■ INDIA
Priest commits suicide
A Hindu priest killed himself with the promise he would come back to life after two days, police said on Monday. Manoj Baghel, described as an intensely religious man, poisoned himself in front of a small crowd on Saturday at a temple in Raigarh in Chhattisgarh state, police said. He was taken to hospital and died soon after. Police have registered a case of suicide, but have been unable to take the 25-year-old's body for an autopsy because supporters have insisted on returning the body to the temple and waiting to see what happens.
■ CHINA
Cash find leads to jail
A villager has been jailed for 10 years for keeping 80,000 yuan (US$11,000) in cash he found in a plastic bag at the scene of a car accident, local media reported yesterday. In April, Qin Li found a black plastic bag in front of a diesel truck that had crashed nearby his home in Liaoning Province. He took the bag home and discovered the cash inside. "After four days, Qin Li's parents deposited 70,000 yuan into two separate bank accounts and kept 10,000 for personal use," the Beijing News reported. Qin's lawyer argued that he had not stolen the bag surreptitiously, discovering the cash only upon returning home.
■ CHINA
More baby tigers killed
Two Siberian baby tigers have been discovered dead in a refrigerator at a zoo, the second such incident in less than a week involving the endangered species in a country where tiger body parts are treasured as medicines. State media reported on Monday that the baby tigers were found over the weekend in the freezer in the ticketing office of the Three Gorges Forest Wildlife Park in Chongqing Province. "They were born not long ago and are now dead," a park employee was quoted by the Beijing News as saying. The discovery came days after a Siberian tiger was found skinned and beheaded at a zoo in the same area.
■ INDONESIA
Inmates get Christmas gift
Jakarta freed 312 inmates on Christmas for good behavior, an official said yesterday. Another 7,500 or so received reductions in their sentences, ranging from 15 days to two months, Mohammad Syueib of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights told Elshinta news radio. Inmates must have a record of good behavior for the past six months to receive the sentence reduction, though those on death row or serving life terms are not eligible. Sentence reductions of up to six months are granted twice a year -- one to mark Independence Day and the other on major religious holidays, distributed according to a convict's faith.
■ INDONESIA
Boat sinks in storm
Rescue workers combed waters after a small boat sank in stormy seas off the western coast, leaving at least two passengers dead and seven others missing, police said yesterday. "The captain could not control the boat because of the high waves, and it eventually capsized in the Malacca Strait," said Agus Sarjito, a police chief on Sumatra island. The motorized, wooden ship was traveling between two coastal villages in Riau Province on Monday when the accident occurred, he said, adding almost all the passengers on board were women and children. Strong winds and 3m waves forced rescuers to briefly suspend search operations Tuesday, Sarjito said.
■ RUSSIA
Arms sales climb to US$7bn
Arms exports were worth a record US$7 billion this year, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Monday. "Since 2000 our arms exports have nearly doubled and in 2006 we hit the record sum of US$6.5 billion. This year we have a good chance of passing the US$7 billion mark," the Ria Novosti news agency quoted Ivanov as saying. These figures confirm the country's dominant position among arms exporters, Ivanov said. According to the head of the federal service for military technical cooperation, Mikhail Dmitriyev, the biggest sellers during the year were the Sukhoi and MiG fighter jets, Mi helicopters and T-90C tanks.
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