■ China
Small coal mines to be shut
The Chinese government has announced it will shut down all small coal mines by the end of next year, as it tries to encourage smaller mines to merge with larger, supposedly more safety-conscious ones, state media reported yesterday. All mines with an annual production capacity under 27,215 tonnes will be closed, the official China Daily newspaper said. "Large firms usually pay more attention to work safety," the paper paraphrased Zhao Tiechui, director of the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety, as saying on Monday.
■ Hong Kong
Smokers may face fines
Smokers who light up in no-smoking areas could be landed with a US$193 on-the-spot fine, a news report said yesterday. The fixed penalty, which could be in force within 18 to 24 months, is part of the government's plan to make Hong Kong a smoke-free city. It would mean police and Tobacco Control inspectors would have the power to issue fixed penalty notices to anyone caught smoking in non-smoking areas.
■ China
Tomb sweeping goes online
Virtual carnations, memorial messages and tribute songs were some of the online services available to China's Web surfers too busy yesterday to pay proper respects at the graves of their ancestors. As China passes Tomb Sweeping Day, authorities are urging people to care for the environment and honor relatives online instead, Xinhua news agency said. Several cemeteries and funeral companies in China have heeded the call, establishing online memorial halls promising access to relatives within seconds, 365 days a year.
■ India
Donkeys better than wives
A textbook used at schools in the Indian state of Rajasthan compares housewives to donkeys, and suggests the animals make better companions as they complain less and are more loyal to their "masters," the Times of India reported on Tuesday. "A donkey is like a housewife ... In fact, the donkey is a shade better, for while the housewife may sometimes complain and walk off to her parents' home, you'll never catch the donkey being disloyal to his master," the newspaper reported, quoting a Hindi-language primer meant for 14-year-olds.
■ Singapore
Unfaithful killer jailed
A man who killed his wife after she refused to give him money for his pregnant Indonesian mistress has been jailed for 10 years, news reports said on yesterday. Balakrishnan Doraisamy, 64, told Justice V.K. Rajah he had a daughter and was now a changed man. Rajah said his past convictions showed him to be a father who paid scant attention to his family, the Straits Times said. The judge said on Tuesday he accepted with some difficulty the arguments of the two defense lawyers that life imprisonment was not appropriate because of Balakrishnan's medical condition and age.
■ Cambodia
Four killed at housewarming
A housewarming party turned tragic when four people were crushed to death while inside a house that was knocked down by a thunderstorm in central Cambodia -- one of 40 houses destroyed by torrential rains, officials said yesterday. Seventeen other villagers were injured during the storm on Monday evening that pummeled a district of Kampong Thom Province, about 130km north of Phnom Penh, said Chou Sam Arn, the province's police chief. Separately, two orphaned boys, aged 8 and 12, were killed by lightening on Tuesday while in a rice field searching for frogs to cook for food in Pursat Province, about 165km northwest of Phnom Penh, a police official said.
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