■AUSTRALIA
Jingle sounds sun alarm
Health officials have devised a novel way to warn beachgoers of the dangers of the sun — play a jingle to remind them to apply sunscreen. As Australians embark on what promises to be another extremely hot summer, the Cancer Council of New South Wales yesterday introduced the five-second musical ditty to convince people to abandon tanning and wear skin protection. It is to be played at beaches in Cronulla in Sydney’s south and Gosford to the north at regular intervals during the day this summer in a bid to cut down on dangerous sun exposure by young people. “Many people don’t realize sun damage in the first 15 years of life greatly increases the risk of skin cancer in later life,” skin cancer prevention expert Sofia Khayech said.
■CAMBODIA
Thaksin to visit
Thailand’s fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was expected in Cambodia yesterday to meet a Thai man jailed for spying on him last month, a government spokesman said. A visit by Thaksin to Cambodia last month caused a diplomatic row when Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen refused to extradite the Thai tycoon to Thailand to serve a two-year jail term for graft. Thai national Siwarak Chothipong, 31, was due to be released from prison today after Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni issued a pardon. He was jailed for seven years for supplying Thaksin’s flight schedule to the Thai embassy.
■CHINA
Twelve dead in shootings
State media say authorities in central China have captured a man who went on a shooting spree with a shotgun, killing 12 people including his father. The Xinhua news agency says Liu Aibing, 34, was apprehended yesterday in Gaoming town in Hunan Province, a day after he went on a rampage with his shotgun. It says Liu also seriously injured two other people and set six homes on fire. An officer at Anhua County’s Public Security Bureau confirmed that Liu was taken into custody after police surrounded him. Xinhua says the dead included his father and several other close family members. It says Liu had a long history of mental illness.
■INDONESIA
Iranian ‘drug mules’ caught
Authorities have arrested seven Iranians accused of smuggling methamphetamine in their stomachs only two days after seven other Iranians were detained in similar circumstances. Jakarta airport customs chief Bahaduri Wijayanta said the latest seven arrived on two flights on Friday from Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. They were allegedly carrying almost 3kg of the illicit drug internally. On Wednesday, police said they arrested seven Iranians flying to Bali carrying at least 2.5kg of methamphetamine in their stomachs.
■INDIA
Clashes injure 60
Sixty people were hurt on Friday as police in Kashmir clashed with demonstrators in the region’s summer capital Srinagar, police and doctors said. Police fired tear gas and live rounds to disperse hundreds of anti-India protesters. Forty demonstrators and 20 policemen were injured, police and doctors said. Among the injured was a young boy who sustained a bullet wound. The demonstrations were in support of a strike call by hard-line separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani to protest the “illegal occupation of land by the Indian army” in Kashmir.
■FRANCE
Hallyday doctor attacked
A surgeon accused of botching an operation on Johnny Hallyday was mugged in Paris, his lawyer said on Saturday, as the veteran rock idol lay in a coma in a Los Angeles hospital with his family at his bedside. Stephane Delajoux, who operated on the “French Elvis” for a slipped disc on Nov. 26, was attacked by two hooded men late on Friday in the well-heeled 17th arrondissement, lawyer David Koubbi said. “Dr Delajoux was attacked extremely violently in the sight of his children,” Koubbi said. Koubbi called for restraint on the part of the media, which have highlighted Delajoux’s checkered medical past, including fines for malpractice, despite being a favorite with stars. He said his client had laid a complaint and requested police protection.
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