■ Thailand
Lawyer killed by officials
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said yesterday a missing Muslim human rights lawyer had been killed by government officials. Thaksin said at least four officials were involved in the murder of Somchai Neelapaijit, who went missing in Bangkok in March 2004. He said Thailand's Department of Special Investigations was working on the case and that murder charges were being considered. Thaksin's comments, the first time he has publicly accepted Somchai was murdered, come one day after a police officer was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison over the lawyer's disappearance.
■ Saudi Arabia
Chinese die in stampede
Four Chinese citizens were among at least 345 Muslims who were trampled to death in a stampede during the annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, the Chinese foreign ministry said yesterday. They were among those killed as pilgrims tripped over luggage in a scramble to hurl pebbles at symbols of Satan in Mina, east of the holy city of Mecca.
■ Hong Kong
Colonial house re-occupied
Hong Kong's Government House, home of the territory's British governors and symbol of its colonial past, had its first tenants yesterday after standing empty for nearly nine years. Chief executive Donald Tsang (曾蔭權) and his wife Selina took up residence on Thursday after the mansion had a US$1.8 million refurbishment. The grand home has been empty since July 1997 when the last British governor Chris Patten moved out as Hong Kong reverted to Chinese sovereignty.
■ Indonesia
"`Playboy' plan sparks anger
Indonesian Muslims reacted angrily yesterday to a purported plan by Playboy to launch a local version of its magazine in the world's most populous Muslim nation. Playboy representatives in the US were not available for comment, but Indonesian businessman Avianto Nugroho claimed he had secured the license to publish the magazine. He said it would be launched in March and -- like a toned down version of the racy magazine the company plans to launch soon in India -- it would not contain nude photos. The company already publishes local editions in 17 other countries. Nugroho said Indonesian Muslims "did not need to worry" about the magazine because of its more conservative content. But hardline Muslim group Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia said it would protest if the magazine hit the shelves.
"Different or not, Playboy is Playboy. It is a porn magazine," group chairman Irfan Awas said. "Those are the words of the businessmen. The magazine will damage the morality of the nation"
■ Australia
Muslim-hater chases tourists
A man vowing to kill Muslims allegedly chased three British tourists through a rain forest in eastern Australia before slashing their car's tires, according to a newspaper report yesterday. A prosecutor at the Southport Magistrates Court in Queensland state on Thursday alleged that Shane Robert Stephens, 41, chased the three men and tried to force their car off the road after earlier telling two Australian tourists he was going to kill some Muslims, the Australian reported. The paper said prosecutor Peta Eyschen alleged the men, brothers Jason and Hiten Dholakia and their friend Amit Rana, hid in a rain forest area in fear of their lives, after being chased along a mountain road by Stephens.
■ Antarctica
Stranded crew reached
Rescuers in two helicopters yesterday reached three Australian air crew who have been stranded for a week with their damaged plane in Antarctica, authorities said. Two male pilots and a female crew member have been stuck in temperatures as low as -25?C above an ice shelf more than 600km southwest of Australia's Davis Station since Jan. 5, the government's Australian Antarctic Division said in a statement. The crew were retrieving a US weather balloon near the Amery Ice Shelf when they damaged the landing skis of their twin-propeller CASA 212-400 aircraft. The Squirrel helicopters carrying two engineers arrived at the site yesterday after the low clouds that had made flying treacherous cleared, the statement said.
■ Sweden
Female dummies wanted
The first uniquely female dummy for use in car safety tests is being developed in Sweden, researchers said on Wednesday. All current crash test dummies are based on how men's bodies react in collisions and other accidents. Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg and the National Road and Transport Research Institute are researching how a female body moves as a first step in building the dummy. "For neck injuries from rear-end collisions, whiplash, the risk for women is twice as high as for men," the road institute said in a statement.
■ Israel
Minister protects trees
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz had ordered the Israeli army and police to remove three unauthorized settler outposts near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, whose occupants have uprooted hundreds of Palestinian-owned olive trees in the area, Israel Radio reported yesterday. The three outposts have been set up by radical youths near the Jewish settlements of Elon Moreh, Yitzhar and Beracha. Mofaz late last month for the first time ordered an investigation into the uprooting of trees by settlers, which he called "a scandal" and "unacceptable". Earlier this month, he ordered the establishment of a special force of army, police and Shin Bet internal security organization officers to stop the uprooting.
■ Italy
Youth gripped by wrestling
Forget soccer icons Alessandro Del Piero and Francesco Totti. Italian boys have new heroes: beefy, loud American wrestlers like Rey Mysterio and Undertaker. The high octane, over-the-top world of televised wrestling has taken the homeland of ancient gladiators by storm, thrilling young boys eager to copy their heroes and raising fears of school violence among some parents and psychologists. National soccer coach Marcello Lippi recently complained that home-grown talent risked drying up because children no longer played soccer in the streets as they were hooked on wrestling. In November, the muscle-bound heroes of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc's television shows toured Italy. The appearances sold out in a few days.
■ Ghana
`Snow leopard' hits slopes
The Winter Olympics have produced some unlikely competitors over the years. There was hapless British ski jumper Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards; the Jamaican bobsledders who inspired the movie Cool Runnings; and Kenyan and Cameroonian cross-country skiers. Get ready for the possibility of another novelty act in Turin next month -- a 31-year-old African skier known as the "Snow Leopard." Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong is hoping to become the first Ghanaian to compete at the Winter Olympics. Nkrumah-Acheampong discovered snow for the first time while working as a receptionist at an indoor snow slope in England where he learned to ski. Now he's hoping to race in the Olympic giant slalom against the likes of Bode Miller and Hermann Maier. Nkrumah-Acheampong has received letters and e-mails from fans in Ghana and the rest of Africa. ``Lots of people have heard about it, so it's not only a `me' thing or a Ghanaian thing but it's become an African thing,'' he said.
■ United States
Starbucks loses name suit
In a rare setback for the firm that made "Frappuccino" a household word, a federal judge ruled that a small New Hampshire coffee roaster can keep selling its "Charbucks" brand coffee beans, following a nearly decade-long legal battle with Starbucks Corp. Judge Laura Swain of the New York federal court ruled last month that consumers were unlikely to be confused between Starbucks and the "Charbucks" and "Mister Charbucks" coffee blends sold by Black Bear Micro Roastery of Center Tuftonboro, New Hampshire. Swain also ruled that Starbucks had failed to prove the "Charbucks" products had tarnished its image.
■ United States
Pregnant actress sues ABC
Kari Wuhrer, an actress who formerly appeared on the soap opera General Hospital, sued ABC Productions and American Broadcasting Companies on Thursday, saying that the show's producers killed off her character and dismissed her last August because she was pregnant. In documents filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Wuhrer, who started on the soap last January, says that she was told by a producer that the writers had refused to accommodate her pregnancy and that she was dismissed because of it. She also asserts that her case reflects a systemic anti-pregnancy attitude on ABC soap operas.
■ United States
Kilt-wearer wins apology
A Missouri high school student who was barred from a school dance because he was wearing a Scottish kilt has received an apology from school officials after the action sparked outrage among Scottish heritage supporters. In a letter dated Jan. 9, district superintendent Ron Anderson apologized to Jackson High School senior Nathan Warmack and said the district would train staffers how to properly apply the school dress code. The letter came after more than two months of debate and discussion about the actions of school officials when they asked Warmack, who is of Scottish descent, to change into trousers before entering the dance on Nov. 5.
■ United States
Elderly killer to be executed
California is set to execute a 75-year-old blind man who has diabetes, suffered a heart attack in September and cannot walk unaided. Unless a last-minute appeal to a federal court delivers a stay of execution or Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger grants clemency, Clarence Ray Allen will be executed by lethal injection at one minute past midnight on Jan. 17. For death penalty advocates, Allen's case demonstrates the inadequacies of the life sentence. For opponents, the execution of a frail elderly man is inhumane. In 1982 Allen was convicted of ordering the 1980 killings of Bryon Schletewitz, 27, Josephine Rocha, 17, and Douglas White, 18.
■ United States
Judge orders FEMA support
A federal judge ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on Thursday to continue paying hotel bills for thousands of hurricane evacuees until Feb. 27, giving them up to three extra weeks to find permanent shelter. The ruling requires the agency to keep paying those bills for evacuees in New Orleans and its suburbs for two additional days, through Mardi Gras. The order, the latest in a series of extensions in a program that FEMA had originally said would end on Dec. 1, comes as some hotels have told evacuees that they will have to check out to make way for tourists who long ago booked rooms for the Mardi Gras.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not