■ Cambodia
Bird flu measures taken
A village hit by a new outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu virus will be closely monitored for 30 days, as officials also inspect surrounding areas in an effort to prevent the disease from spreading, an official said yesterday. Following recommended procedures, animal health officials will continue collecting samples from poultry in the village and in a 3km radius around it to test for bird flu, said Kao Phal, director of the Agriculture Ministry's animal health department. "The village itself has been placed under constant monitoring for a 30-day period to prevent the spread of the virus," Kao Phal said.
■ Indonesia
Land clearing casts haze
Thick and acrid haze from fires set to clear land is blanketing parts of the Indonesian section of Borneo island, a meteorology official said yesterday. "The haze is thick early in the morning, limiting visibility to under 200 meters, but by 9am visibility would already have improved to around 2,000 meters," said Bambang, an official with the meteorology station at Pontianak in West Kalimantan Province.
■ China
Foreign cartoons restricted
The government will ban foreign cartoons from being aired on television in prime time, state media reported, signaling an apparent attempt to help and protect local producers. Beginning on Sept. 1, only Chinese-made cartoons will be allowed on TV in the crucial after-school period from 5pm to 8pm, the Beijing Youth Daily reported. Even if a specific cartoon is a Sino-foreign co-production, it cannot be aired unless it has special permission, it said.
■ China
Millions lack drinking water
About 17 million people in the southwest don't have access to clean drinking water due to sustained drought, state media reported yesterday. Crops on large tracts of farmland in Sichuan Province and the nearby Chongqing municipality have withered due to the month-long drought, causing economic losses of 9.23 billion yuan (US$1.15 billion), Beijing News and the Xinhua news agency said. Local governments have allocated funds to help residents fight the drought by tapping ground water and improving water conservation facilities, Xinhua said. The searing heat meant 14 million people in Chongqing and 3 million in Sichuan lack clean drinking water, the media said.
■ Hong Kong
Vandals attack gravestones
Vandals have attacked gravestones in a cemetery dedicated to public servants who died in the line of duty, police said yesterday. Pictures that adorned the graves of 29 of the city's fallen heroes in the Gallant Garden cemetery were smashed, apparently with a hammer, a police spokeswoman said. Among those remembered in the garden are police and firemen killed while on duty and health care workers who died while treating SARS patients. Police said that as yet there were no suspects and they had no idea of the motive.
■ Turkmenistan
Melon named after leader
A new lip-smacking melon has been named in honor of President Saparmurat Niyazov as the Central Asian state celebrated "Melon Day," an official said yesterday. The new "Turkmenbashi melon" is distinguished "by its delicious aroma, excellent taste and large size," an official from Turkmenistan's food industry association said. Niyazov, an authoritarian leader elected as president-for-life by the country's parliament, likes to be known as Turkmenbashi (Chief of All Turkmens) as part of a bizarre personality cult that surrounds him. "All Turkmens celebrate this holiday. The Turkmen melon is the source of our pride, its taste has no equal in the world, the smell makes your head spin," Niyazov said in a statement.
■ Thailand
Suicide bid sparks changes
Bangkok skytrain officials pledged yesterday to tighten safety procedures to prevent it becoming a fashionable way of suicide after a student threw himself in front of a train on Saturday. Thirasak Jitdamrong, 22, was the first would-be suicide victim to get hit by a train in the six years the elevated-rail system has been running. Thirasak, who carried a written apology to his parents, fell between the tracks after hitting the train but survived, having suffered severe electric shock and broken bones.
■ Singapore
Teens opting for abortions
Choosing to have an abortion to deal with unwanted pregnancies rather than using contraceptives is emerging as a worrisome development among local teenagers, the Strait Times said yesterday. Many are falling into a trap, it said. They get pregnant, go for an abortion and then continue having sex without protection. Teens said they tended to use contraceptives less often after an abortion because they believed it would be harder to get pregnant. The Ministry of Health does not have figures for those who have had multiple abortions. The total number of teenage abortions was 1,341 in 2004, but the figures for last year were not available.
■ Iran
Tehran ignores UN edict
Tehran yesterday repeated its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment activities as called for in a UN resolution, threatening instead to withdraw from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). "Iran doesn't accept suspending its uranium enrichment," the official IRNA agency quoted parliamentary speaker Gholam-Ali Hadad-Adel as telling parliament. "If the result of our being part of international organizations and the IAEA is to be deprived of our absolute right [in nuclear matters], there is no reason for us to continue to be part of such organizations," he said. The UN Security Council has given Iran until Aug. 31 to halt enrichment and reprocessing activities or face possible sanctions.
■ Chile
Columbians in cocaine bust
Colombian rebels attempted to traffic drugs through Chile, police said on Saturday in describing the seizure of almost a half-ton of cocaine and the arrests of 12 people, including a former Miss Colombia beauty pageant contestant. Police General Samuel Cabezas said the investigation is still developing "and we are in close consultation with intelligence services in several countries." The Colombian leader eluded law enforcement officers, but two Colombians, a Venezuelan and an Israeli were among those arrested, Deputy Interior Minister Felipe Harboe said in a radio interview on Saturday.
■ United States
Egyptian students found
Nine of 11 Egyptian students who failed to show up for a Montana university exchange program last month were in custody on Saturday after officials arrested three students in Iowa, US immigration officials said. Two remained missing, according to a statement from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). None of the students posed a terrorism threat, officials said. An alert went out for the students after they did not show up as scheduled for an academic program at Montana State University in Bozeman. Authorities have been seeking them since July 29. The 11 students were part of a group that entered the US at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York last month. ICE arrested three students in Des Moines, Iowa, on Friday, the agency said.
■ France
French still love Zizou
Despite that famous World Cup head-butt -- or perhaps because of it -- retired soccer star Zinedine Zidane is France's favorite celebrity, a poll said. `Zizou,' who ended his 18-year career with an attack on Italian player Marco Materazzi, came out No. 1 in an Ifop poll published in the weekend newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche. Tennis player and singer Yannick Noah dropped one place to second.
■ United Kingdom
Apprentice Boys parade
About 15,000 Protestants paraded through the mostly Roman Catholic city of Londonderry on Saturday following a night of Catholic rioting, but the parade itself ended without any direct clashes between rival mobs. The Police Service of Northern Ireland said that rioters in the Bogside, the major Catholic district that lies next to downtown Londonderry, hijacked and burned at least two cars and threw about 50 Molotov cocktails at police on Friday night.
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