■THAILAND
Brothers shot in Pattani
Suspected separatist militants shot dead two Buddhists and set their bodies ablaze yesterday in Thailand’s Muslim-majority south, a police officer said. The two men, brothers aged 40 and 36, were killed as they rode a motorcycle in Pattani Province, one of the three southern provinces caught up in a separatist insurgency in which more than 3,000 people have been killed since 2003. “The victims were shot by an AKA rifle, and the insurgents left a note saying ‘This is a revenge on state officials,’” the police officer said. One of the victims was an assistant village headman, the officer said, adding that the identity of the assailants was unknown.
■CHINA
Self-immolators wanted cash
Three people who set themselves on fire in downtown Beijing came from the western region of Xinjiang after their “unreasonable” demands for compensation for a lost home were not met, Xinjiang Governor Nur Bekri said on the sidelines of the annual legislative session in Beijing. The family’s home had been destroyed to make way for a school. The couple and their son set fire to themselves while inside their car on Feb. 25 at the southern end of the Wangfujing shopping street in central Beijing. The fire sparked an alarm because it happened just several blocks from Tiananmen Square. This June marks 20 years since Beijing’s 1989 crackdown on student protests in the square. The three had not sustained life-threatening injuries, Xinhua news agency said, adding that the family were compensated for their home by the local government and given 400,000 yuan (US$58,480) in relocation fees. But they had also demanded jobs, an apology and reimbursement of fees covering visits to appeal to the government, the governor said.
■HONG KONG
Moon cake bribe backfires
A construction company boss yesterday began a two-month jail term for trying to bribe a policeman with boxes of traditional Chinese moon cakes. Chin Tat-yung, 37, handed 15 boxes of the cakes to a police officer inspecting road works his company was carrying out. The police officer, who was responsible for approving the road works, gave them to his senior inspector, who contacted Chin and returned the cakes, a court heard on Friday. Magistrate John Glass rejected Chin’s claim that he offered the moon cakes as a Chinese custom for the upcoming festival rather than as a bribe.
■CHINA
Wanted wife arrested
Macau authorities have arrested a woman suspected of laundering money for her husband — reportedly a relative of the chief executive of the Chinese gambling enclave. Macau’s Public Prosecution Office said on Friday that Lam Man-i (林敏儀) was arrested at the airport after arriving from Taiwan. It did not say when she was detained. Lam and her husband, Chan Lin-ian (陳連因), are on Interpol’s wanted list in connection with allegations of money laundering. Hong Kong newspapers have reported that Chan’s sister is married to Macau leader Edmund Ho’s (何厚鏵) brother. The statement said Lam allegedly helped Chan launder money in the graft case of former senior official Ao Man-long (歐文龍). Ao was sentenced in January last year to 27 years in jail after being found guilty of taking millions of dollars in bribes, laundering money and abusing his power to help property developers win construction contracts.
■VIETNAM
Tonnes of tusks found
RSS