Kim praised officers and soldiers of the 528th Regiment of Engineers of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) for “heroic” conduct and “mass heroism” in fulfilling orders issued by the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea during a 120-day overseas deployment. Video footage released by North Korea showed uniformed soldiers disembarking from an aircraft, Kim hugging a soldier seated in a wheelchair, and soldiers and officials
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