■ China
Topless presenter says sorry
A TV presenter issued a public apology after posing topless with two other women in hospital advertisements for women's health, the Beijing News said yesterday. Chen Dan, a presenter on Changsha TV's "Women's channel" in Hunan, drew fire from Internet chat-rooms and station bosses after her "Clever Girls Love Themselves More" advertisement appeared at bus stops and on billboards in Hunan's capital, Changsha. Chen, who was suspended from presenting duties, said it was a "public interest advertisement," the Beijing News said. "My intentions were good," the paper quoted her as saying. "I hoped to draw people's attention to women's health, but because the format was inappropriate it caused a huge backlash. In future I will choose more suitable ways of publicizing women's health."
■ Singapore
STIs on the increase
Sexually transmitted infections among men and women have increased dramatically in the last five years, the Straits Times newspaper reported yesterday. More than 3,600 women were infected last year, according to the Ministry of Health. This represented an increase of more than 150 percent over the 1,426 such cases reported in the year 2000. The highest increase was among women aged 20 to 24 years -- up from 376 in 2000 to 1,111 last year. The number of cases among men increased about 53 percent in the last five years -- from 4,825 in 2000 to 7,377 last year, according to the department of sexually transmitted infections control. Priya Sen, deputy head of the department at the National Skin Center, attributed the rise to the fact that more are coming forward to be tested.
■ Brunei
Three jailed for royal insult
Three men have been jailed for a year each for insulting members of the royal family by posting fabricated mobile phone video clips, police said yesterday. The three offenders, aged between 32 and 49, pleaded guilty in court on Monday and were the first to be charged under the oil-rich sultanate's Sedition Act. Details of the postings were not released in court but the video clips made it appear it was members of the royal family who were speaking, police said. The video clips were forwarded to others in November via mobile text messages and police were alerted.
■ Australia
`Murdered' runaway in court
A woman who hid for four years in her boyfriend's house and was thought to have been murdered by a notorious serial killer appeared in court yesterday charged with prompting a false police investigation. Natasha Ryan, 21, and her boyfriend Scott Black, 28, are facing trial before the Rockhampton Magistrates Court in Queensland state for failing to stop a massive police manhunt that began when Ryan ran away from home in 1998. A series of investigations costing up to A$500,000 (US$371,000) failed to uncover Ryan's whereabouts, and convicted serial killer Leonard Fraser was eventually charged with her murder. Police discovered Ryan hiding in a cupboard in Black's home following an anonymous tip during Fraser's trial in 2003.
■ Malaysia
Man shoots friend in tree
A 53-year-old man climbing a fruit tree in a village in northern Malaysia had a narrow escape when he was shot and wounded by a friend who mistook him for a monkey, a report said yesterday. Yahya Ahmad from the northern state of Kedah was putting protective coverings on jackfruits in an orchard owned by his friend, the Bernama news agency quoted police as saying. "The suspect was tracking a monkey which he said had been causing damage to his fruit trees that morning and saw the branches of the jackfruit tree shaking. He shot at the spot and hit Yahya instead," an officer said.
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