■ INDONESIA
Toddler, teen die of bird flu
Bird flu killed a three-year-old boy and a teenager, the health ministry announced, bringing the country's death toll from the disease to 105. The latest victim was identified only as Han, a toddler from Jakarta, who died on Friday at a hospital in the city, radio El-Shinta reported on Saturday. Nyoman Kandun, a senior Health Ministry official, confirmed the report. It was not clear how he was infected. Earlier on Saturday, the Health Ministry said a 16-year-old boy from Central Java Province died of bird flu.
■ INDIA
New arms policy on the way
The government plans to purchase billions of dollars worth of military hardware in the next five years and will soon relax strict rules on arms imports, officials say. A new Defense Procurement Policy (DPP) will be unveiled by April, Defense Minister A.K. Antony said on Saturday. Many of the major players in the race to grab a share of arms deals see the current so-called offset policy part of the DPP as restricting growth. The policy stipulates foreign firms selling products to India must re-invest up to 50 percent of the total amount through tie-ups and services in the country.
■ THAILAND
Politician assassinated
A gunman opened fire inside a mosque in the restive south, killing a Muslim politician who was among dozens gathered for evening prayers, police said yesterday. The gunman entered the mosque in Pattani Province on Saturday evening and joined about 40 others who were kneeled in prayer. He then pulled out a gun and shot Madori Buraheng, a 40-year-old town official, at close range before fleeing on a motorcycle, army spokesman Colonel Akara Thiprote said.
■ AUSTRALIA
E Timor negotiations panned
East Timor's government should reconsider its policy of negotiating with rebel fighters after a botched assassination on the president, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said yesterday. East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta was shot during a shoot-out with rebels at his Dili home last Monday. The events prompted Canberra to boost its troop deployment to its northern neighbor. Smith said "President Ramos-Horta himself was very strongly of the view they should try to get a negotiated settlement." "That's something now the East Timorese government may wish to reflect upon, given what's occurred," he said.
■ THAILAND
Residents protest noise
Residents near Bangkok's new international airport have threatened to disrupt air traffic by launching fireworks and balloons to protest over a delay in compensation for noise pollution, reports said yesterday. Community leaders said they had no choice but to carry out the threat this week after a series of failed talks with Aviation authorities and the operator of Suvarnabhumi Airport, the English-language daily Nation said. Suvarnabhumi airport opened in 2006. Residents near the airport complain about sleep deprivation because of noise pollution and demanded that the government help pay for soundproofing of their homes or for eventual relocation. The aviation authorities started giving residents sleeping pills to try to settle the dispute, which only prompted locals to accuse the authorities of being insincere.
■ DENMARK
Committee cancels Iran trip
The parliament's foreign policy committee said on Saturday it had cancelled a trip to Iran next week over demands it apologize for a controversial Prophet Mohammed cartoon in Danish newspapers. "The Iranian parliament wanted our delegation to present an official apology to Iran. We said `absolutely not' ... We cannot do that, it would be a violation of freedom of expression," the committee's deputy chairman Jeppe Kofod said. Newspapers chose to republish the cartoon after police uncovered an alleged plot in the Scandinavian country to kill the cartoonist.
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