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■ CHINA

More executions commuted

For the first time in its modern history, the government has commuted more death sentences this year than it has carried out, the country's top judge said. International rights groups estimate that the country executes more people than any other. But Beijing has been slowly reforming the death penalty system after several high-profile wrongful convictions raised public anger. "The number of death sentences has been gradually decreasing and human rights are being better protected," Chief Justice Xiao Yang (肖揚) told a conference on court reform, the China Daily reported.



■ MYANMAR

Bird flu discovered

A new outbreak of bird flu has been detected among chickens in an eastern district near the Chinese border, official media said yesterday. The outbreak was found at a farm in Kengtung township of eastern Shan State on Nov. 18, after a farmer reported an unusual number of deaths in his chickens, the New Light of Myanmar said. The government newspaper said an unspecified number of chickens were slaughtered and restrictions were imposed on the movement of poultry in the area.



■ THAILAND

Police may go short-sleeved

Police officers may be allowed to cool off by wearing a new short-sleeve uniform in a move to help save energy at police stations, a government spokesman said yesterday. Thai police currently have only a brown, torso-hugging long-sleeve uniform that they wear even while directing traffic in Bangkok's sweltering heat. But approving a new uniform is a complicated process, an official said.



■ CHINA

Gas station explodes

A powerful explosion at a gas station in Shanghai killed four people yesterday, including a cyclist a kilometer away who was struck by flying debris. Xinhua news agency said the victims included two men who were doing maintenance work at the station, which was being renovated. Dozens were injured, including several passengers in a bus that was hit by shockwaves from the blast. Investigators have put initial blame for the accident on the maintenance men, Xinhua said.



■ CAMBODIA

Rescuers search for racers

Divers, fishermen and police resumed searching yesterday for five Singaporeans whose boat capsized in a swirling current during a dragon boat race on the Tonle Sap River. The rowers disappeared after competing on Friday evening. There were 22 people on the boat when it capsized in the swirling current, and police boats rescued 17 of them immediately. "At the pier, they asked the tow boat to untie the rope to let them go on rowing for leisure. They hit a swirling spot, and the boat capsized," said Chea Sokhom, one of the festival organizers.



■ JAPAN

Avalanche kills four climbers

Four climbers were killed in northern Japan after their group was hit by a snow avalanche, an official said yesterday. The avalanche hit the group of 11 on Friday on Mt. Kamihorokamettoku in Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost main island. Seven of the group managed to escape and tried unsuccessfully to revive two men and a woman they pulled clear, the official said. Rescuers recovered the three yesterday morning when they also found the body of a man from the same group who had been missing on the 1,920m mountain since the avalanche hit. The seven survivors were not injured, said the police official. Kyodo News agency said that an avalanche warning had been issued for the area during Thursday and Friday morning.



■ THAILAND

Flag bill seeks to halt cars

A proposed new law to boost patriotism in Thailand would be "chaotic" because it would require motorists to stop when the national anthem is played twice a day, lawmakers said on Friday. A vote on the Flag bill proposed by a group of retired and active duty generals in the army-appointed parliament was deferred on Thursday to allow a committee to study it. "It would be chaotic if the bill had passed as it is now. So the National Legislative Assembly decided to set up a panel to review it," NLA member Wallop Tangkananurak said. The bill's supporters say road traffic should stop nationwide when the anthem is played during the raising and lowering of the flag "to preserve tradition and instill patriotism in Thais."



■ INDONESIA

Police seize ecstasy pills

Authorities seized ecstasy tablets with an estimated street value of US$5 million during raids across Jakarta and arrested five people including two Malaysians, police said yesterday. Nearly 500,000 pills were confiscated at several apartments, said Brigadier General Indradi Thanos, the director of narcotics for the national police. "We believe the suspects are part of an international syndicate," said Thanos, adding that they were apparently planning to set up a factory in Indonesia. "We are still looking for two other Malaysians who allegedly masterminded the operation." Under Indonesia's tough drug laws, the men arrested could face a maximum penalty of death if convicted.



■ UNITED KINGDOM

U2 plays surprise gig

Irish rock band U2, used to filling the world's biggest venues, played a surprise gig on Friday in a London church before just 250 people. Lead singer Bono and guitarist The Edge turned up to perform a low-key acoustic set at the Union Chapel in Islington in north London. The crowd had no idea U2 would feature among the acts at the Little Noise Sessions in aid of Mencap, a British charity working with people suffering from learning disabilities. Event curator Jo Whiley, a BBC radio disc jockey, introduced the "very special guests."



■ GERMANY

Dog bears swastika

Police are investigating a 29-year-old man suspected of shaving banned Nazi symbols into his dog's fur. Police in Straubing, Bavaria, said on Thursday they had found the dog with a swastika and the insignia of the elite Waffen-SS troops marked on its body. They made the discovery when the suspect's ex-girlfriend requested police help to collect her belongings from his apartment because she was afraid of him. It was not clear if the man had shown the dog in public, a police spokesman said. "If he only kept the dog inside the apartment, it wouldn't be public," he said.



■ KENYA

Man survives on urine

A helicopter pilot described on Friday how he had been forced to drink his own urine and eat leaves to survive for eight days after crashing in the jungle. Solomon Nyanjui, a retired major who works for the Kenya Wildlife Service, broke several ribs when his helicopter crashed on Nov. 15 in the Mount Kenya region, about 110km north of Nairobi. "I realized even leaves are sweet because I fed on them together with my urine after the water I had ran out," he said from his hospital bed. Nyanjui, who was rescued earlier on Friday after a week-long search, said he never doubted he would live to tell his amazing tale.



■ GAZA STRIP

Soldiers kill two farmers

Soldiers killed two Palestinian farmers near the fence on the northern border with Israel, Palestinian hospital officials said yesterday. They said the bodies of the two brothers in their mid-40s were recovered from Beit Hanoun, a Gaza frontier town favored by Palestinian militants for cross-border rocket launches. An Israeli military spokeswoman said troops operating in the area shot two Palestinians on Friday night. "They approached our unit in a suspicious manner, crouched over," the spokeswoman said. She had no immediate word on whether the soldiers were patrolling Israel's side of the fence or inside Gazan territory.



■ ITALY

Expert skeptical about cave

A leading archeologist said on Friday that the grotto whose discovery was announced this week in Rome is not the sacred cave linked to the myth of the city's foundation by Romulus and Remus. The Culture Ministry and experts who presented the find said they were "reasonably certain" the cavern is the Lupercale -- a sanctuary worshipped for centuries by Romans because, according to legend, a wolf nursed the twin brothers there. But Adriano La Regina, Rome's superintendent of archeology from 1976 to 2004, said ancient descriptions of the place suggest the Lupercale is elsewhere. He believes the newly discovered cave was a room in Nero's first palace.



■ UNITED STATES

Congressman files complaint

A black congressman who was issued a ticket last week after being pulled over while driving with three black passengers has accused the Chicago police of racial profiling in the traffic stop. Representative Danny Davis said he was driving his Mercury Grand Marquis just after midnight on Monday on the city's West Side when two police officers pulled him over and asked to see his driver's license and proof of insurance. When Davis asked why they had stopped him, he said, they accused him of weaving and they ticketed him for driving left of the center line.



■ UNITED STATES

Eight cited for mooning

The Mount Washington Cog Railway, which chugs up the side of New England's tallest peak, has been called the Railway to the Moon. Some people have been taking that title a bit too literally. The White Mountain National Forest, most of which is in New Hampshire, has cracked down on hikers who drop their pants and moon the cog railway. Eight people were cited by undercover officers for public nudity or disorderly conduct during a sting operation in August and September after some passengers complained that they had seen more on the mountain than they had bargained for.



■ UNITED STATES

University president resigns

The president of a conservative Christian university facing accusations he misspent school funds to support a lavish lifestyle resigned on Friday, officials said. Richard Roberts' of Oklahoma's Oral Roberts University resignation is effective immediately, said a statement e-mailed from George Pearsons, chairman of the school's Board of Regents. Roberts and the university have come under fire since a lawsuit was filed by three former professors last month. The lawsuit includes allegations of a US$39,000 shopping tab at one store for Richard Roberts' wife, Lindsay, a US$29,411 Bahamas senior trip on the university jet for one of Roberts' daughters and a stable of horses for the Roberts children.



■ ARUBA

Brothers detained

A judge on Friday ordered an extended detention of two brothers held in the disappearance of US teenager Natalee Holloway after reviewing new evidence in the case, Aruba prosecutor Hans Mos said. Surinamese brothers Satish and Deepak Kalpoe will be detained in separate police stations for at least eight more days while prosecutors pursue the investigation -- focusing in part on cell phone calls and text messages between the brothers and a third suspect, Joran van der Sloot, prosecutor Dop Kruimel said. "It's part of the investigation," she said, declining to give further details. "We do everything we can to see what happened."



■ IRAQ

Militants arrested

At least 45 suspected al-Qaeda in Iraq militants have been arrested over the past 24 hours in and around the northern Iraqi oil hub of Kirkuk by US and Iraqi forces, police said yesterday. More then 3,500 Iraqi forces backed by hundreds of US troops carried out raids targeting al-Qaeda in Iraq fighters around Kirkuk since Friday, police Major General Torhan Yussef said. "Forty-five al-Qaeda-linked militants have been arrested since Friday and police have imposed a curfew in Kirkuk," said Yussef. Kikruk police Brigadier General Sarhad Qader said a series of raids were also conducted in Hawija, west of Kirkuk.




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