■ NEW ZEALAND
Kids lead cops on car chase
Three children led police on a high-speed 390km chase in a stolen car in North Island, news reports said yesterday. For more than eight hours, the 14-year-old male driver evaded police in a pursuit that at times hit 140kph and ended with crash into a road block in Hastings on Thursday. The driver, another 14-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl, all three in state custody, stole the car in Hamilton. Police said they would face a variety of charges in juvenile court.
■ SOUTH KOREA
Holy finger on public display
A 2,500-year-old fragment of bone believed to be one of Buddha's fingers went on public display in Seoul yesterday after arriving from China, officials said. The bone was sent to an indoor stadium in southern Seoul for a temporary exhibit after a ceremony at Jogye Temple, said a temple official. "I think this event will greatly help solidify friendship and religious faith between Korean and Chinese Buddhism," said the Venerable Jigwan, head of the Jogye Order, according to Yonhap news agency. About 1,000 people attended the ceremony, officials said.
■ AFGHANISTAN
Cargo plane crashes
A civilian cargo plane with 10 people on board crashed near Kabul yesterday, causing an unknown number of injuries, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said. It was not clear if there were any fatalities. "There are injuries, the extent to which we don't know," said the NATO-led force's spokeswoman, Squadron Leader Annie Gibson-Sexton, adding that it was not one of ISAF's planes. The US-led coalition also confirmed that none of its aircraft was involved. Afghan police said the plane was totally destroyed.
■ SINGAPORE
Youths shown lenience
Four teenagers who had sex with a 12-year-old girl in a toilet cubicle may be spared jail terms after the judge noted their ages and previously spotless criminal records, news reports said yesterday. District Judge Wong Choon Ning called for a probation report for the three footballers and another youth. She will announce her ruling on Dec. 1. Footballers Syed Shafreen Syed Kasim, 17; his brother Syed Hashreen, 19; Muhammad Taufiq Mansor, 18; and Muhammad Noor Kamurudiin, 18, still face possible five-year jail terms after admitting they had sex with the girl on Sept. 26 last year.
■ CHINA
Corruption-fighter sentenced
A Communist Party official once revered for fighting corruption has been sentenced to life in prison on bribery and embezzlement charges, a court official and state media said yesterday. Supporters of Huang Jingao, a career bureaucrat who gained national notoriety for publicizing his graft-busting efforts in an open letter to the party newspaper People's Daily, contended that the charges against him were trumped up by officials fearing exposure. The Intermediate People's Court in Nanping sentenced Huang to life after convicting him of taking about 5.8 million yuan (US$717,000) in bribes, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
■ THAILAND
Few interested in offer
The kingdom's offer to provide free accommodation and airplane tickets to relatives of victims from the Dec. 26 tsunami to attend commemorative ceremonies next month has been accepted by only 400 people, Bangkok media reports said yesterday. The Foreign Ministry's Web site, on which the invitation has been posted for the past few months, has received about 6,500 hits from abroad, the Bangkok Post reported.
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