■FIJI
Grip over lawyers tightened
The military regime yesterday moved to tighten its control over lawyers, drawing condemnation from critics who saw it as further sign of deepening authoritarian rule. Under a government decree published yesterday, lawyers will need the approval of a military-appointed court registrar to continue working as legal counsel from July. Licensing of lawyers had previously been the responsibility of the Fiji Law Society, whose offices were raided on Saturday. New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said the move meant Fiji lawyers would “be deregistered if they don’t support the regime.”
■PHILIPPINES
Coast guard probes sinking
The coast guard is investigating the crew of two vessels that allegedly passed by a sinking ferry without offering help, while some passengers reportedly snapped pictures, it said yesterday. Twelve people, including a Japanese, drowned on Saturday when large waves broke a bamboo outrigger, flipping it over in waters near the beach resort at Puerto Galera. The authorities did not release the names of the vessels.
■INDIA
Nearly 100 skulls found
Nearly 100 human skulls and other skeletal remains were discovered in a dry pond in northern India, officials said yesterday. The grisly discovery was made by children playing in a pond that had dried over the summer in Aligarh, a city 120km southeast of New Delhi. Local government official Shailendra Singh said the remains were most likely those of unidentified people killed in road accidents and other mishaps. Human rights groups accused police of being callous. “Even dead bodies deserve honorable cremation after post mortem,” said Ashish Shukla, of the Uttar Pradesh State Human Rights Organization.
■JAPAN
Horror in the toilet
In a nation where ghosts are traditionally believed to hide in the loo, a local firm is advertising a new literary experience — a horror story printed on toilet paper. Each roll carries several copies of a new nine-chapter novella written by Koji Suzuki, the author of the horror story Ring, which has been made into movies in Japan and Hollywood. Drop, set in a public restroom, takes up about 90cm of a roll and can be read in just a few minutes, maker Hayashi Paper said.
■AUSTRALIA
Werbeloff ‘faked’ story
Known as the “Chk-Chk-Boom Girl” to YouTube viewers, Clare Werbeloff gained instant celebrity as witness to a shooting in Sydney’s nightlife district. But in a twist to the tale, the 19-year-old now says the TV interview she gave was pure invention and she never saw the shooting, the Australian newspaper reported yesterday. Shortly after a man was shot and wounded on May 17 on a street in the Kings Cross area, Werbeloff gave a Nine Network cameraman a graphic eyewitness account of what she said had happened.
■MALAYSIA
US diver missing
A US diver has gone missing off the east coast after the yacht he was sailing in was hit by an unknown vessel, Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency official Syed Noradli Syed Abdul Rahman said. A search operation was being carried out by the navy and marine police for 63-year-old Kenneth Wayne, he said. Wayne had been traveling with his friend James Edward, 27, on a yacht to the islands of Langkawi and Tioman, Syed Noraldi said. His friends and the crew were rescued by local fishermen.
■ITALY
PM grilled over model
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi faced new questions on Sunday about his relationship with Noemi Letizia, 18, after claims that he flew the aspiring model to his Sardinian villa for New Year’s Eve after seeing her modeling portfolio. Berlusconi has previously said that he knows Letizia through her parents, who he has described as old friends. But Letizia’s former boyfriend, Gino Flaminio, 22, told La Repubblica newspaper yesterday that “Noemi’s parents have nothing to do with this, the link was just with her.” Letizia’s father challenged his version of events as “gravely defamatory, because it attributes to Noemi things that have never been done, said or thought,” and said he would take legal action.
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