■ SOUTH KOREA
Ministry wants ban upheld
The Defense Ministry has asked the Constitutional Court to uphold a ban on homosexuals serving in the military, a ministry spokesman said yesterday. The ban has been under review since a local military court asked the upper tribunal in August to determine whether the existing military criminal code banning homosexuality among soldiers is constitutional. The code stipulates that soldiers be jailed for up to one year for engaging in homosexual acts or sexual harassment while in service. At stake is whether the military rules violate the constitutional right to equality, privacy and freedom of sexuality, defense officials said. Homosexuality is not illegal in South Korea but a defense ministry spokesman said it supported the ban for the military, and had urged the Constitutional Court to rule in its favor. “The military has a unique characteristics,” the spokesman said. “It has to maintain good combat capability. It requires a sound group life. It works for the public interest rather than personal happiness.”
■ INDONESIA
Earthquake kills man
A strong 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck off Sulawesi island early yesterday, killing one person, toppling homes as people slept and forcing thousands to flee houses and hotels. The quake triggered a tsunami warning from US officials for an area within 1,000km of the epicenter but a similar alert by Indonesia was withdrawn shortly after being issued. Rustam Pakaya, head of health ministry’s crisis center, said a 56-year-old man was killed in the village of Kwandang and 23 people injured. He added that houses and buildings had collapsed in Gorontalo Province. The US Geological Survey said the quake struck 136km off the coastal town of Gorontalo at a depth of 21km.■ EUROPEAN UNION
Danish women healthier
While Italian men and French women may live to be the oldest in Europe, a true dolce vita free of disability belongs to the Danes, UK researchers found. Women in Denmark, which has as many bikes as it has citizens, can expect 74.1 years of good health on average, while men may get about six months less, said scientists led by Carol Jagger, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Leicester. The study, published in The Lancet, compared how many more healthy years 50-year-old people may expect to have in 25 EU countries. While Italians topped the list of life expectancy among men at 80.4 years, they placed third for healthy years of life with 70.6 years. French women could expect to live the longest in Europe, to 85.4 years, but were in the lower half for health at 69.7 years.
■ BURKINA FASO
Bus crash claims 67
The toll in one of the nation’s deadliest road accidents rose to 67 on Sunday with the discovery of another body following the crash on Saturday, authorities said, warning it could rise further. “We have just discovered another body. The death toll is now at 67,” Maiza Compaore, a court prosecutor from Boromo, 167km west of the capital Ouagadougou, where the collision between a bus and truck happened. The cause of the tragedy was still unclear on Sunday. Officials said that aside from Burkinabe nationals, there were Ivorians aboard the bus, which was registered in Ivory Coast and owned by an Ivorian company.
■ RUSSIA
Politkovskaya trial starting
A trial into the killing of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya was to open yesterday in a military court in Moscow, with supporters of the Kremlin critic fearing it would shed little light on the case. Despite protests from Politkovskaya’s relatives, the long-awaited trial is likely to be held behind closed doors because one of the defendants, Pavel Ryaguzov, is an agent with the Federal Security Service, the former KGB. Ryaguzov is suspected of having provided Politkovskaya’s home address to her killers and has been charged with abuse of office. Three other defendants, including a former police investigator, will also be tried for the killing. But the killer and whoever ordered her contract murder remain at large.
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