■Hong Kong
Boy arrested for hoax
An 11-year-old boy was arrested for a bomb hoax that sparked the evacuation of a housing estate with more than 100 residents, police said yesterday. A wooden box was found on Saturday with a bomb threat attached in the Aberdeen area. It was one of a series of hoaxes over the last few weeks as officials tightened security while the territory played host to the Olympic equestrian events. One false bomb was discovered in a flower bed outside the main entrance of a Tsim Sha Tui hotel where Olympic VIP guests were staying.
■VIETNAM
Police raid nightclub
A newspaper said hundreds of riot police raided a nightclub in a northern city, detaining nearly 200 people for suspected drug use. Thanh Nien newspaper said more than 200 police raided the Friendly bar in Hai Phong early on Saturday. The report yesterday said at least 37 people tested positive for drugs and that police seized 10 ecstasy tablets, 22 marijuana cigarettes and an unspecified amount of heroin. Nearly 200 people were detained. Police were not available for comment yesterday.
■SOUTH KOREA
Beef protesters arrested
Police arrested 19 people for illegally occupying streets here overnight in a continued protest against US beef imports, a report said yesterday. They were among hundreds of people holding separate vigils on Saturday through early yesterday, as protesters accused police of excessive use of force, Yonhap news agency said. Police refused to comment. Seoul’s decision in April to resume imports of almost all cuts of US beef sparked months of street protests over supposed health concerns, lifting a 2003 ban after a US case of mad cow disease.
■MALAYSIA
Deceased couple wed
An infant dead for 50 years and a teenager who died of kidney failure three decades ago were married over the weekend by a temple medium in a ceremony on the resort island of Penang. The ghost nuptial came during Ghost Month, during which spirits of the deceased are believed to roam the earth and relatives offer them food and take care of their needs to appease them. In a front page article, the Star Daily reported Chee Yu Quan was married to Cheah Beng Eng in a tea ceremony, with the deceased bride and groom represented by paper effigies. The bride’s mother, Ong Kim Luan, 74 said Cheah had expressed her intention to get married during last year’s festival. Ong said a medium told them the couple met in the afterworld two years ago.
■AFGHANISTAN
Six killed in clash
US-led coalition troops clashed with a group of Taliban fighters yesterday, killing six militants, a provincial official said. The troops returned fire after being attacked by militants while on patrol in the volatile Tagab valley of Kapisa Province, coalition spokesman First Lieutenant Nathan Perry said. Rahimullah Safi, the province’s deputy governor, said six militants were killed in the clash, while Perry said “multiple militants” were killed. Tagab is close to where militants killed 10 French troops on Tuesday in the deadliest ground attack on foreign troops since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001. Separately, three civilians were killed and seven others wounded when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in Khost Province on Saturday.
■RUSSIA
Officers killed in Chechnya
Two senior officers were killed when their armored vehicle was hit by explosives in Chechnya yesterday, Interfax news agency reported. A major and a lieutenant died of their wounds and two other officers were injured after two bombs went off underneath their vehicle in the village of Agishty. Security officials have said they expected a rise in rebel attacks after Moscow launched a military incursion into Georgia to crush its attempt to retake South Ossetia.
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