■ Japan
Moon mission planned
The space agency has set up a team to send an unmanned mission to the surface of the moon, possibly within the next 10 years, officials said yesterday. Keiji Tachikawa, chairman of the space agency JAXA, provided no further details of the composition of the team. The unmanned surface landing is a key element of the overall strategy, which was once the most ambitious in Asia but has recently fallen behind China. JAXA's SELENE moon orbiter is due for launch next year, and officials announced last year that they hope to send a manned mission to the moon by 2025.
■ Malaysia
Half-bridge plans dropped
Officials announced they would abandon plans to build a controversial "half-bridge" to Singapore, which has become a major source of tension between the neighbors. The decision was an abrupt about-face for the government which had repeatedly insisted it would go ahead with the project to replace an ageing colonial-era causeway even though Singapore has not agreed to build its half. "The Malaysian government has decided not to proceed with the construction of a bridge to replace the Johor causeway," Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said in a statement, adding that all talks over the issue would be halted.
■ India
Bird flu causes suicides
Nine poultry farmers in India have killed themselves and more are facing a grim future after bird flu slashed demand for chicken meat, an industry group said yesterday. India has culled hundreds of thousands of birds to contain several outbreaks of the H5N1 avian flu virus in poultry since February, but the disease has continued to resurface, mostly in western Maharashtra State. The suicides have been reported during the past 15 days from West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. The committee said there were 123,000 poultry farmers in India and about 70 percent of them were in a "dire situation."
■ Indonesia
Big ecstasy haul discovered
Police said on Tuesday they have arrested five people and seized more than US$420,000 in ecstasy pills and raw materials in their latest crackdown on drug centers in Jakarta. Police on Monday raided a residence in West Jakarta that had been converted into an ecstasy pill factory. They found 12,000 pills and 1.4kg of ingredients, said Jakarta anti-narcotics police chief Carlo Tewu. He said five people were arrested, all employees of the factory owner -- a 45-year-old Indonesian of ethnic Chinese origin who is still at large. "We believe that the factory owner is part of an international drug syndicate," Tewu said.
■ China
Police bust card fraud ring
Police have smashed a major credit card counterfeiting ring and seized more than 40,000 cards, many containing personal information, state press said yesterday. The operation in the southern city of Shenzhen was the biggest credit card forgery case in China, the China Daily quoted local police spokesman Li Honglang as saying. Four suspects have been arrested, including a Hong Kong resident named Liu, who police alleged to be the ringleader. Three other mainland residents were identified as Huang, Zeng and Zhu. Many of the cards, which included Visa, Mastercard, Diners Club and American Express products, contained cardholders' private information, Li said.
■ Spain
Bombing indictments issued
A judge has issued the first indictments in the 2004 Madrid train bombings, charging 29 people with murder, terrorism or other crimes. In a 1,471 page indictment on Tuesday, investigative magistrate Juan del Olmo described the creation and workings of a cell of longtime residents, most originally from Morocco and Syria. They are accused of a massacre that killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,700. Three of the 29 indicted were charged with 191 counts of murder and 1,755 counts of attempted murder. Three more were charged with conspiracy to murder.
■ Nigeria
Trafficking penalties raised
Laws against people trafficking have been strengthened with penalties such as 14 years in jail for pimps who use underage prostitutes, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP) said on Tuesday. "Human trafficking ... has assumed dangerous dimensions that require urgent and drastic attention," said Carol Ndaguba, executive secretary of NAPTIP. She said new amendments to the law on human trafficking have already come into force. The law also imposes a 100,000 naira (US$776) fine or five years in prison for people convicted of using children under 18 for domestic labor.
■ United Kingdom
Prince Harry now an officer
Prince Harry graduated as an army officer yesterday before joining the elite Household Cavalry. In front of his father, Prince Charles, and Queen Elizabeth, the 21-year old Harry, took part in the Sovereign's Day parade at Sandhurst military academy. The third in line to the throne has spent 11 months getting up at 6am for marching drills and training exercises as officer cadet Wales. His elder brother William is still working his way through the 44-week Sandhurst program. Harry will join the Blues and Royals regiment of the cavalry.
■ United Kingdom
Drivers given feng shui tips
Car owners can keep calm by parking their "tiger-like" vehicles facing away from their homes, an insurance company's feng shui study suggests. Drivers would also do well to sprinkle sea salt crystals inside their vehicles, and tie a blue ribbon around the rear view mirror, said the study by Aon Private Clients. Raymond Catchpole, chairman of Britain's Feng Shui Society, examined a Nissan Micra, a Volkswagen Passat, a Porsche Boxster and a Lexus SUV for Aon. His tips include: Remove clutter from a car as it "sucks the life force out of the driver." To get rid of negative energy inside the car, the owner should sit in the car and sing, clap their hands or play music. Keep the windows clean to allow chi energy to enter the car from outside. Tie a small blue ribbon on the rear view mirror because blue represents water, which in turn induces a perfect driving state of mind: clear, thoughtful, flowing and clear.
■ Switzerland
Mystery Park seeks savior
Writer and businessman Erich von Daeniken is hoping to find an investor to save his Mystery Park in Interlaken from financial collapse. The park, set up by the author of bestsellers such as Chariots of the Gods and The Gods were Astronauts, has failed to attract enough visitors and needs 4 million Swiss francs (US$3.08 million) in cash to stay in business. The park's attractions showcase the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
■ United States
Welfare officials visit Spears
Child welfare officials and a sheriff's deputy visited the Malibu, California, home of Britney Spears but declined to say on Tuesday whether they were investigating the pop princess. Spears and her husband, Kevin Federline, are the parents of an infant son, Sean Preston. The Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and the Lost Hills sheriff's station declined to give details of Saturday afternoon's visit. "It's a very standard, routine patrol request," Lieutenant Debra Glaskides said on Tuesday. "We just roll out with them. We stood by, we took no action, no report or anything." The Sheriff's Department said it was a DCFS matter and could not release any information.
■ United States
Telescope looks for ET
A Massachusetts observatory unveiled a powerful new telescope on Tuesday designed to capture possible light signals transmitted to Earth by extraterrestrials. The telescope is the first to be developed solely to search the skies for light pulses from aliens and will be able to cover 100,000 times the amount of sky covered by current equipment, its developers said. "The opening of this telescope represents one of those rare moments in a field of scientific endeavor when a great leap forward is enabled," said Bruce Betts, project director at The Planetary Society, a group in Pasadena, California, that advocates space exploration and funded the telescope's development. "Sending laser signals across the cosmos would be a very logical way for ET to reach out, but until now, we have been ill-equipped to receive any such signal," he said.
■ Iraq
Experts fail to testify
The court trying Saddam Hussein held a brief session yesterday, but handwriting experts who had been due to testify on the authenticity of signatures on key documents did not appear. When the experts did not attend, chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman adjourned the session until Monday, ending it after only about five minutes. The experts had been the only witnesses due to appear. Saddam and some of his seven co-defendants have denied that signatures on documents presented by the prosecution are theirs.
■ Mexico
Troops make huge drug haul
Mexican soldiers seized 4.5 tonnes of cocaine worth more than US$100 million from a commercial plane arriving from Caracas, Venezuela, Mexico's Defense Department announced on Tuesday. The army was waiting for the plane on Monday at the airport of Ciudad de Carmen, 880km east of Mexico City, after receiving information from Venezuelan and US authorities, General Carlos Gaytan told a news conference. The cocaine was stacked in 128 black suitcases marked private.
■ Peru
Flores urges faster count
A pro-business candidate fighting for a place in Peru's presidential runoff urged election officials to resolve delays in the vote count, with her party saying the race could hinge on the uncounted ballots. With nearly 87 percent of the votes counted from Sunday's election, nationalist candidate Ollanta Humala was ahead with 30.4 percent support, followed by ex-president Alan Garcia with 24.6 percent and pro-business former Congresswoman Lourdes Flores with 23.4. With Humala assured of a spot in the runoff, the race is now focusing on whether Garcia or Flores places second.
Far from the violence ravaging Haiti, a market on the border with the Dominican Republic has maintained a welcome degree of normal everyday life. At the Dajabon border gate, a wave of Haitians press forward, eager to shop at the twice-weekly market about 200km from Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. They are drawn by the market’s offerings — food, clothing, toys and even used appliances — items not always readily available in Haiti. However, with gang violence bad and growing ever worse in Haiti, the Dominican government has reinforced the usual military presence at the border and placed soldiers on alert. While the market continues to
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