■ Singapore
German `dope' jailed
A German teenager caught smoking in the toilet of an airliner has ended up in jail after police found him with marijuana, a report said yesterday. Ray Sebastian Nantwi Lutzenkirchen, 19, was sentenced to six months in jail by a court on Friday, the Straits Times reported. He was on a Gulf Air flight from Bahrain earlier this month when a stewardess smelled cigarette smoke as he came out of the toilet. The teen was arrested when the plane landed in Singapore. A search revealed that he was carrying 1.53g of cannabis.
■ New Zealand
Telephone robber nabbed
A man who robbed an Auckland bank was so disappointed with his haul he tried again -- this time by phone, police said yesterday. "He's rung [the bank] and said `I'm the guy who robbed you the other day and I want the manager to put some money in a bag and go and stand in the street," a police spokesman said. "[He said] `I'll drive by slowly and take the bag from you and drive off.'" The man did not appear, but called again to arrange a second rendezvous. Police traced the calls and arrested a man yesterday.
■ North Korea
US envoy denounced
Pyongyang has denounced a recent attack on its regime by the US ambassador to South Korea as "declaration of a war" and vowed retaliation. Alexander Vershbow called North Korea a "criminal regime," citing illicit activities it is allegedly involved in. Vershbow's comments are "a sort of provocative declaration of a war ... and [North Korea] will mercilessly retaliate against it," an unidentified North Korean spokesman said.
■ Afghanistan
Police killed in raids
Nine policemen were killed in two separate attacks by Taliban guerrillas, police said yesterday. The incidents happened in the southern province of Helmand on Friday night. They said five guerrillas also died in one of the attacks. Seven policemen were killed in Hazar Joft district after dozens of insurgents raided and burned the district and police headquarters and the other two died in a raid in Baghran district, they said. Helmand was a key Taliban bastion until US-led forces overthrew their government in 2001.
■ China
River ice causes alarm
A cold front has caused a 210km stretch of the Yellow River to become clogged with ice, forcing authorities to sound a flood alert, state media said yesterday. The ice jam is concentrated in the Ningxia Hui region in the northwest of the country, the Xinhua news agency reported. In response, the Ningxia Flood Control Headquarters has ordered cities along the river to do what they can to remove ice and other obstacles. If that fails, the cities are to make necessary preparations to fight the floods that may result, the agency said.
■ New Zealand
Council lacks festive spirit
A Salvation Army brass band playing Christmas carols was silenced in Wellington's main shopping street because a city council official deemed it was making excessive noise, a newspaper reported yesterday. The six-piece band's playing was said to be "offensively loud," the Dominion Post reported. A spokesman for the council said it had acted following a formal complaint. "We're there to give people a message of Christmas," band member John Millar told the newspaper, dubbing the council's call mean-spirited. "We feel it's nice music and it isn't too noisy, especially compared to other buskers and bands," he said.
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