■BANGLADESH
PM expands Cabinet
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina added six new ministers to her Cabinet yesterday, seven months after she took office, taking the total to 44. A reshuffle had been expected for months, but came after the political party she heads, the Awami Legue, gave her a fresh mandate at a national convention last week. On Thursday Hasina named a new party presidium that ditched six senior leaders and ex-ministers who had been critical of her leadership.
■HONG KONG
Woman given wrong drug
A 37-year-old swine-flu victim from the Philippines, Dolores Bauzon, died on Monday after being given the wrong medicine by a Hong Kong private clinic, the Standard newspaper said yesterday. Bauzon, who developed a fever and sore throat a day after arriving in the territory on June 28, was given antibiotics used to treat bacterial infections rather than antiviral drugs used to tackle influenza, the report said. The newspaper did not identify the clinic that initially treated Bauzon, the second victim to die of swine flu in Hong Kong. Hong Kong Centre for Health Protection controller Thomas Tsang Ho-fai said Bauzon died because proper treatment for swine flu was delayed.
■CHINA
Students catch cheats
A group of primary school students who were tasked with supervising a civil service test proved their worth by catching 25 exam cheats, state media said on Thursday. The 18 students in Gansu Province uncovered the cheats while administering the test to 265 candidates for positions as judges, prosecutors and police officers, Lanzhou Morning News said. The students were brought in by the Liangzhou District government to supervise the test to ensure “openness and transparency,” the paper said. Other supervisors included officials and middle-school teachers, it reported, but added that the pupils were solely responsible for catching the cheaters.
■NEW ZEALAND
Pumpkin’s dad gets life
A man was jailed for life yesterday for strangling his wife in New Zealand before abandoning his three-year-old daughter at an Australian railway station, sparking an international manhunt. Nai Yin Xue, 56, was impassive as Justice Hugh Williams in the High Court in Auckland told him he would remain behind bars for at least 12 years before becoming eligible for parole. Last month the Chinese immigrant was found guilty of strangling his 27-year-old wife, An An Liu, at their Auckland home and dumping her body in the boot of his car. Liu’s body was discovered by police in September 2007, days after Qian Xun — nicknamed “Pumpkin” by police after the brand of her clothing — was found crying at a Melbourne railway station as her father fled to the US.
■INDONESIA
‘Sex cult’ leader jailed
The leader of a cult who delivered sermons in his underpants and demanded that his acolytes perform in sex orgies has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail for blasphemy, a judge said yesterday. Agus Noro, also known as Agus Imam Solihin or “leader of the faithful,” was found by the South Jakarta district court to have blasphemed against Islam, lead judge Haryanto said. The court said Noro forced four married couples belonging to his Satria Piningit Weteng Buwono cult to perform group sex in his house in 2003 while he and two teenage followers watched. Noro also banned his followers from praying and fasting, it said.
RSS