■AUSTRALIA
Canberra stands firm
The government insisted yesterday it would not bring home a boatload of 78 Sri Lankan asylum seekers rescued off Indonesia, as a stand-off over their fate deepened. Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said the Sri Lankans, picked up 10 days ago by an Australian customs ship in Indonesian waters, would be processed in Indonesia following an agreement between the two countries’ leaders. “There were always going to be humanitarian, refugee, or immigration implications,” Smith told public broadcaster ABC. “Those implications will be resolved in Indonesia on Indonesian soil, because that’s the agreement we have with the Indonesian government.” The Oceanic Viking customs ship has sailed to Bintan but the provincial governor there stopped it docking on Tuesday, saying the island was not a “dumping ground” for refugees.
■CHINA
Transvestites go on trial
Five Filipino transvestites have gone on trial in Shanghai, accused of drugging men and robbing them. Prosecutors told a court on Tuesday the five men “dressed as women and, after leading the victims into taxis or hotel rooms, induced them to eat chocolate and other foods laced with sleeping drugs,” Xinhua news agency reported yesterday. The men stole mobile phones, credit cards and a Rolex watch. They used the cards to buy perfume and gold, the prosecutors said. The five men aged from 26 to 30 were accused of committing the crimes three times from late last year to February, and were detained by police in March. The men pleaded guilty to the charges, the Legal Daily said.
■INDONESIA
Tight pants banned in Aceh
Muslim women would be banned from wearing tight pants in a devoutly Islamic district of Aceh Province under proposed regulations to take effect on Jan. 1, an official said yesterday. Any Muslim caught violating the dress code, which also prohibits shorts for men, will be told to put on government-issued full-length skirts or loose pants, said Ramli Mansur, head of West Aceh District. Islamic police will determine if clothing violates the dress code, he said.
■JAPAN
Ships’ collision probed
The government began an on-site investigation yesterday into a collision between a naval destroyer and a South Korean container vessel on Tuesday night in the Kammon Straits between Honshu and Kyushu. The collision sparked fires on both ships and mangled the bow of the warship and the starboard quarter of the freighter. One navy crewmember was injured and five others suffered smoke inhalation.
■GREECE
Gunmen wound six officers
One police officer was in serious condition after being shot by unidentified gunmen in a northern Athens suburb on Tuesday, police said, adding that five others were injured in the attack. Leftist and anarchist groups have launched a series of attacks against police, businesses, public institutions and politicians after a policeman shot dead a teenager in Athens in December, prompting the worst riots in decades. “Two unknown assailants riding a motorcycle shot and injured police officers outside the police station of Aghia Pareskevi,” said a police official, who declined to be named.
■FRANCE
Employee attempts suicide
France Telecom said an employee at a Paris call center tried to commit suicide on the job on Tuesday by overdosing on medication but was rescued by colleagues. About 25 France Telecom employees have taken their lives in the past year and a half. Unions blame the suicides on stress because of restructuring. The company said the 32-year-old call center employee had been experiencing personal problems and that his workload had been lightened. France Telecoms has put corporate restructuring on hold until at least the end of the year in a bid to ease stress among employees.
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