■ MALAYSIA
Twins' sex still uncertain
Doctors have not determined the sex of conjoined twins born four days ago to a Malaysian couple, a report said yesterday. "The doctors have yet to identify our babies' gender. They have also yet to determine if the babies are sharing any internal organs," Norhisyam Mohamad, 30, the twins' father, was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times newspaper. The twins are joined at the abdomen and buttocks and each have a pair of legs. The premature twins and their mother Sopiah Daud, 30, are in stable condition. The couple have three other children.
■ THAILAND
Three shot dead in south
Suspected rebels have shot dead three local government employees in Yala Province, police said yesterday. A 59-year-old elementary-school teacher was shot as he waited for a bus, while a 52-year-old police officer and a 44-year-old security guard at a technical college were killed in separate drive-by shootings on Monday, local police said.
■ CHINA
Satellite discovers glaciers
A satellite has discovered 42 glaciers on the roof of the world, the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, where ice is shrinking because of global warming, and the group could be the biggest of them all, state media said yesterday. Beijing has become increasingly concerned about global warming as studies show glaciers retreating on the plateau, where China's largest rivers originate. The 49 glaciers were found by satellite imagery in Bomi County, which has an average altitude of 4,200m above sea level, the China Daily reported. The rivers of ice on the plateau are crucial for drinking water and irrigation at ground level.
■ AFGHANISTAN
Bus crash kills at least 32
At least 32 people were killed and 35 injured when two buses collided head-on, an official said yesterday. The incident happened on a highway in Ghazni Province just before dusk on Monday, the provincial police chief said. "Two passenger buses hit each other nose-to-nose ... in Gilan district of Ghazni Province around 6pm yesterday while traveling at high speed," Ali Shah Ahmadzai said. Five children and two women were among the victims, he said, adding the toll could rise as most of the injured were in critical condition and there was a lack of medical facilities and supplies at the scene.
■ CHINA
Tip-offs now taken online
Whistle-blowers who report crimes and corruption will be better protected as the country establishes a new Internet and phone reporting system, state media said yesterday. According to the Supreme People's Prosecution Office, 60 percent of the nearly 200,000 cases it handles each year originate from tip-offs by members of the public, the China Daily reported. But due to the lack of protection for whistle-blowers under Chinese law, many people who identify and expose incidents of crime and graft suffer retaliation from people they report on -- who are mostly corrupt officials.
■ MALAYSIA
Orangutan attacks tourist
An orangutan at a wildlife sanctuary fought with a French tourist for her backpack, leaving her bruised and scratched, an official said yesterday. Odile Nordon, 24, was taking photographs of Delima, a female orangutan roaming free in the Semenggoh Wildlife Center on Borneo island on Sunday, when the animal grabbed at the backpack, said Wilfred Landong, the chief park warden of Sarawak State. They fought briefly over the bag, with Delima ripping Nordon's pants. "She had scratches and bruise marks on her knees and thighs," Landong said. Nordon, who managed to keep her backpack, told the New Straits Times newspaper that she thought orangutans were "friendly, cuddly creatures. It's a painful lesson to find out the truth."
RSS