■INDONESIA
Curator guilty in theft case
The curator of a museum was sentenced yesterday to 18 months in jail for helping to steal six ancient Buddhist statues and replacing them with replicas, a judge said. Suhadi Darmodipuro, who was among four people arrested for the 2006 theft at the Radya Pustaka Museum, said he regretted his involvement in the scam and would not appeal. Presiding Judge Ganjar Susilo found the 70-year-old guilty of helping steal the statues, which date back to the 4th century, and selling them to a Dutch curator for between US$3,500 and US$20,000 each. Replicas made by local stonemasons were put in their place. The scam was uncovered by an ex-staffer at the museum in Java Island’s Surakarta. “I’ve given 50 years of my life to service the museum,” Darmodipuro said after the verdict was handed down. “It was a big mistake. ... I very much regret it and accept this sentence.”
■PHILIPPINES
Blast rocks billiards hall
A hand grenade exploded inside a billiard hall in the country’s north, killing one man and injuring 16 other people, while a bomb found in the volatile south was safely defused, police said yesterday. Baguio police spokesman Virgilio Hidalgo, said investigators believe the blast late on Sunday was linked to a gambling argument. “Definitely, this is not related to terrorism,” Hidalgo said. Meanwhile, In Midsayap township, in southern North Cotabato Province, a man found an improvised bomb inside a plastic container filled with gasoline at a street corner near a gas station. Midsayap police chief Chino Mamburam said police were looking into possible involvement of extortionists or Muslim rebels. The man sold the gasoline, then found a rocket-propelled grenade attached to a cell phone and timer at the bottom. Mamburam said police were puzzled why the bomb was immersed in gasoline, which could spoil the device.
■SOUTH KOREA
Bird flu restrictions relaxed
Authorities said yesterday they had lifted all special restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of bird flu after a series of recent outbreaks. The Agriculture Ministry said in a statement it had slaughtered about 8.5 million birds to combat outbreaks of the disease that began in early April. However, the ministry said no new outbreak had been found since May 12, and that as of Sunday it had lifted all special quarantine measures, such as restrictions on the movement and sale of poultry. The country hopes to report that it is free of the disease to the World Organization for Animal Health in the middle of next month, the ministry said. Under the organization’s regulations, a country can officially declare itself free of the disease if no new cases have been found for three months.
■JAPAN
Man rams car into city hall
A man angered by welfare policy rammed a car loaded with gas canisters and kerosene into a city hall yesterday, injuring two workers, police said. The car driven by Michio Ikawa, 61, burst through the front door of Tondabayashi City Hall, showering employees with shards of glass, a police official said. Ikawa was arrested and police found three gas canisters and containers of a liquid that smelled like kerosene in his car. The impact did not cause an explosion or fire, and it was not clear what the man planned to do with the canisters. Two city employees were cut by flying glass. The police official said Ikawa complained about the city’s welfare policies under interrogation, though it wasn’t clear what specific policy he was upset about.
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