■SOUTH KOREA
Country free of bird flu
The government plans to declare the country free of bird flu this week, more than three months after a series of outbreaks led authorities to slaughter nearly 8.5 million birds, an official said yesterday. Kim Chang-seob, the Agriculture Ministry’s chief veterinary officer, said the declaration will be reported today to the Paris-based animal health organization known as OIE. The OIE has been at the forefront of global efforts to monitor and fight the H5N1 strain of bird flu, which scientists have tracked because they fear it may mutate into a human flu virus that could start a pandemic that would kill millions. Under the OIE’s regulations, a country can officially declare itself free of the disease if no new cases of bird flu have been found for three months.
■INDONESIA
Jail sentences reduced
The country yesterday marked its independence day with the reduction of jail sentences to tens of thousands of prisoners including convicted Australian drug traffickers. More than 55,000 prisoners who have completed at least one-third of their sentences were granted reductions ranging from several weeks or months. At least 5,700 inmates will walk free, said Untung Sugiyono, director-general of correctional institutions at the Justice and Human Rights Affairs Ministry. A three-month jail reduction was granted in the 20-year sentence imposed on Australian drug trafficker Schapelle Corby, the second time authorities had cut the 31-year-old’s sentence after it was reduced by three months in 2006. Corby is now expected to be freed by April 12, 2024, said Yon Suharyono, the head of the Kerobokan penitentiary where Corby is being held on Bali.
■NEPAL
Maoists to form government
The Maoists aim to form the nation’s first post-royal government this week, a party official said, marking a major step on their journey from rebel army to legitimate political power. The talks come after former guerrilla chief Prachanda — whose name means “the fierce one” — was overwhelmingly elected prime minister by lawmakers on Friday. Maoist spokesman Krishna Bahadur Mahara said that the ultra-leftists were negotiating with allied parties and hoped to form a government within days. “There’s an immediate need to bring all parties to a common consensus to take the country forward,” he said late on Saturday. Since the Maoists signed up for peace in 2006, the country has seen tumultuous change, with the rebels ending their bloody civil war, winning landmark polls and throwing out the monarchy.
■MYANMAR
Junta jails protesters
Military authorities have jailed five young activists for taking part in a small street rally marking the anniversary of a 1988 pro-democracy uprising, an opposition party member said yesterday. The five youth members of detained opposition leader Aung Sun Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party were arrested on Aug. 8 as they marched with 43 other people in western Rakhine State. The sentencing came before a visit to the country by Ibrahim Gambari, the UN’s most senior diplomat working to push the junta towards reform, who is due to arrive today for a five-day visit. He will likely be hoping for a more successful visit then his previous trip in March, which UN officials described as “disappointing” after the junta publicly rebuffed his calls for political reform.
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