■ INDONESIA
Rights report delayed
The government refused yesterday to give a date for the publication of a long-awaited report on rights abuses during East Timor’s 1999 independence vote, amid criticism over the delay. The Indonesia-East Timor Commission of Truth and Friendship, tasked by both governments to uncover the truth behind the violence surrounding the referendum, finalized the report in March but it remains under wraps. “No date had been determined. We’re still waiting for an appropriate time from both presidents,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said. A coalition of human rights groups criticized the delay, which has led to fears the report is being watered down to protect powerful figures. “This is delaying justice,” said Rafendi Djamin of the Human Rights Working Group, a local nonprofit organization.
■ CAMBODIA
Puffer fish attacks teen
A teenager was recovering in hospital after an angry puffer fish mauled him in the groin, local media reported yesterday. The Koh Santepheap daily ran a picture of the unnamed 13-year-old in a hospital bed, saying he was lucky to be alive. The paper quoted the boy’s father, Sok Ly, as saying the fish had become enraged when it was accidentally trapped in the boy’s net and, when it was freed, had attacked. The victim, from Prek Pneuv commune outside Phnom Penh, was expected to recover from the attack, the paper said.
■ THAILAND
Woman arrested for 'insult'
A woman arrested for refusing to stand as the royal anthem played in a Bangkok cinema faces up to 15 years in prison, police said yesterday. Ratchapin Chancharoen, 28, was arrested on Sunday evening and charged with insulting King Bhumibol Adulyadej by not standing during the anthem, which plays to a montage of royal portraits before the screening of every film. Other theater-goers became angry when Ratchapin refused to stand, and she allegedly shouted “impolite words” as a group confronted her, police said.
■ NEW ZEALAND
Light bulbs to be replaced
The country will phase out traditional incandescent light bulbs next year as part of an energy-efficient lighting strategy that will save nearly US$375 million annually by 2020, the government said yesterday. Energy Minister David Parker said that only 5 percent of the energy used by traditional bulbs generated light — the rest was wasted as heat. The strategy, using new energy-efficient bulbs, aims at a 20 percent reduction in the energy consumed by lighting.
■ LIBYA
Boat accident kills 150
At least 150 illegal immigrants drowned when their boat capsized an hour after it sailed from Libya on its way to Italy, an Egyptian diplomat in Libya said on Monday. The incident is believed to have occurred over two weeks ago. A man from Egypt and another from Bangladesh survived and are now in Libyan custody, the Egyptian consul in the Libyan capital Tripoli, Adham Hilal, said in remarks carried by the Egyptian state news agency MENA. The Egyptian who survived was identified as Wail Abdel Motagali Ali from the town of Zagazig, northeast of Cairo.
■ SOUTH AFRICA
Team hunt for TB sufferers
Health authorities in South Africa said on Monday they were sending out a team in protective clothing to hunt for tuberculosis patients who escaped from hospital. The missing patients are suffering from a drug-resistant strain of the illness and three have the extremely dangerous XDR-TB. The breakout from the Jose Pearson hospital in Port Elizabeth reportedly took place after a security guard allowed one patient with XDR-TB to go shopping. The others protested when they were not allowed out, overpowered the guards and ran off. The provincial health authority said that three of the 19 patients who escaped had returned to their families, who would bring them back to hospital.
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