■ AUSTRALIA
Head used as bowling ball
A teenager’s head was used as a puppet and bowling ball after a “thrill kill” carried out during a drinking binge, a court heard on Wednesday. The headless body of Morgan Jay Shepherd, 17, was found in March 2005 in a shallow grave near Dayboro, west of the Queensland state capital Brisbane, prosecutors told the state Supreme Court. He had been stabbed more than 133 times and his head had been sawed off, the court heard. James Roughan, 28, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Shepherd on March 29, 2005. Prosecutor David Meredith said Roughan and a friend, Christopher Jones, 24, killed Shepherd after an argument during a drinking binge at Roughan’s home north of Brisbane. Meredith said Jones told friends that Roughan used the head like a puppet and bowling ball — which Roughan denies.
■ BANGLADESH
Attorney general quits
The country’s attorney general stepped down, saying he was unable to work with “dignity and integrity” under the interim army-backed government. Fida M Kamal was appointed to his post soon after the caretaker government came to power and imposed a state of emergency in January last year. But the London-trained barrister walked away from the post late on Wednesday after a five-hour meeting with government officials, including the justice minister. Kamal has been absent during court proceedings against some of Bangladesh’s top politicians, including two former prime ministers who are being tried on graft charges. Local newspapers cited this as a key reason for the rift between Kamal and the government.
■ THAILAND
Muslims agree to ceasefire
A group claiming to be the leaders of a bloody four-year-old separatist insurgency in Thailand’s Muslim south said yesterday that they had agreed to an immediate ceasefire. If true, it would be the first group to claim responsibility for the near daily bomb and gun attacks that have killed more than 3,000 people in the predominantly Muslim provinces bordering Malaysia. “We want all other groups to stop their activities immediately,” the spokesman, who was not identified, said in Thai. Chettha Thanajaro, a former army commander in chief and defense minister, told army TV that ceasefire talks had been underway for “some time now” before the group agreed to lay down its arms yesterday.
■ AUSTRALIA
Firm slammed over racism
A hire firm that painted “Save a Whale — Harpoon a Jap” on the side of one its camping vans was accused by a senior politician yesterday of racism and risking a tourist backlash. Queensland state Premier Anna Bligh said she was concerned that Japanese tourists should feel welcome in the state. Money brought in by Japanese visitors is an important part of Australia’s tourism earnings, despite an ongoing dispute between the two countries over Japanese whaling in Antarctic waters.
■ AFGHANISTAN
US coalition kills civilians
At least eight civilians were killed and two others wounded in an airstrike by the US-led coalition forces in Farah Province in western Afghanistan, the coalition forces said yesterday. A coalition convoy on a routine patrol came under sustained attack from machine gun and indirect fire coming from a number of houses adjacent to a road in the province’s Bakwa District, a statement issued by the coalition forces in Kabul said. A local official from Bakwa said all those killed were women and children.
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