■NEW ZEALAND
Search for toddler continues
As the search for a missing two-year-old New Zealand girl moved into its sixth day yesterday, police, who are convinced that she was abducted, appealed to the kidnapper to leave her at a hospital. Police boosted the squad looking for Aisling Symes, who was last seen on Monday afternoon, to 60 and continued house-to-house inquiries in suburban Henderson, 16km from central Auckland. The girl disappeared as her parents, Alan and Angela Symes, worked on her dead grandparents’ home, which they are selling. Police, who found no trace of the girl in an extensive search of the neighborhood, are convinced that she was abducted but have no clues, apart from a mystery Asian woman walking a dog who two witnesses said they saw talking to the girl. Chinese-born member of parliament Pansy Wong told Radio New Zealand that about 20 people who spoke Punjabi, Korean, Mandarin or Cantonese had knocked on doors in eight local streets without obtaining any information about the woman.
■JAPAN
Anti-flu suit launched
A menswear company has begun selling an “anti-swine flu” business suit that it says can reduce the risk of catching the virus. The wool suit is coated with titanium dioxide, which breaks down the virus molecules on contact under ultraviolet light, Haruyama Trading Co said. The material, which can also reduce odors such as cigarette smoke, will keep its anti-virus properties even after being dry cleaned more than 20 times, the company said. The company had initially aimed to develop a dirt and odor-resistant suit, “but laboratory experiments proved that molecules of viruses were actually dissolved three hours after they adhered to the fabric,” company spokesman Ryugo Yamamoto said said.
■AUSTRALIA
Refugee boat intercepted
Authorities intercepted a boat carrying 52 suspected asylum seekers in the Indian Ocean, Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor said. O’Connor said Border Protection Command agents detained the boat on Friday morning near Ashmore Island off the north coast. He said the 52 passengers and three crew on board were being taken to an immigration detention center on remote Christmas Island. Officials will assess their health and reasons for travel.
■THAILAND
ASEAN security will be tight
The government has assigned 18,298 security personnel to keep the peace at this month’s ASEAN summit, news reports said yesterday. The decision to deploy the army and police personnel was made on Friday at a meeting of the Internal Security Operations Command, chaired by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, the state-run Thai News Agency said. The country is to host the 15th ASEAN summit from Oct. 23 to Oct. 25 in Prachuab Khiri Khan Province, 130km southwest of Bangkok. Much of the province, including its two main beach resorts, Hua Hin and Cha-am, will be placed under the Internal Security Act from tomorrow to Oct. 27, allowing authorities to crack down with impunity on any protests or any signs of violent intent. The tight security measures follow an embarrassing incident in April, when protesters stormed the venue of a summit ASEAN planned to hold with China, Japan and South Korea in Pattaya, 100km southeast of Bangkok, forcing Abhisit to cancel the event.
■SOUTH KOREA
Balloon launch delayed
Activists said yesterday they had postponed a plan to fly 300 radios into North Korea attached to balloons because of unfavorable winds, as the North held communist anniversary commemorations. The release had been timed for the North’s official celebrations of the 64th anniversary of the Communist Party. The activists planned to send the radios and some 100,000 anti-regime leaflets attached to 10 large balloons. The balloons were to be released at Imjingak, just south of the western part of the border. “Today, the wind is not blowing right,” said Park Sang-hak, leader of the group, which has sent leaflets into the North by balloon before. The group tested the radios’ ability to withstand crashes by sending up 25 of the palm-sized sets attached to balloons designed to burst at about 500m from the ground, he said. Wrapped in layers of padding and air bags, all the radios survived. North Korean radios and TV sets come pre-tuned to government stations.
RSS