■ China
Police blog hooks surfers
Crime stories, personal anecdotes and action snaps have propelled "China's first police blog" firmly into the mainstream, state media reported yesterday. The blog, posted by police in Hebei Province, has generated 860,000 hits and leapt into the top 500 most popular blogs on major Web portal sina.com, the Beijing Youth Daily newspaper said. "Apart from Jackie Chan movies, we also have our own police stories, and they're absolutely real," the paper quoted a police official from Hebei's Public Security Bureau as saying.
■ Thailand
Betting on the king
Lottery gamblers are taking a royal punt on auspicious numbers linked to last week's 60th anniversary on the throne of revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, a report said yesterday. The best-selling combinations have been 960 and 60, the English-language Nation newspaper said. The nine refers to the monarch's title of Rama the Ninth of the Chakri Dynasty. The next most popular digits were 992, the number of the king's car license plate, then 2470, the king's year of birth according to the Buddhist calendar, the newspaper said.
■ China
US withdraws terror threat
The US has withdrawn a warning about possible terror threats in China just one week after issuing the alert, following discussions with the Chinese government, the embassy said yesterday. "After further investigation and coordination with the Chinese authorities, the United States Government has determined that the information provided on June 9 no longer warrants a heightened level of concern," it said in an e-mailed statement.
■ Thailand
South endures six attacks
Suspected Islamic militants launched six more bomb attacks yesterday in Thailand's insurgency-torn south, but there were no immediate reports of injuries, police said. The bombs went off in garbage bins and restrooms at railways stations in the southern provinces of Yala and Narathiwat, police said, adding that the explosions caused no significant damage. The attacks followed dozens of coordinated bomb blasts that killed two people and injured 21 on Thursday in the southern states bordering Malaysia. More than 1,300 people have been killed since an insurgency broke out in January 2004 in the mainly Muslim and ethnic Malay south, a region also troubled by organized crime and police corruption.
■ Vietnam
Schoolgirl blackmails firm
Police in Hanoi investigating a blackmail plot and bomb threat found the culprit to be a 16-year-old schoolgirl, an official said yesterday. The girl, identified only as "L," admitted she sent a three-page handwritten letter to Hien Le-van, director of the Tanh Linh Petroleum Co, demanding that he pay 10 million dong (US$625) and giving a cellphone number to call to arrange a drop, police said. If Hien did not pay within three days, the letter said, one of the company's five petrol stations would be blown up, explained Minh Nguyen-van, a police investigator in central Binh Thuan province. Hien gave the letter to police. But after the security guard who received the letter told investigators it had been delivered by two young girls on a motorbike, police suspected an amateur.
■ Vietnam
Hero worship `encouraged'
Vietnam's prime minister has decided to impose heavy fines on journalists who criticize national "heroes" and institutions, state media said yesterday. The English daily Vietnam News said a fine of up to 30 million dong (US$1,850) would be levied "to punish violators of culture and information regulations." "Crimes such as denying revolutionary achievements, defaming the nation, great persons and national heroes, slandering and wounding the prestige of agencies and organizations" would now be punished. The decision by Prime Minister Khai Phan-van will come into effect on July 1. "The decision will contribute to maintain order and build a clean culture environment," the Lao Dong daily said, quoting deputy minister of culture and information Doan Do-quy. Any picture or headline which is not in accordance with an article's content "making readers misunderstand about the content of the information" will be fined up to a maximum of 1.5 million dong (US$825).
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