■ MYANMAR
Party asks to meet Suu Kyi
The pro-democracy party has asked the military government for permission to meet with its detained leader, Nobel Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, a spokesman said yesterday. No one from the National League for Democracy has met her since 2004. Spokesman Nyan Win said the party leadership wanted to see her to discuss legal options for appealing for her release from house arrest. Myanmar's military government extended Suu Kyi's house arrest last month by another year, defying international demands for her immediate release.
■ INDIA
Bomb mars sports event
A bomb exploded near a crowded bus stand in the restive northeastern state of Assam yesterday, killing four people hours before the opening of an international athletics meeting, police said. More than 200 athletes and officials from 19 Asian countries have gathered in Guwahati, the state's main city, to participate in a grand prix organized by the Asian Athletics Association. No athletes were hurt in the blast, which injured a dozen people. The separatist United Liberation Front of Asom -- fighting for independence for the oil and tea-rich state of 26 million people -- is suspected to be behind the blast.
■ INDIA
Police fight cuddling couples
Police in Kashmir usually accustomed to fighting separatist militants have a new target in their sights -- teenagers canoodling in parks, restaurants and Internet cafes. The crackdown aims to curb "immoral activities," a senior police officer said on Friday, adding that dozens of places had been raided across Srinagar and at least 10 couples detained over the last three days. Restaurant and Internet cafe owners had also been asked to get rid of cabins and cubicles, as they were being "misused" by teenagers, he said. "Many boys and girls were seen in objectionable postures ... we informed their parents to take them home," he said.
■ CHINA
Pilots must speak English
Tough new rules on English language standards could ground thousands of commercial airline pilots, state media reported on Friday. Xinhua news agency said the rules, approved by the International Civil Aviation Organization last year, require all airline pilots who fly overseas to pass an English-language competency test by next March -- just months before the start of the Beijing Summer Olympics. "A considerable number of Chinese pilots are ex-military who speak little or even no English,'' Xinhua said. Airlines such as China Southern Airlines tackled the problem by making all its pilots take English courses for six straight days each month.
■ CHINA
Airport combats pigeons
Pigeons are thronging to Beijing airport, crashing into planes and threatening public safety, the government's China Daily said yesterday. Some are carrier pigeons raised as pets. "Pigeons are now one of the greatest threats for airplanes," said Huang Jianjun, an airport manager. On Monday, an aircraft collided with nine pigeons but managed to land safely. The airport has strung nets and tried to scare away pigeons with loudspeakers. "It is with urgency that local authorities ban pigeon breeding, feeding and flying anywhere near the airport," Huang said.
■ SCOTLAND
Woman avoids deportation
A US-born woman who faced deportation despite living in the country for 78 years said she will be allowed to stay in Britain. Marguerite Grimmond moved from the US as a toddler in 1929 but never applied for British citizenship. In May, the 80-year-old went on a family vacation to Australia -- her first trip outside Britain -- with a newly acquired US passport. When she returned, officials said her US passport did not have the necessary stamp allowing her to remain in Britain. They gave her four weeks to leave the country.
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