■AFGHANISTAN
Blast kills NATO troops
An explosion in the south of the country killed two NATO soldiers yesterday, the alliance said. Two other soldiers were wounded and were evacuated to a military base for treatment, NATO said in a statement. It did not disclose the exact location of the blast. Separately, militants abducted and beheaded two Afghan men working at a US military base in the eastern Kunar province, provincial police Chief Abdul Jalal Jalal said.
■HONG KONG
Cakes laced with drug
A woman was convicted on Tuesday of poisoning churchgoers by giving them cakes laced with a psychotropic drug. Jannifer Chan Mei-fung, 37, left the cakes as a gift for members of the Church of Christian and Missionary Alliance in August, the city’s district court was told. Six people became sick and two teenagers ended up in a hospital intensive care unit after the cakes were served up at a youth group meeting later the same day, the court heard. Tests found a pscyhotropic drug inside the cakes, and police said they found the same drug when they later raided the defendant’s home. She told officers it had been prescribed to her by doctors. Chan was found guilty of administering a poison with the intention of endangering life. Judge Joseph Yau said the defendant suffered from mild paranoia but knew right from wrong.
■SINGAPORE
Sedition charges for duo
A court has charged a couple with sedition for distributing an evangelical publication that cast Mohammed, the prophet of Islam, in a negative light, a newspaper reported yesterday. Ong Kian Cheong, 49, and Dorothy Chan Hien Leng, 44, had two charges lodged against them in court on Tuesday — one under the Sedition Act and the other under the Undesirable Publications Act, the Straits Times reported. The report did not provide details about the couple’s alleged publication.
■AUSTRALIA
Environment biggest worry
Australians are more worried about the environment than the economy, terrorism or any other issue, according to a national survey released yesterday. The Australian National University poll asked 1,000 people what was the most important problem facing the country today, and the most common answer (at 19 percent) cited the environment, global warming or sustainability. In second was the economy (18 percent), followed by water management (8 percent), interest rates (7 percent) and housing affordability (7 percent). Terrorism was not among the top 10. When the respondents were asked what would be the biggest problem facing the country within five years, the environment led all other issues at 30 percent. Next was the economy (20 percent) and water management (11 percent).
■SOUTH KOREA
Firm scraps Nazi ad
A cosmetics maker said yesterday it has scrapped a Nazi-themed TV advertisement, after a pilot version was leaked on the Internet and sparked international protests. Coreana amended the pilot version before it was broadcast, removing a reference to Hitler. But a modified version that appeared on TV still featured a local actress in a Nazi-style uniform, with the sound of shells exploding in the background. A company official said it has now scrapped the commercial altogether. The pilot promotion for a new skin care product carried a caption superimposed on the actress reading: “Even Hitler could not take over the East and the West at the same time.”
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