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World News Quick Take

■ HONG KONG

Bird park closed over virus

The government ordered the famed Mai Po bird sanctuary closed for three weeks yesterday after a great egret found nearby was suspected of dying from bird flu, officials said. Preliminary tests indicated the great egret may have contracted the H5 virus, and more tests were being conducted to confirm whether it was the H5N1 strain, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said late on Tuesday. Last year, 21 wild birds infected with H5N1 were discovered, but the territory has not suffered a major outbreak of the disease since 1997.



■ JAPAN

Foreign ministry attacked

A man threw a Molotov cocktail into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs compound yesterday and slashed himself with a knife, but there were no other injuries or damage, police in Tokyo said. The man was rushed to a hospital for his cuts, and the motive for the attack was unknown, a police officer said. Kyodo News agency reported the man climbed over a fence surrounding the ministry and threw a bottle filled with a flammable liquid.



■ INDONESIA

`Tempo' sorry for parody

A leading magazine has apologized to Christians for depicting former president Suharto and his family in an image parodying Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper in the cover of its latest edition. Weekly magazine Tempo's cover showed a sketch of Suharto, who died at 86 last month, sitting at a table surrounded by his children in a parody of the last meal Jesus had with his disciples as depicted in Da Vinci's painting. Christian activists visited Tempo's building on Tuesday to protest the cover.



■ AUSTRALIA

Transsexual sues police

A transsexual is suing two policemen for allegedly telling her unsuspecting boyfriend about her gender switch, leading to a violent confrontation, Sydney's Daily Telegraph reported yesterday. Brigitte Fell has launched a lawsuit accusing the officers of breaching privacy laws by telling her then-boyfriend about the sex change while he was in police custody, the paper said. Constables Tyrone Stacey and Brendan Ritson pleaded not guilty in a Sydney court on Tuesday and could face two years jail if convicted of unlawfully disclosing information, the paper said.



■ PHILIPPINES

Abu Sayyaf suspect nabbed

Police in the south said yesterday they arrested a Muslim militant involved in the mass kidnapping of tourists in 2001 that led to the death of five people. Al Muadz Ismael, a member of the Abu Sayyaf group, was arrested in a raid in Isabela City on Basilan on Tuesday, police Chief Inspector Albert Larubis said. He said Ismael was arrested for stealing a motorcycle, but was then found to be facing charges for the 2001 kidnappings. Ismael is believed to be part of an Abu Sayyaf cell that seized three Americans and a group of Filipinos from a resort off Palawan.



■ NEW ZEALAND

Baby to be treated in US

A severely deformed baby who was refused medical treatment in New Zealand has been granted a US visa and is heading to Miami for surgery, supporters said yesterday. Miracletina Nanai was born six months ago in Samoa with missing eyeballs and fingers, deformed feet and spinal cord, a partial brain and a double cleft palate. New Zealand denied the family visas in December, saying experts had decided there was no treatment that would benefit Nanai's quality of life.



■ CHAD

French minister arrives

French Defense Minister Herve Morin arrived in N'Djamena yesterday in a show of support for President Idriss Deby, who survived a weekend assault on the capital by rebels seeking to topple him. Meanwhile, UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon said the world body had evacuated most of its staff from the country because of worries for their safety. Ban said he was leaving in place a small number of UN peacekeepers and other personnel in the capital and that the UN would do as much as it could to help resolve the crisis.



■ UNITED STATES

Drug lord gets 30 years

A Colombian drugs kingpin described by US authorities as one of the world's most significant international cocaine barons was sentenced to 30 years in jail by a New York court on Tuesday. Manuel Felipe Salazar-Espinosa, 58, also known as "Hoover," was convicted on narcotics and money laundering charges. He was arrested in Colombia in 2005 while planning a cocaine shipment for the US. He was extradited to the US in August 2006 and put on trial and convicted last year. "Today's sentence puts an end to the 20-year criminal career of Hoover Salazar, one of the world's most significant cocaine kingpins," US attorney Michael Garcia said after the sentencing.



■ UNITED STATES

School receives US$5m

The checks to Temple University really were in the mail -- for US$5 million. It was a total surprise for the school to receive the anonymous donations, which were sent via mail from a bank in Arizona, said Stuart Sullivan, Temple's senior vice president for institutional advancement. One envelope contained a US$1 million bank check for the university to use however it chooses, Sullivan said on Tuesday. The second held a US$4 million check to endow a scholarship for women and minorities. The school contacted the bank to try to find out more, but the donors insisted on remaining anonymous, Sullivan said.



■ UNITED KINGDOM

Blind musician wins suit

A blind calypso musician and his band who were thrown off a Ryanair plane as suspected terrorists were awarded a total of £4,000 (US$7,900) in damages on Tuesday. Michael Toussaint and four members of the London-based Caribbean Steel International Orchestra were escorted off the plane at gunpoint by Italian police without warning or explanation and were not allowed back on despite being cleared by authorities within 20 minutes. A judge ruled that Ryainair had not acted reasonably and had failed in its duty of care to the passengers, particularly Toussaint, who was entitled to special care because of his disability.



■ UNITED STATES

No serving fat customers

A lawmaker in Mississippi wants to ban restaurants from serving food to obese customers -- but please, don't be offended. He says he does not expect his plan to become law. "I was trying to shed a little light on the No. 1 problem in Mississippi," said Republican Representative John Read, who said that at 1.8m and 104kg, he would probably have a tough time getting served under his own bill. More than 30 percent of adults in Mississippi are considered obese, a study last year by the Trust for America's Health showed. The state House Public Health Committee chairman, Democrat Steve Holland, said he would "shred" the bill.
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