■THAILAND
New beheading reported
The body and severed head of a man believed to have been beheaded by suspected Muslim insurgents was found yesterday in Thailand’s strife-torn south, police said. The remains of a 63-year-old Muslim villager were found on a roadside in Yarang district of Pattani province, police Lieutenant Anuson Janklap said. More than 30 people, both Buddhist and Muslim, have been beheaded since violence in the southern provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat flared anew in early 2004.
■PHILIPPINES
Rebels torch plane
Communist rebels torched a light plane during an attack on a plantation in the southern Philippines, a military spokesman said yesterday. The guerrillas swooped down on the plantation in Maco, Compostela Valley Province, 960km south of Manila, on Friday, said Major Armand Rico, a regional military spokesman. Rico said the single-seater plane was used for aerial spraying of fertilizers. The rebels disarmed and tied up two security guards, who were later freed.
■SINGAPORE
Feng shui alters Flyer
Officials in Singapore have changed the direction of the world’s biggest observation wheel because feng shui masters said it was taking good fortune away from the city, a report said yesterday. The Singapore Flyer had originally revolved so that it rose to face the business district and went down overlooking the sea, the Straits Times said. But feng shui masters convinced the management to reverse it so that it was not taking fortune away from the city. Singapore Flyer chairman Florian Bollen likened the change to the “completion of a perfect movie,” but said it cost a “six figure sum,” the report said.
■HONG KONG
Villagers fear bad feng shui
Villagers from a hamlet in the north were fighting plans to build a repository for the cremated remains of people, claiming the building still under construction has caused bad feng shui, a media report said yesterday. The building containing the columbarium in Tsui Keng Lo Wai village is already half completed after being converted from several houses, the South China Morning Post said. Speaking during a demonstration against the scheme on Friday, village representative Rico Yau said villagers plan to seek an injunction to stop the project. One angry villager, Chan Chin-fai, said: “We bury our ancestors on the hillsides. How dare the developers put outsiders’ niches in the middle of the village.”
■INDONESIA
Bird flu tests negative
Thirteen people in Indonesia suspected of having bird flu have tested negative for the feared disease, the health ministry said yesterday. Experts from the WHO arrived on Friday in the affected village in North Sumatra to help investigate a possible outbreak after three people died and the 13 were admitted to hospital. “All specimens collected from suspect cases have given negative results. They are all recovered,” I Nyoman Kandun, director general of the ministry’s communicable diseases department said on a text message. Officials and residents in Asahan district in North Sumatra Province said villagers began showing symptoms of avian flu after a large number of chickens died suddenly last week.
■AUSTRALIA
Bosses warned on language
A workplace watchdog has warned employers that swearing or bullying during workplace negotiations will not be tolerated. The national regulator said offensive behavior toward employees was unacceptable and against the law, following a court case in which a Donut King franchise operator who repeatedly swore at an employee was fined A$12,000 (US$10,700) for bullying and offensive conduct. The employer was accused of trying to force a staff member to sign a work contract, known as an Australian Workplace Agreement. “Employers need to mind their P’s and Q’s when dealing with staff,” Workplace Ombudsman executive director Michael Campbell said.
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