■ Kyrgyzstan
Exiled president to quit post
The ousted President Askar Akayev has agreed to resign without returning to the country, the parliamentary speaker said yesterday. Omurbek Tekebayev said members of a commission seeking Akayev's formal surrender of power would travel to Moscow today. Members of the commission "have received a verbal agreement" from Akayev, who fled to Russia after his ouster March 24, that he will sign his resignation outside the country, Tekebayev said.
■ Nepal
Eight killed in clashes
Clashes left at least two soldiers and six communist guerrillas dead in Nepal, and suspected rebels bombed half a dozen targets, injuring 20 people ahead of an 11-day nationwide general strike that began yesterday, officials said. Businesses were closed in most areas of the Himalayan kingdom because of the strike, called by the communist rebels to protest King Gyanendra's takeover of the government on Feb. 1 and imposition of a state of emergency. Sporadic fighting across the country on Friday killed at least six rebels and two soldiers, police and army officials said on condition of anonymity. Rebels were blamed for a series of blasts at government buildings and a marketplace that left at least 20 people injured Friday in Nepalgunj, a town with a large guerrilla presence about 500km west of Katmandu.
■ Hong Kong
Pastor jailed for sex assault
A Hong Kong pastor has been jailed for beating and sexually assaulting a mentally retarded 23-year-old woman, a news report said yesterday. Lutheran Church pastor Cheung Wai-chung, 41, ordered the woman to go buy condoms so they could have sex in a church dormitory, then attacked her when she failed to do so, a court heard. He sexually assaulted the woman and beat her with a leather belt in the attack in 2003 which led to him being stripped of his position as pastor, the South China Morning Post reported. At a hearing on Friday, Cheung admitted charges of sexual assault and battery and was jailed for 21 months after magistrate Anthony Kwok said his actions had "destroyed the credibility of pastors."
■ Japan
Origami master dies
Akira Yoshizawa, a master paper folder widely acclaimed as the father of modern origami, died on March 14, his 94th birthday, at a hospital near his home in Ogikubo, a suburb of Tokyo. The cause was complications of pneumonia, said June Sakamoto, a board member of Origami USA, based in New York. Internationally recognized since the 1950s, Yoshizawa was credited with elevating a children's pastime into a serious form of figurative art. He was known both for his innovative folding techniques and for devising a notation system that made origami instructions universally accessible.
■ China
Poultry imports halted
Authorities it will halt poultry imports from North Korea in a move to prevent a deadly outbreak of bird flu from spilling over the border into its provinces. All poultry products from the North were barred from entering China, Xinhua news agency reported, quoting a statement issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine. Any North Korean poultry products seized by Chinese customs officials would be destroyed, it said.
■ Canada
Taxpayers fooled
Canada's top tax collector had the citizens of Ottawa up in arms when he announced a plan to force them to file their taxes electronically if they wanted a refund before Christmas. Revenue Minister John McCallum said on a local CBC radio show he was launching a pilot project in Ottawa called "E-file or Else," with long delays and even a 5 percent surcharge for paper filers. This prompted calls voicing outrage because some people do not have computers and in any case some had already filed their tax returns. Before the early morning program went off the air, McCallum said: "To all the taxpayers of Ottawa, April Fools' Day."
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