■ Indonesia
Cleric urges attacks on Israel
A reputed leader of an al-Qaeda-linked terror group said yesterday that Indonesia should send Islamic holy warriors to Israel to punish it for unleashing airstrikes in Palestinian territories. "Israel is the enemy of Allah," militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir told hundreds of members of the Muslim-based Crescent Star Party in the capital Jakarta. "That is why Indonesia should send holy warriors there." Bashir recently completed a 26-month jail term for conspiracy in the 2002 Bali bombings that left 202 dead. The US and Australia allege he is a key leader in the al-Qaeda-linked militant group Jemaah Islamiyah.
■ Japan
Parachutists in royal error
A Japanese comedian and his instructor accidentally parachuted onto the residence of Crown Prince Naruhito, officials said yesterday. The two were parachuting for a TV quiz program on Sunday afternoon. They were trying to land at Jingu Stadium in downtown Tokyo, but instead were blown off course and landed in a vacant lot within the Akasaka Goyochi residential quarters, according to Imperial Guard Headquarters official Mitsuo Koibuchi. The stadium is just across the street from the quarters. Officials and Nippon Television Network, which produces the quiz show, refused to identify the comedian. But Japanese media, including Kyodo News agency, reported his name as Atsuhiko Nakata, who forms the popular comedy duo Oriental Radio with partner Shingo Fujimori.
■ India
Boy kills himself over HIV
A 15-year-old Indian boy has died after setting himself ablaze on hearing his parents were infected with HIV, police said yesterday. "The boy said in his dying declaration he was worried about his future," said C.M. Mudaliyar, a police officer in Ahmedabad, in Gujarat State, where his death occurred last week. "The fear of getting ostracized by society drove him to take this drastic step," he said. The boy had left school and was helping his parents sell vegetables.
■ Indonesia
Hungry monkeys a menace
Hundreds of famished monkeys are adding to the woes of residents on the slopes of Indonesia's rumbling Mount Merapi, a report said yesterday. The volcano, straddling Central Java and Yogyakarta provinces on Java island, has been spewing smoke, lava and clouds of gas since May, leaving two people dead, burning forests and forcing thousands to flee to safe shelters. Now hundreds of monkeys left hungry after escaping their own burned homes are raiding local crops and homes for scarce food, the Koran Tempo said.
■ China
Many sick on Tibet train
China's inaugural train from Beijing to Tibet passed its highest point yesterday with many passengers reaching for oxygen tubes to ward off altitude sickness. As the train climbed, many passengers attached the tubes to their nostrils and announcements warned passengers to avoid sudden movements that could trigger sickness, even in the pressurized cabins. About a third of those traveling in the cheaper cabins, mostly Tibetan students, appeared to be feeling ill. "Now we've reached the top, I feel sick and nauseous and have headaches," said Wu Jia, 32, a Chinese tourist. Older passengers, looking uncomfortable, were lying down, children were crying and some were being sick in the bathrooms.
■ Turkey
Intelligence chief murdered
A senior intelligence official in the nation's southeast was killed on Sunday by a colleague but the motive for the attack was unclear, Turkish media reported. Ismet Onal, chief of the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) in the town of Batman, was attacked outside his office and died of his injuries in hospital, NTV television said. The channel quoted local governor Haluk Imga as saying the attacker, an MIT employee, was mentally disturbed.
RSS