■ CHINA
New Year killing spree
A 21-year-old man in the north has been arrested after allegedly murdering nine of his relatives who had gathered to celebrate the Lunar New Year, state press reported yesterday. A five-year-old child was among the victims of the killing spree on Tuesday, the final day of the week-long New Year holiday, Xinhua news agency said. The killings were believed to have followed a family dispute, Xinhua said in a brief report that gave few other details, such as how the people were murdered. Police arrested the man on Wednesday not far from the where the murders took place in Baoding City, Hebei Province.
■ CHINA
Ghost stories spook Beijing
Authorities have added ghosts, monsters and other things that go bump in the night to its list of banned video and audio content in a crackdown ahead of the Beijing Olympics. Producers have around three weeks to check their tapes for "horror" and report it to authorities, the General Administration of Press and Publications said. Offending content included "wronged spirits and violent ghosts, monsters, demons, and other inhuman portrayals, strange and supernatural storytelling for the sole purpose of seeking terror and horror," it said.
■ KOREA
How deep is your love?
Valentine's Day means chocolates, romantic dinners and a high-tech mobile phone device that can secretly check the passion in the voice of a lover. The "Love Detector" service from mobile operator KTF uses technology that is supposed to analyze voice patterns to see if a lover is speaking honestly and with affection. Users who speak by pointing their phones at themselves for video conferences can see a "love meter" bar on the screen of their handset during a conversation. They later receive an analysis delivered by text message that breaks down the amount of affection, surprise, concentration and honesty of the other speaker.
■ CAMBODIA
US debt low on priority list
There are more pressing concerns than repaying millions of dollars to the US, a government spokesman said yesterday, rebuffing Washington's latest demand for settlement of loans from the 1970s. "We have many affairs to attend to," said government spokesman Khieu Kanharith, noting that repaying the US$339 million was not high on its priority list. The comments came a day after Scot Marciel, the US State Department's deputy assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific affairs, urged Cambodia to sign a draft agreement on repaying the debt. The debt stems from rice, cotton and other commodities financed by low-interest loans the US provided during the regime of General Lon Nol in the early 1970s.
■ JAPAN
Dog saves elderly man's life
Police on Thursday praised a dog who found an elderly man who fell over in freezing conditions at night. The three-year-old black Lab, named Dor, started barking when she was taking a walk with owner Koichi Wada in Iwade last month, a police officer said. "The dog led Mr. Wada to a nearby irrigation ditch, where an elderly man was lying face up," the officer said. The 86-year-old man had been soaked in water up to his ears. "Since it was cold and already dark, the man would have been frozen to death if she had not smelled something and told it to her owner." Iwade police on Wednesday gave a certificate of gratitude to Wada. "The certificate went to the owner as there is no precedent for a dog getting a certificate," the officer said.
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