■ China
Rats ravage crops
Rising waters in central Dongting Lake, one of the nation's largest freshwater bodies, are forcing millions of rats into surrounding farmlands where the rodents are ravaging crops. The plague of rats has gotten so bad that officials are paying 0.2 yuan (US$0.02) per rat tail collected, with one farmer bringing in more than 1,000 tails in a two-day period. According to one township, between 400 to 700 rats were found in each hectare of farmland, while in some places the number exceeded 1,200.
■ Thailand
Phuket to sponsor gayfest
Phuket has agreed to host the Nation Party, Asia's largest annual gay festival, in November after organizers were refused a license to stage the event in Singapore. "They have the right to hold it here as long as they don't break any laws or engage in immoral practices," Phuket Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura said. As a way to get the island resort back in business in the wake of the Dec. 26 tsunami, they are welcoming the gay festival, set for Nov. 4 to 6. Last year's Nation Party generated US$6 million in revenues.
■ South Korea
More defectors from North
A North Korean civilian couple crossed into South Korea and tried to defect. The couple, identified by the husband's surname "Choi," was spotted sailing in a boat near the border between the two Koreas in the Yellow Sea on Friday. Choi was determined to leave the communist state since his mother and younger brother were executed in 2004 for experiments on human bodies. A 20-year-old North Korean soldier was also found hiding in a truck parked in a public park near the Demilitarized Zone on Friday.
■ China
Obesity a growing problem
At least 200 million people will suffer from obesity within 10 years if current trends spurred by unhealthy lifestyles continue, state press said yesterday. Currently there are 90 million obese citizens whose weight is more than 20 percent in excess of their accepted level, said the Information Times, citing medical experts. Ten percent of children were obese with the number increasing by 8 percent annually, Chen Chaogang, a leading doctor at the hospital attached in Zhongshan University, Guangdong Province, told the paper. High fat fast-food diets and round-the-clock snacking were to blame, it said, adding Chinese had happily adopted more sedentary lifestyles centred around the TV, computer and automobile. Genetic factors were responsible for 16 percent of the obese, the paper said.
■ China
Attack suspects detained
Police have detained 22 suspects in an attack on a shantytown in the village of Shengyou, Hebei Province, that killed six people and wounded scores in a dispute over land, the government said yesterday. Villagers who were occupying the site of a planned power plant in a dispute over compensation for their land were attacked by as many as 300 men armed with guns, clubs and knives last weekend. Police believe the attack was plotted by the project's contractor and her husband, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Yesterday's announcement didn't identify those detained or say whether the contractor and her husband were among them.
■ India
Forgetful groom murdered
A man who forgot to invite some of his relatives to his wedding was bludgeoned to death by them in Mumbai, police said on Friday. Sakharam Bapu, 28, was sleeping in his house when he was thrashed with iron rods by the seven relatives who had gagged his wife, police told the Press Trust of India news agency. Police said the men had apparently barged into Babu's wedding feast about two months ago and had threatened to take "revenge" for not being invited. A search has been launched for the assailants.
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