■ China
No more torture for police
Beijing has introduced a new law banning police from using torture to extract confessions, state media said on Tuesday. The Law on Penalties for Offenses against Public Order, which took effect yesterday, also bars evidence obtained with threats from being used to pursue prosecutions, the Xinhua news agency said. Ke Liangdong, director of the legal affairs bureau of the Ministry of Public Security, was quoted as saying the law stipulated an "illegal evidence exclusion principle" that "evidence obtained by torture, threatening or cheating could not be used as the basis for penalties."
■ Australia
Poisoning suspect nabbed
Brisbane police arrested a 57-year-old woman yesterday for allegedly putting rat poison pellets in a salad bar at a Sizzler restaurant. The woman will be charged with contaminating goods, a police inspector said. The arrest follows two incidents in which green pellets were allegedly found in salad bars at two Sizzler restaurants in Brisbane. Police said at least one set of pellets tested positive as rat poison. Police did say if anyone fell ill from the alleged poisoning. Sizzler Australia closed all of its self-serve soup and salad bars on Tuesday as a precaution.
■ Hong Kong
Surgeon told to take classes
A plastic surgeon has been ordered to undergo retraining after a 70-year-old woman died during liposuction on her stomach, the South China Morning Post reported yesterday. Lam King-fong was undergoing her 17th plastic surgery in August 2003 when she fell unconscious. She died on her way to hospital. Dr. Frankin Li told the inquest that Lam, who wore a wig, had never told him her age.
■ Japan
Men big on girdles
As waistlines expand, so does the market for girdles -- for men. A new line of male underwear that flattens the stomach and lifts the hips proved so popular when introduced on a trial basis last month that some stores quickly sold out. "Men are getting so much more fashion conscious these days that they're starting to pay attention to the lines of their body and their silhouette, just like women," said a spokeswoman at Triumph International Japan, a leading underwear firm. Triumph marketed two different types of "long girdle" -- one from the navel to the knees, and the other a "hip hugger" version to be worn with low-waisted pants.
■ Hong Kong
`Spiderman' convicted
A British resident was convicted yesterday of causing a public nuisance when he dressed up as Spiderman and scaled a giant TV screen to protest Beijing's bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators. Matt James Pearce, 30, an English teacher from Bristol, England, was accused of disrupting traffic and business for nearby shopkeepers when he protested atop a giant LCD advertising screen on June 3 last year -- the eve of the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. Pearce, who pleaded innocent to the charge, unfurled a banner reading: "Tiananmen Square June 4th 1989: Justice Must Prevail" and attracted a massive crowd of onlookers.
■ Singapore
Fertility hotline opened
A new hotline was opened yesterday for couples unable to conceive, but too embarrassed to directly ask doctors. Biotech company Serono, specializing in reproductive health, launched the service in English, Mandarin and Malay. It provides information and counseling to anyone who wants to know about fertility, treatment, financial implications and fertility centers. "The hotline is operated by experienced, retired nurses, who will refer callers to relevant fertility centers for help," a Serono spokesman said. The hotline also aims to dispel myths and tackle questions that the public may find too personal to ask of anyone, even those closest to them.
■ China
Stones will toe the line
The Rolling Stones will likely follow the beat of censors when they offer fans some long-awaited satisfaction with an April concert, promoters said on Tuesday. The veteran British group, who had two shows in China canceled in spring 2003 because of the SARS epidemic, would make its debut in Shanghai on April 8 as part of its "A Bigger Bang" tour, Emma Entertainment said on its Web site. Even before their April 2003 concerts were scuttled, the Stones had run afoul of China's culture commissars. This time around, the band was ready to steer clear of trouble, a company employee said on Tuesday.
■ China
More deportations planned
Beijing may deport foreigners who buy or sell sex, steal or get involved in fights under new laws that came into effect yesterday, state newspapers reported. Large numbers of foreigners in the country were involved in prostitution or had visited sex workers, got involved in fights or stolen, the People's Daily quoted Wu Mingshan (吳明山), vice head of the public security ministry's management office, as saying. In the past few years prostitution has made a strong comeback despite being banned by the communists after they took power in 1949.
■ Switzerland
WHO soothes over H5N1 cat
After a dead cat found in Germany was determined to have been infected with H5N1, the World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday that it is unknown whether humans can contract the deadly strain of H5N1 bird flu from cats, but that the risk appears small. WHO flu spokesman Dick Thompson said the risk of human infection from any animal was small, although there has been some surprise at the spread of the virus. "You have to put this in perspective: there have been 180 million birds that have been killed because of this disease and yet we've identified fewer than 200 human cases," he said.
■ Turkey
Child driver shocks officer
A Turkish policeman who stopped a car speeding in the streets at night was bewildered to discover an 11-year-old boy in the driver's seat, with his five-year-old brother at his side, press reports said on Tuesday. The boy told the police that he had taken the opportunity while his father was sleeping to treat his brother to a ride in downtown Konya, central Turkey. The officer was further astonished when the boy said he had been driving for the past three months and that it was his father who had taught him, the Milliyet daily reported.
■ Sudan
UN to sanction leaders
The UN intends to impose targeted sanctions on up to 10 members of Sudan's government and others involved in the Darfur crisis, after an increase in killings in recent months and access being denied to aid camps. A security council resolution, sponsored by Britain, will recommend a travel ban, a freeze on overseas accounts and other assets, and, possibly, the issuing of warrants by the International Criminal Court, which deals with crimes against humanity. The UN drew up a confidential list last year of dozens of Sudanese leaders it claims are responsible for deaths and displacement, as well as leaders of the government-backed militia and two rebel movements.
■ Belarus
Sick birds to become fodder
Officials at the largest public zoo in Belarus announced plans to feed display birds infected with avian flu to the carnivores, the Interfax news agency reported on Tuesday. Among the birds threatened by the Minsk city zoo's new policy are two pelicans, two black swans, three mountain geese, two musk ducks and more than 50 chickens, said Aleksander Chupris, zoo chief veterinarian. Zoo management said they already had locked the exotic birds in enclosures out of public display, and hopefully impenetrable to wild birds. The birds will be "under house arrest" for two months, Chupris said.
■ Russia
Rocket booster fails again
Russia's space program suffered another embarrassing failure yesterday, when a booster rocket failed to put an Arab commercial satellite to a designated orbit, officials said. The Arabsat 4A telecommunications satellite owned by the Saudi ARABSAT company was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan atop a Proton-M booster rocket equipped with an additional Briz-M upper stage, the Russian Federal Space Agency said in a statement. In October, a high-profile European satellite was lost because of a Russian booster failure. The loss of the US$142 million CryoSat satellite dealt a major blow to the European Space Agency.
■ Chile
Guard shoots himself
A bodyguard for General Augusto Pinochet on Tuesday accidentally shot himself in the face while cleaning a pistol inside the former dictator's mansion in suburban Santiago, the army said. Corporal Mauricio Soto, a member of the army's special forces, was in the dormitory used by Pinochet's security detail at the time of the accidental shooting, the army said in a brief statement. It was not known whether Pinochet was at the residence at the time of the incident. The wounded soldier was rushed to nearby clinic where doctors said he was in serious condition.
■ United States
Toilet voyeur nabbed
A Los Angeles man was sentenced to five years in jail for videotaping women in a public bathroom at Venice Beach. Aurelia Torrestamayo, 25, must also register as a sex offender after serving his sentence. He was arrested last Nov. 20 after a woman told police she thought she saw a camera lens wrapped in a plastic bag pointing at her from a neighboring bathroom stall. He was sentenced on Tuesday. Officers found Torrestamayo sitting on a toilet wearing women's shoes with a camera hidden in a bag, said city attorney's office spokesman Frank Mateljan. They also found a videotape that showed 45 people urinating and changing clothes.
■ Colombia
Condom bill deflated
Tulua City councilors in the southwest have struck down a proposal to force people 14 and older to carry condoms at all times, but the bill's sponsor on Tuesday said he will seek a popular referendum. The council's 10-6 vote against the plan was a victory for Roman Catholic priests who had denounced the proposal by councilman William Pena in January. It would have required all men and women -- even visitors -- to carry a condom to prevent unwanted pregnancy and disease. Those caught empty-pocketed would have been fined US$180 or ordered to take a safe sex course. Instead, the council approved a measure to increase sex education and install dispensers throughout the city, 240km southwest of Bogota.
■ United States
Spud plates may be fried
A state lawmaker wants to peel Idaho's standard license plate of the legend "Famous Potatoes" in a battle over whether the lowly spud should symbolize a state whose major export is high technology. Republican Senator Hal Bunderson said the slogan no longer has resonance for a state whose population and commerce have undergone a seismic shift in the 46 years since the motto was first stamped on Idaho's license plates. "Other than as a consumer, the majority of people in Idaho have no connection to `Famous Potatoes,'" said Bunderson, whose proposal will be heard by a state transportation panel today.
■ United States
DNA test to hunt prankster
A hospital hoping to get to the bottom of an office prank is ordering 25 employees to undergo DNA testing or be fired, according to a media report. Officials at Woman's Hospital in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, say a maintenance man returned from several weeks off to find that someone had placed urine in his toolbox, WAFB-TV reported. After hearing of the incident, hospital administrators sent a memo to employees who also work there telling them that DNA testing would be done unless someone came forward admitting guilt. Since no one came forward, the hospital said the testing will begin within the next few weeks.
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