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■NORTH KOREA

Hacking unit uncovered

Pyongyang is maintaining a unit of about 100 computer hackers working on attacks against the South Korean and the US military, media reports in Seoul said yesterday. Attacks by this “technology reconnaissance team” were aimed at interrupting other countries’ military computer networks and obtaining confidential information, the South Korean Yonhap news agency said, citing intelligence sources. “This unit tries to hold control of South Korean and US military information systems by hacking into their computer networks and taking out classified data,” an unnamed official was quoted as saying. “When necessary, they may spread computer viruses to disrupt the networks.”



■PHILIPPINES

Informants fund launched

President Gloria Arroyo announced yesterday the establishment of a fund of 25 million pesos (US$250,000) to pay informants in an attempt to end the country’s wave of political killings. The fund would go to those who “provide information that foils political assassination attempts or leads to their solution, especially the identification of their masterminds,” she said. “We want to erase the legacy of political violence that has haunted our nation for generations,” Arroyo said.



■AUSTRALIA

Refugee boat intercepted

The Navy yesterday intercepted a refugee boat with about 50 asylum seekers on board as it began filling with water off the northwest coast, officials said. The vessel was about 685km northwest of the coastal city of Broome when it was stopped after being initially spotted by air, Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus said in a statement. “The boat, which was taking on water, was intercepted in international waters and the group have voluntarily transferred from their boat to the HMAS Maryborough,” he said in a statement.



■AUSTRALIA

Homeopath parents charged

Parents charged with manslaughter in the death of their baby could have saved her life if they hospitalized her sooner rather than allegedly using homeopathic remedies for a severe skin disorder, a prosecutor said yesterday. Thomas Sam, 42, and Manju Sam, 36, of Sydney pleaded not guilty in New South Wales state Supreme Court on Monday to charges of manslaughter in the death of their nine-month-old daughter Gloria, who died of septicemia and malnutrition in May 2002. The Indian-born, university-educated parents face a maximum penalty of 25 years each in prison if convicted.



■IRAN

Reporter to appeal

The judiciary announced yesterday that it would hear an appeal for a US-Iranian reporter jailed on spying charges in a case that has caused deep consternation in the US. “There is going to be an appeal trial next week for Roxana Saberi,” judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi told reporters, without giving an exact date. The Iranian week begins on Saturdays. He said the bar association, the intelligence ministry and the prosecutor’s representative had been informed to participate in the appeal hearing, which will be held behind closed doors. Saberi, 32, was sentenced last month by a revolutionary court to an eight-year jail term on charges of spying for the country’s arch-foe, the US.



■MALTA

Immigrants helped to Italy

Malto will provide would-be illegal immigrants at sea with the necessary assistance to continue on their journey to Italy from now on, the government said. The decision signifies a marked shift in policy toward immigrants as the diplomatic row between Italy and Malta deepens, after Italian authorities turned back boatloads of migrants to Malta last Friday. In a strongly worded statement after a Cabinet meeting on Monday night, the government said the assistance it would give immigrants at sea would vary according to the nature of the case. The government would continue taking those immigrants who were forced to abandon their boat to the nearest port, or it would assist them to continue on their way safely.



■SAUDI ARABIA

Riyadh pans EU visa policy

The government has accused France, Germany and Italy of discrimination after experiencing what they say are unreasonable delays in getting visas that allow Saudis to visit several European countries. The foreign ministry said applicants are forced to submit more documentation and wait much longer than people in neighboring countries for Europe’s Schengen visa, which permits visitors to travel freely through 15 countries with a visa from just one embassy. Articles in several newspapers in the past three weeks have attacked especially the French embassy in Riyadh for mistreating Saudi applicants, with some calling for a boycott of the country and its businesses.



■RUSSIA

US envoy keen on radar

The US should study a Russian proposal that it share a radio installation in the Central Asian state of Azerbaijan, US envoy Rose Gottemoeller said on Monday in an interview with the Interfax agency. “I understood from talking to Russian counterparts that the offer is still on the table,” said Gottemoeller, the assistant secretary of state for verification and compliance. “I think personally that it is an offer the United States should be willing to explore.” In 2007, Russia proposed sharing the radar facility to the previous US administration. The offer was made to head off US plans to install an anti-ballistic missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic. The US did not follow up on the offer at the time.



■FRANCE

Sleep, Je t’aime

True to their reputation as leisure-loving gourmets, the French spend more time sleeping and eating than anyone else among the world’s wealthy nations, a study published Monday said. The average French person sleeps almost nine hours a night, more than an hour longer than Japanese and South Koreans, who sleep the least in a survey of 18 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.



■UNITED STATES

Octuplets may get guardian

An advocate for child actors asked a judge to appoint a guardian to oversee the interests of Nadya Suleman’s octuplets if they are featured in TV shows, Internet videos and magazines. Lawyer Gloria Allred said on Monday she filed the petition in Orange County Superior Court on behalf of Paul Petersen, president of A Minor Consideration and a former Mouseketeer who grew up on The Donna Reed Show. He wants a guardian appointed to ensure that payments for the babies’ appearances are placed into accounts separate from their mother’s, as well as ensure that laws regarding child performers are observed. “Even though [the octuplets] cannot walk or talk, they are, like all children in the entertainment business, protected under California law,” Petersen said at a news conference. Suleman’s attorney, Jeff Czech, said the kind of guardianship that Petersen has requested is expensive and takes funds away from taxpayers and the children’s funds. Czech acknowledged he has spoken with several production companies who want to film the Suleman family but no contracts have been signed.



■JAPAN

Search for US poet to end

The weeklong search for an award-winning US poet who disappeared while hiking up a volcano on a remote Japanese island has yielded no clues and will end after a final day of searching, a police official said yesterday. An effort involving police, rescue workers, search dogs and a police helicopter will continue through today and then be called off, a local police official said. University of Wyoming professor Craig Arnold was reported missing on April 27 when he didn’t return from his hike on the tiny island of Kuchinoerabu-jima, about 50km off the coast of Kyushu. Arnold, 41, had been traveling all over the world, working on a book about volcanoes. He is the author of two award-winning books of poetry.



■BRAZIL

Ahmadinejad postpones trip

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has postponed a trip to Brazil planned for this week until after next month’s elections in the Islamic republic, foreign ministry officials in Brazil said on Monday. Officials said Tehran’s ambassador to Brazil Mohsen Shaterzadeh personally delivered a letter from Ahmadinejad to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, asking that he “accept the postponement of the official visit until ... after the presidential election.”



■BRAZIL

Floods leave 15 dead

Severe flooding has hit the northeast, killing 15 people and leaving 70,000 others homeless, authorities said on Monday. The states most affected by the flooding are Maranhao, Piaui, Ceara, Alagoas and Bahia. Six people were killed and six major highways were inundated in Maranho, drenched by the heaviest rains since 1985, civil defense authorities said. Sao Luis, the state capital, and 40 other towns have been battered by rains that have lasted nearly a month. An estimated 48,000 people were forced to leave their homes, and of those 22,000 lost their homes, a civil defense spokesman said.



■VENEZUELA

Quake rattles Caracas

A moderate earthquake rattled the capital on Monday, but there were no reports of damage or injuries. Venezuela’s seismological agency said the magnitude 5.4 quake was centered about 14km southwest of Los Teques on the outskirts of Caracas. Francisco Garces, president of the seismological agency, said there were no immediate reports of significant damage or injuries.


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