■ CHINA
Lewd shows earn rap
The nation's broadcast authority has chastised a television station for violating a ban on lewd programming. In a notice posted on its Web site, the State Administration of Radio Film and Television said Hubei People's TV had rebroadcast programs this month that were banned in September. No details of the program were given, and people reached by phone at the station and the state and Hubei provincial television administrations refused to give any details. The notice said only that the program had violated a ban on programming containing references to "sex lives, sexual experiences, sexual reflections, sex organs and the effects of sex tonics."
■ PHILIPPINES
Notorious killer to be freed
Authorities said yesterday they were freeing a notorious killer who murdered an Italian priest 23 years ago and then claimed to have eaten parts of his brain. Justice secretary Raul Gonzalez said Norberto Manero was granted executive clemency by former president Fidel Ramos in 1998, setting aside a life sentence. But Ramos left office soon after and Manero's release was held back by successive governments. "We are aware that delaying release of the prisoner is punishable under our revised penal code," Gonzalez said. Manero and five others were convicted for the abduction and murder of Tulio Favali on the island of Mindanao. Manero boasted he ate parts of the priest's brain after shooting him.
■ INDONESIA
Airline chief in murder case
Prosecutors said yesterday they are seeking an 18-month jail sentence for the former chief of national airline Garuda over the 2004 murder of a prominent activist. Indra Setiawan is accused of being an accessory to the murder of Munir Said Thalib, who died from poisoning on a Garuda flight in 2004. "Indra Setiawan has been proven legally to have facilitated a planned murder," prosecutor Didi Parhan said. Former Garuda pilot, Pollycarpus Priyanto, was originally found guilty of the murder but his conviction was quashed. Munir provided legal counsel for victims of officially-sanctioned violence during former president Suharto's regime.
■ INDIA
Organ-selling ring broken
As many as 500 poor people may have been tricked into operations by a gang of organ traders selling kidneys in a wealthy suburb of New Dehli, the Indian Express reported yesterday. Police in Gurgaon raided a house late Thursday on a tip-off from a middleman who was arrested earlier this week, the daily reported. Two people, including a doctor, were arrested while three others who had recently been operated on were taken to hospital, the report said. Police Commissioner Mohinder Lal told the paper that laborers had been paid between 50,000 rupees (US$1,250) and 75,000 rupees for a kidney, which were were later sold by doctors for between 800,000 and 1 million rupees.
■ HONG KONG
Expat banker sentenced
A top banker has been given a jail term for assaulting a female taxi driver, the Hong Kong Standard reported yesterday. Andrew Dyer, a managing director at Standard Chartered Bank, was sentenced to two years' jail, suspended for five years, the paper said. Dyer got into the taxi with a colleague in 2006. He said he was unhappy with the driver's attitude. After getting out of the car and being annoyed at receiving coins as change, Dyer reached into the cab and hit the driver in the face. When she got out, he pushed her to the ground and hit her again. Dyer blamed the incident on cultural and language barriers.
■ AUSTRALIA
Partying teen turns pro
A teenager who hosted a wild party that caused a near-riot after 500 guests saw his Internet invitation has decided to turn professional and will host a national party tour, he said on Thursday. Corey Delaney, 16, became notorious after throwing a party while his parents were on holidays. He posted a MySpace notice and revelers caused A$20,000 (US$17,500) in damage before the party was broken up by police and the dog squad. Delaney said he had taken on an agent and had given up plans to be a carpenter to host and DJ parties in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne over the next two months.
■ JAPAN
Tabloids turn on princess
Crown Princess Masako came under fire this week from tabloids for slacking off by wining and dining with family and friends even though a stress-induced mental illness has left her unable to perform most of her royal duties for the last few years. Headlines such as: "A full private life: Official duties only twice, but over 50 outings," have even prompted the government to launch a rare campaign against "false" reports and protest to one magazine.
■ CANADA
Gamblers get lucky
Police said on Thursday they are trying to track down gamblers who took advantage of a casino change-making machine in Regina, Saskatchewan, that was giving out US$20 bills instead of US$5 bills. Saskatchewan Gaming Corp president Marty Klyne said the machine at Casino Regina was mistakenly misloaded and a cartridge containing US$20 bills was put in the slot were US$5 bills go. It took a day and a half for someone to point out the mistake, and, by then C$27,500 (US$27,236) had been lost. Klyne said the casino had recovered C$13,400, including C$11,000 from one person alone.
■ UNITED STATES
Woman finds frog in food
A woman found a tiny frog nestled comfortably in the leaves of organic lettuce she was preparing to eat in New York. "I jumped away," said 39-year-old Yvonne Brechbuhler, who described the green critter as no bigger than the tip of her pinky finger. "I didn't know what it was. But once I realized it was a frog, I was OK," the Brooklyn resident told the Daily News in Thursday editions. Intrigued, she named the frog "Curious." Brechbuhler, a stage actress, said she bought the lettuce at her local food co-op and kept it in the refrigerator three days before using it last week.
■ UNITED STATES
Couple give FAA the finger
A couple angry at the noise from jets flying over their house expressed their anger at aviation officials by painting an obscene message on the roof of their home in Folsom, Pennsylvania. The 2.13m tall sign is directed at the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, which recently altered the plane routes around Philadelphia International Airport. It reads "F -- U F.A.A.," referring to a four-letter expletive. "Just doing it made me feel better, but I'd still like to say what I wrote directly to the idiot head of the FAA," homeowner Michael Hall told the Philadelphia Daily News for Thursday's editions. FAA spokesman Jim Peters had no comment to the paper.
■ UNITED STATES
Man ordered to be homeless
A judge in Painesville, Ohio, ordered a charity worker who stole a holiday kettle containing about US$250 to spend the night homeless. Nathen Smith, 28, was to spend the night anywhere but a house, said Municipal Judge Michael Cicconetti. Smith was fitted with a GPS device to track his moves. "My initial reaction was, `Wow.' But I don't think the sentence is too harsh," said Smith, who expected to spend Thursday night in a homeless shelter. "I can see the judge's point because what I did, I shouldn't have done. Now I've got to pay the consequences." The Salvation Army charity uses kettle donations to help pay for food, clothing and shelter for the homeless. Smith, who also received a three-day jail sentence, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of theft.
■ BRAZIL
Woman's hair hacked off
Two men on a motorcycle grabbed a housewife, pulled out a machete and cut off the hair she had been growing for two decades, police said on Thursday. The woman, whose name was not released, told police she was walking to church when she was assaulted late on Tuesday, police officer Antonio Williams da Silva said by telephone from the northeastern city of Aracaju. "She was an evangelical and said she hadn't cut her hair for 20 years," da Silva said. "It must have been nearly a meter-and-a-half long.
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
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
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not