■JAPAN
Junior minister resigns
A Japanese junior minister resigned yesterday after a magazine reported that he had used a free train pass issued to lawmakers for a trip to meet his mistress, the government’s top spokesman said. The resignation of Deputy Chief Cabinet Minister Yoshitada Konoike could be a blow to Prime Minister Taro Aso ahead of a looming election, even as the main opposition party searches for a new leader in the wake of a funding scandal. Both ruling and opposition camps are struggling to woo voters ahead of the election, which must be held by October. The main opposition Democratic Party had a clear lead in opinion polls until a funding scandal erupted and threatened its chances of ending more than a half-century of almost unbroken rule by Aso’s conservative Liberal Democratic Party.
■MALAYSIA
Shame thieves, cop says
If they’re not scared of getting whipped by a cane, maybe snatch thieves in Malaysia will fear the shame of public humiliation. A top police official says the thieves should be made to wear T-shirts that read “I am a snatch thief” and sweep the country’s streets. Criminal Investigation Department Director Mohamad Bakri Zinin said the prospect of jail did not seem to be deterring the thieves, who prey on pedestrians using quick, forceful robberies. Theft carries a prison term of up to seven years and caning in Malaysia. He said yesterday that “it’s much better” to make them do social work while wearing T-shirts with their printed confession. “At least that will shame them in public. Maybe this can change their attitude,” he said.
■PHILIPPINES
Five wounded in blast
Three police officers and two security aides of a governor were wounded yesterday in a bomb attack in the south, a regional police chief said. Chief Superintendent Bensali Jarabani said the explosion occurred a few kilometers from provincial capitol of Sulu Province on Jolo island. Jarabani said the explosion hit a convoy of vehicles belonging to Sulu Governor Abdusakur Tan, who was on his way home. Investigators were still trying to determine who was behind the attack and the make of bomb that was placed on a parked motorcycle. Tan was unharmed in the attack.
■HONG KONG
Jail for Chen photo thief
A computer technician was jailed yesterday for eight-and-a-half months for stealing more than 1,000 sexually explicit photos of singer Edison Chen (陳冠希) with a string of starlets. The photos spread across the Internet last year, causing a huge scandal in the celebrity-obsessed city and ruining the careers of some of the actresses and singers involved. Sze Ho-chun (史可雋), an employee of computer shop Elite Multimedia, had copied 1,300 sex photos from Chen’s laptop when the Canadian-born singer-actor took it in for repairs in 2006.
■AUSTRALIA
Murder suspect arrested
An American man was arrested yesterday on charges of murdering his wife during a honeymoon scuba dive at the Great Barrier Reef more than five years ago. David Gabriel “Gabe” Watson, 32, from Alabama, was taken into custody on arrival at Brisbane airport after he voluntarily returned from the US to face trial, the national AAP news agency reported. Watson’s lawyers had earlier indicated he was likely to fight extradition after an Australian coroner issued a murder warrant last June over the 2003 death of diving novice Christina Watson, also from US.
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