■ China
Chunky monkeys slim down
More than 200 Tibetan macaque monkeys in Sichuan Province that grew fat and lazy from gorging on tourist junk food have slimmed down after a strict three-year diet imposed by wildlife officials, the Shanghai Daily reported yesterday. Authorities at a nature reserve in Emei mountain region launched a diet plan for the monkeys after fears they were losing their wild instincts and becoming obese, it said. "A normal adult macaque weighs about 25kg, but many ballooned to 45kg," Hu Yongzhong, director of the monkey protection reserve, as saying.
■ China
Tycoon re-arrested
A Shanghai real estate tycoon, Zhou Zhengyi (周正義), who was released this year after serving a prison term in a stock market scandal, has been re-arrested, the Xinhua news agency said yesterday. Zhou has been in custody since October for unspecified "problems," it reported, citing a city government spokesman. "The police are currently investigating Zhou's problems," the unidentified spokesman was quoted as saying. Zhou was released in May after serving a three-year term for fraud and securities manipulation.
■ China
Top jailer of reporters
China has at least 31 journalists behind bars, making it the world's leading jailer of reporters for the eighth year in a row, according to a US-based group's survey. About three-quarters were convicted under vague charges of subversion or revealing state secrets, and more than half were Internet journalists, said a statement on the annual survey by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.
■ Hong Kong
Shoppers warned about fish
Shoppers were on alert yesterday following the discovery of another cancer-causing toxin in fish. The government said that tests on samples of saltwater fish such as pompano, tiger grouper and flowery grouper sold in markets had traced small amounts of the banned antibiotic nitrofuran. In small doses nitrofuran is used to treat illnesses such urinary infections; however, larger doses are believed to be dangerous and potentially carcinogenic. "As the levels of nitrofurans detected in the fish samples were low, normal consumption should not pose any adverse health effects," said Mak Sin-ping, controller of the Center for Food Safety. "There is no cause for undue alarm." The fish are believed to have come from China.
■ Singapore
German drowns in spa
A German executive died in a whirlpool bath at an apartment after apparently being sucked to the bottom, police said yesterday. Police did not release the name of the victim, who was in his late 30s and had recently arrived in the city-state, but the Straits Times named him as Arndt Starke, the Asia finance director for Schott AG. A police spokesman said they were called at about 10pm last Friday after a man was found lying motionless in an outdoor whirlpool bath. The newspaper said the man's fiancee, who was also in the pool, had screamed for help but the suction was so powerful that four men who tried to rescue Starke could not pull him out.
■ Australia
Tourist cleared in drug case
All charges against a Canadian tourist mistakenly arrested in a multimillion dollar drug raid were dropped yesterday. Dereck Hotner of Abbotsford, near Vancouver, had been facing a life sentence on charges of importing cocaine and ecstasy, and one count of conspiracy. But prosecutors dropped all charges against him in a brief hearing before the Brisbane Magistrate's Court. The clearly relieved 36-year-old said he had simply been on holiday when he was arrested. Hotner, four other Canadians and an Australian were arrested in September after customs officers allegedly discovered drugs hidden in PC monitors that arrived from Canada.
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