■China
One-child families rewarded
China's capital Beijing has decided to offer a reward of 1,000 yuan (US$120) to all couples who obey rules restricting them to one child, state media said yesterday. The reward rises to 3,000 yuan for couples who lose a child and refrain from having a second baby, the Beijing Legal Times reported. An official at the Beijing Family Planning Committee said that a couple will be punished if they take the money and later decide to have a child. The couple will have to hand the money back and will be fined by officials at their place of work, the official said.
■ India
Heatwave kills 592
A severe heatwave gripping various parts of India has killed at least 592 people, with weather officials yesterday holding out no immediate hope of respite. The southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh has born the brunt of the sun's fury with 576 deaths. The United News of India quoted state officials as saying the Nalgonda district was hardest hit with 115 deaths, followed by East Godavari with 85, West Godavari with 73, Prakash with 59, Karimnagar 52, Guntur 46, Krishna 44, Nellore 30, Warangal 16, and Chittoor 12. Forty more deaths were reported from other districts.
■ Singapore
Dengue cases surge
A sudden surge in cases of dengue fever has occurred in Singapore since temperatures starting soaring two weeks ago, health officials said yesterday. More than 100 cases a week have reported, bringing the total this year to 1,842, according to the National Environment Agency. A blood test can determine whether a person has dengue. The dengue outbreak comes as the city-state continues to battle SARS, with 31 deaths out of 206 cases. The dengue situation is not likely to improve within the next month, as the recent hot and dry spell favors the growth of the virus in Aedes mosquitoes, officials said.
■ South Korea
Northern poachers caught
Seven North Korean fishing boats crossed a disputed sea border into South Korean waters yesterday in the fourth such incursion this week, Seoul's defense ministry said. The boats were catching crabs, an economic prize for which the fleets of the divided peninsula compete each year. They retreated after warning broadcasts by South Korean naval vessels, a defense ministry spokesman said. Last June and in 1999 there were deadly naval gun battles in the same Yellow Sea area off the west coast -- prime fishing grounds especially during the June crab-catching season.
■ The Philippines
Envoy slammed by Arroyo
Japan's ambassador to the Philippines came under fire on yesterday for saying the country was a dangerous place and government policies were confusing. "The views expressed by the Japanese ambassador are exaggerated and unfair," President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said in a forum with local businessmen. "It is regrettable that the gains we have achieved so far have not been acknowledged," she added. Japanese Ambassador Kojiro Takano said Thursday that he has not had a decent sleep since arriving in the country last year because of security fears. "We are under constant danger," he told the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines, adding that the fear was "not a product of imagination."
■United Kingdom
Refugee sews up face
An Iranian poet and political dissident, who sewed up his lips, eyelids and ears to protest what he says are injustices in the way Britain treats asylum seekers, is to be granted refugee status and allowed to remain in Britain, the government said. But the poet, Abbas Amini, who says he was repeatedly tortured during six years in prison in Iran, vowed to leave the green stitches intact, and to continue his hunger strike on behalf of other asylum seekers. He has spent eight days without food and seven without water, and has refused to take medicine for infections that are developing in his eyes.
■ United States
Cats get own TV show
American cats, no longer content to climb trees, mess up houses with their fur or overdose on catnip, are getting their very own TV show. "Meow TV", a 30-minute show aimed at cats, not just cat lovers, would debut yesterday on the women's cable channel Oxygen TV. It was developed by the cat food maker Meow Mix Co after research showed that one-third of cats enjoy watching television. The show's slogan? "More fun than a ball of yarn." It will feature such "cat integrity" pieces as videos of squirrels running up trees, fish swimming in tanks, as well as more highbrow fare such as cat yoga and cat haiku.
■ Serbia
War criminal goes to court
A former Serb paramilitary leader who also was Slobodan Milosevic's security officer was headed to the Netherlands-based UN war crimes tribunal yesterday, his attorney said. Franko Simatovic boarded an early morning flight from Belgrade to Amsterdam. Upon arrival, officials of the UN court were expected to take him into custody later in the day. Simatovic, who headed notorious Serb units in the 1991 to 1995 Bosnian and Croatian wars, was indicted together with Milosevic's former state security chief, Jovica Stanisic, on five counts of crimes against humanity.
■ United States
Seeking all visa violators
The US Department of Homeland Security will be ready by Aug. 1 to begin searching for thousands of foreign nationals who may have violated the terms of their student visas an official said. Bentley said as many as 10,000 people may have violated the terms of their student visas, double the 5,000-strong force of federal agents available to enforce immigration rules. Violations often occur when visa holders leave school for work without notifying immigration authorities. Violators face detainment and deportation. Immigration data on visa violators also would be available to other law enforcement agencies.
■ United States
Killer gets new kidney
A death row prisoner in Oregon who has kidney disease could receive a transplant ahead of thousands of other patients because the operation would save the state money. Horacio Reyes-Camarena was found guilty of stabbing an 18-year-old woman to death in 1996. His appeal could take another decade. Reyes-Camarena's dialysis at the Two Rivers correctional institution costs US$120,000 a year, so a transplant, at US$100,000, would represent a saving for a state facing a budget crisis. "I know people on the outside. They need things and they don't get it. Sometimes being here is better."
Agencies
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
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