■ CHINA
Imprisoned journalist ill
The health of a Hong Kong reporter for a Singapore newspaper who was jailed by China is deteriorating in prison, the Hong Kong Journalists Association said yesterday, urging his release on medical parole. Ching Cheong (程翔), a Straits Times correspondent, has been detained since April 2005. He was sentenced to five years in jail last August in a high-profile case underscoring China's curbs on the media and dissent. In a letter to President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), the Hong Kong Journalists Association said Ching has been suffering from arrhythmia.
■ MALAYSIA
Jesus caricature draws ban
The government slapped a one-month publishing ban on a newspaper on Friday for printing a caricature of Jesus holding a cigarette and a can of beer. State news agency Bernama quoted the Internal Security Ministry as saying the publishing permit of Tamil-language daily Makkal Osai Tamil would be suspended for a month from Friday. The devoutly Muslim prime minister, who last year imposed similar bans on two newspapers that published caricatures of Prophet Mohammed, had condemned publication of the Jesus caricature, saying it was unacceptable in a multi-racial society.
■ PAKISTAN
Army officer kidnapped
A group of pro-Taliban militants kidnapped an army officer, two of his guards and a government official near an army base in the northwest, officials said yesterday. The four men were seized late on Friday in Ladha, a town in the troubled South Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan. No one claimed responsibility for the kidnappings, and a security official in the area, who sought anonymity because of the sensitive nature of his job, said officers and tribal elders were trying to ensure the release of the kidnapped men. The official identified the kidnapped officer as Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Shahid, but provided no other details.
■ CHINA
Beijing's flies targeted
To help Beijing present a spotless image at next year's Olympics, a pair of farmers are trying to rid the capital of flies. Guo Zhanqi and Ji Guijun have been staking out parks and public washrooms to target the flies' breeding grounds, the state-run China Daily reported yesterday. The two have videotaped flies to better understand their prey and have offered to buy flies dead or alive at 2 yuan (US$0.25) apiece, the report said. Their goal, the report said, is eradicating 80 percent of Beijing's insects before next August. So far, the city has said ``no thanks,'' with one official quoted as saying Beijing has plans in place to bring the insect population under control.
■ BANGLADESH
Curfew lifted briefly
Shoppers thronged markets yesterday as a curfew clamped on six cities to reassert the military-backed government's authority after violent clashes was relaxed for most of the day. The restrictions -- imposed on Wednesday after three days of anti-army student protests spread to other cities -- were also lifted for most of Friday but were due to be enforced again yesterday evening. Five university professors have been detained by security forces for their alleged involvement in the protests that spiraled out of control on Wednesday, prompting the government to announce the curfew.
■ ISRAEL
Shoe thief tries exchange
Police arrested a woman who stole a pair of Crocs shoes when she returned to the store hours later to exchange them because they did not fit her son, a police spokesman said on Friday. "The store clerk identified her from security camera footage and called us," said Amos Shimoni, police spokesman in the northern town of Safed. "Instead of exchanging the shoes for another pair, she exchanged them for a criminal record."
■ GERMANY
Dead mother left at home
A man left his dead mother seated in her favorite armchair at their shared home for two years because he could not face organizing a funeral, police in the southern town of Fuerstenfeldbruck said on Friday. The woman died of natural causes in the chair in July 2005 at the age of 92, a police spokesman said. A doctor called to the scene at the time gave the son a death certificate, but he did not register the death. Neighbors alerted police about the corpse. The man told police he could not bear to move his mother and said he never again entered the room where she was seated. Police have started investigating the son for violating burial laws.
■ NORTHERN IRELAND
Man bites girlfriend's snake
A man bit his girlfriend's pet snake in half during a fight and remarked that it ``tasted lovely,'' lawyers testified on Friday. Shane Cooke, a 33-year-old bricklayer, was arraigned in Belfast High Court on charges of assaulting his girlfriend, Coleen McGleenon, and fatally torturing her royal python on Aug. 4. McGleenon's lawyers said he head-butted her twice and picked up her pet, put it in his mouth and threw its severed head at her. ``Your snake tasted lovely,'' he said. Cooke's lawyer, Adrian Higgins, said his client admitted both offenses and had attacked the snake because he knew his girlfriend loved it. He said Cooke, from the border village of Keady, had been consuming alcoholic drinks for several hours before the attack.
■ RUSSIA
Man tries to buy B-52
A well-off man tried to buy a US B-52 bomber from a group of shocked US pilots at an air show near Moscow, a newspaper reported on Friday. The unidentified Russian, wearing sunglasses and surrounded by bodyguards, approached the US delegation and asked to buy the bomber, the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper said. An astounded member of the US delegation said the bomber was not for sale but that it would cost at least $500 million if it were to be sold on the spot. "That is no problem. It is such a cool machine," the Russian said in a conversation overheard by the paper's reporter. The bomber was not sold.
■ AUSTRIA
Luxury Lederhosen for sale
Fancy a pair of luxury lederhosen? A designer is taking orders for personalized lederhosen -- such as a diamond-studded pair he recently sold for US$114,000. Christian Wohlmuther, who owns a clothing business that sells traditional attire based in Bad Mitterndorf, Styria, said on Friday the cost of his creations varies depending on the decoration. Those interested can choose from an array of stones, including garnets, rubies, emeralds and diamonds, which are then mounted on buttons made of sterling silver, gold or platinum.
■ VENEZUELA
Chavez to set time back
President Hugo Chavez has changed his country's name, redesigned its flag and rejigged its coat of arms in his drive for a socialist state. Now the highly popular leftist reformer is seeking to move the country's time zone by half an hour to offer a more equitable distribution of sunlight. Next month Venezuela will turn clocks back by 30 minutes -- to Greenwich Mean Time minus four-and-a-half hours -- as it switches time zones to boost the amount of natural light to residents, Science and Technology Minister Hector Navarro told reporters at a news conference. He said the measure sought "a more fair distribution of the sunrise," which would help poor children who wake up before dawn to go to school.
■ UNITED STATES
Beer run ends in arrest
Two tourists who sprinkled flour in a parking lot to mark a trail for their running club instead set off a bioterrorism scare and now face a felony charge. The sprinkled powder forced hundreds to evacuate an IKEA furniture store on Thursday. Daniel and Dorothee Salchow, from Germany, were charged with first-degree breach of peace, a felony. The siblings are part of the Hash House Harriers, which calls itself a "drinking club with a running problem." The runs typically end with beer stops at bars or homes. The Salchows said they have sprinkled flour everywhere from New York to California without incident. Mayoral spokeswoman Jessica Mayorga said the city of New Haven plans to seek restitution from the Salchows.
■ UNITED STATES
Pilot finds stowaway snake
A pilot flying solo across Mississippi discovered a stowaway -- a gray rat snake. Ed Carruth discovered the snake when it began "licking" his arm on Thursday, he told Brookhaven's Daily Leader. "I've been flying planes for 50 years and over 14,000 hours, and this is the most unusual in-flight emergency I've encountered," he said. Carruth said he did "some aerobatics" until the snake moved to the back of the plane. Officials called a snake expert to remove the reptils when Carruth arrived at Brookhaven Municipal Airport after his flight from Meridian.
■ UNITED STATES
`Peeping Tom' tied up
A group of campers tied a peeping Tom suspect to a tree, keeping him bound until police arrived. Richard Berkey, 63, was charged with private indecency by sheriff's deputies who were called to the Big Fan Campground near Bagby Hot Springs in Oregon last weekend, Clackamas County Detective Jim Strovink said. Campers told deputies they recognized Berkey from a similar incident at the campground last year and wanted to make sure he did not get away. Berkey was caught in an area the women used as an open latrine. He is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 18.
■ UNITED STATES
Girl gets jail for fatal crash
A teenage driver was sentenced to two years in county jail in Redwood City, California, on Friday for causing a freeway crash that killed two members of Tonga's royal family and their driver. Edith Delgado, now 19, was racing another driver when she slammed into a sport utility vehicle carrying Prince Tu'ipelehake, 55; his wife, Princess Kaimana Aleamotu'a Tuku'aho, 46; and their driver, Vinisia Hefa, 36. Delgado, who will receive credit for the year she already spent in county jail as well as for her good behavior as an inmate, likely will spend another four to six months in jail, prosecutors said. She will begin her sentence on Sept. 1.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia