■ PAKISTAN
Army's top medic killed
A suicide bomber killed the army's top medical officer and seven others in Rawalpindi yesterday. The chief of the army's medical corps, Lieutenant-General Mushtaq Ahmed Baig, died with two of his staff and five passers-by. Twelve others were wounded. "The general was on his way home and his car was stopped at a traffic light. The bomber was on foot and blew himself up there," Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said. He said the bomber was about 16 years old.
■ PAKISTAN
YouTube blocked
The government has banned access to the video-sharing Web site YouTube because of anti-Islamic movies that users have posted on the site, an official said. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) told the country's 70 Internet service providers on Friday that the Web site would be blocked until further notice. It did not specify what the offensive material was, but a PTA official said on Sunday that the ban concerned a movie trailer for an upcoming film by Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, who has said he plans to release an anti-Koran movie portraying the religion as fascist and prone to inciting violence against women and homosexuals.
■ NORTH KOREA
NY Philharmonic arrives
The New York Philharmonic arrived yesterday afternoon for a landmark concert aimed at improving ties with the US. A plane carrying members of the orchestra along with staff and journalists landed in Pyongyang on the eve of the concert. The orchestra was founded in 1842 and is the oldest US symphony orchestra. The Pyongyang event -- to be telecast nationwide and abroad -- will also feature George Gershwin's An American in Paris and Antonin Dvorak's New World Symphony.
■ SOUTH KOREA
Reservist wins hair suit
A 26-year-old man has been granted a national merit entitling him to government subsidies after he went bald during his "stressful" army service, a news report said on Sunday. A court in Suwon recently ruled in favor of a petition by the army reservist, known as Mr Kwon, to get a "person-of-national-merit" status, Yonhap News Agency said. People of national merit are entitled to a monthly state subsidy for livelihood and various other social benefits. Kwon joined the army in December 2002 and his hair began falling out in July 2004. He blamed his training for the alopecia, which has worsened, and demanded compensation from the government, Yonhap said. He was discharged from the service in January 2005.
■ CHINA
Revelers attack police
An entrepreneur led an attack on a police station after he was ordered to stop setting off firecrackers, state media reported on Sunday. Zhang Jiuyuan (章久元), a telecom executive in Dazhou, was among a group celebrating the end of Lunar New Year last Thursday by setting off firecrackers in a square where they had been banned, the Beijing News said. After police stopped them, Zhang led an attack on the police station. Twelve police officers were injured, including a female official who was beaten unconscious, the paper said. Zhang and seven others were arrested, it reported. Zhang, the general manager of Dazhou Telecom Industrial Co , was elected one the "Top Ten Star Philanthropists" in Sichuan Province last year for donating money to rural infrastructure and supporting undergraduates.
■ GERMANY
Quake rattles Saarland
A mild earthquake caused by coal mining shook the western state of Saarland on Saturday, causing damage to buildings, but no injuries. A police spokesman in the Saarlouis region on the French border said the earthquake measured 4.0 on the Richter scale, the strongest on record in the area, and had knocked over chimneys and caused electricity outages. After the quake, about 1,000 demonstrators gathered near the epicenter in Saarwellingen, police said, to demand an end to mining work which has sparked dozens of small tremors this year alone.
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