■ NEPAL
Goddess decision reviewed
Authorities are reviewing their decision to strip a 10-year-old girl of the title "living goddess'' after she broke tradition by traveling overseas, an official said yesterday, following a rapturous welcome on her return. Sajani Shakya, who traveled to the US last month to promote a documentary about the centuries-old tradition of the country's living goddesses, was met on her return home on Wednesday by hundreds of her supporters and followers. They held a brief ceremony to welcome her back. Popular support for Sajani has apparently forced officials to review the case.
■ JAPAN
Minister apologizes for gaffe
Foreign Minister Taro Aso was forced to apologize yesterday for joking about Alzheimer's disease -- the latest in a series of gaffes by members of the government. Aso, a right-winger seen as a strong contender to become the next prime minister, made the comment when talking about the advantages of exporting Japanese rice to an audience in Toyama Prefecture. "Ordinary rice is sold at about ?16,000 [US$131] a bag here," he said in a speech. "But it is ?78,000 in China. Even someone with Alzheimer's can see which of 16,000 and 78,000 is the more expensive." Aso said yesterday that his remarks had been inappropriate.
■ INDIA
Grandma thrown in garbage
Authorities in southern state of Tamil Nadu are trying to trace a family who threw a sick 75-year-old grandmother in the garbage. The victim, Chinnammal Palaniappan, told her rescuers that she was taken from her home by her grandsons and woke up on Sunday morning to find herself among a heap of rotting garbage. "We heard some moaning from the dump yard and when we went over we were shocked to find an old shriveled woman lying in filth," said housewife P. Mohanasundari, who rescued the woman. Palaniappan said her daughter had instructed the grandsons to dump her far away, so that she could not find her way back. She did not have the address of her daughter's home.
■ RUSSIA
Ethnic fights break out
Russian and Chinese youths fought each other with knives on a river beach in Siberia on Wednesday night, mirroring similar recent outbreaks of inter-ethnic fighting in European Russia. "During the fight four Russians were wounded and one taken into intensive care," Interfax news agency said on Thursday, quoting a law enforcement source in Khabarovsk where the fight took place. Khabarovsk, population 500,000, is around 30km from the border with China in Pacific Russia. The fight occurred on a beach on the Amur River in the south of the city. Fights between Russians and immigrants have increased over the last 12 months.
■ DENMARK
Iraqi translators evacuated
The government secretly evacuated about 200 Iraqi civilians under an asylum agreement offered to interpreters and aides who worked for Danish troops, Defense Ministry spokesman Jacob Winther announced yesterday. The last of three military planes carrying the Iraqi aides and their families took off before dawn yesterday from Basra, he said. The other two planes arrived in Copenhagen earlier this week. The flights were kept secret because of fears that militants would try to attack the planes, he said.
■ UNITED STATES
Body found in plane
The body of a suspected stowaway was discovered in the landing gear of a United Airlines passenger jet shortly after it landed in San Francisco from Shanghai on Thursday, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said. He said a man's body was discovered in the nose gear of United flight 858 by maintenance workers at around 7:30am. Gregor said the death highlighted the perils of attempting to stowaway in the under-carriages of passenger jets. "Most people die because they are crushed by the landing gear, they freeze or they fall out of the plane," he said.
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