■ Hong Kong
Woman jailed over rape
A 29-year-old Hong Kong woman has been jailed for two years for drugging and indecently assaulting another woman and allowing a male friend to rape her, a news report said yesterday. Lau Hiu-kwan befriended the 37-year-old woman and invited her to her flat where she spiked her drink with potent drugs, the Sunday Morning Post reported. She then called a 49-year-old male friend, Leung Hiu-sang, to her apartment and the pair indecently assaulted and raped the woman while she lay unconscious, the newspaper said. Lau was jailed for two years for indecent assault at a hearing in the High Court on Saturday, while Leung was jailed for six years for rape.
■ China
Crackdown on sperm, eggs
Beijing has banned the sale of human eggs and tightened rules for sperm banks to boost control over the nation's rapidly expanding fertility business, state media said yesterday. The health ministry had outlawed "egg donation and supply for commercial purposes," the Xinhua news agency reported. In a circular the ministry had also restricted the use of one donor's sperm to impregnate a maximum of five women and banned the supply of sperm to unauthorized institutions, it said. As of March 31, 64 institutions were authorized to offer fertility treatment for childless couples, while seven institutions had established sperm banks, Xinhua said. Figures were not immediately available but the fertility business seems to be expanding fast and sperm banks have had problems getting supplies that are of sufficient quality. Scientific research shows that overall sperm density among Chinese males has dropped by about 40 percent over the past half century.
■ Kazakhstan
Brazilian astronaut returns
Brazil's first astronaut landed safely in the Kazakh steppe yesterday, returning from a 10-day trip in space with a Russian-US crew that spent six months on board the International Space Station. Marcos Pontes, a 43-year-old Brazilian Air Force pilot, fulfilled a childhood dream in becoming the first Brazilian in space. He returned to Earth with American Bill McArthur and Russian Valery Tokarev on board the Soyuz capsule. The crew were pulled from their cramped capsule and allowed to rest in special chairs, swaddled in animal skins and blankets to fend off the early morning chill as they breathed their first fresh air and sipped hot tea. "I am very happy," Pontes said. "I want to say: thank you for everything."
■ Pakistan
Stampede kills at least 26
At least 26 women and children were suffocated or crushed to death yesterday in a stampede at a religious gathering in Karachi, police and doctors said. More than 70 others were injured. City police chief Niaz Siddiqui said some 50,000 women and children had gathered for a ceremony to commemorate the birth anniversary of the Prophet Mohammad at a Sunni Muslim center. Most of the deaths were caused by internal injuries and suffocation, said Dr. Simi Jamali of the state-run Jinnah Post-Graduate Medical Center, which received seven bodies and more than 30 of the injured.
■ Afghanistan
Bombings wound eleven
Six security forces and five civilians were wounded yesterday in twin roadside bomb attacks aimed at an Afghan army convoy in Kandahar, officials said. A remote-controlled bomb was detonated in the center of the city as five-vehicle army convoy was passing, army officer Khair Mohammad said. One Afghan soldier was wounded, he said. As police and soldiers rushed to the site of the blast, a second bomb went off on the opposite side of the road wounding two more soldiers, two police and two civilians, a district police chief said.
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