■ 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
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