Mon, Jun 02, 2003 page5

• World news quick take

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  ■Vietnam

  Corruption trial set to end

  Vietnam's most explosive corruption trial will reach its climax on Wednesday after more than three months of proceedings centred around the murky links between organized crime and the ruling Communist Party. Judgement day for Ho Chi Minh City mafia boss Nam Cam and 154 other co-accused in the southern business capital's People's Court will cap a powerful showtrial .The government has touted the trial as proof of its determination to stamp out insidious corruption and restore its plunging moral and ideological legitimacy among a politically-subdued population. "No doubt a consensus would have been reached at the highest levels about Nam Cam's guilt and the appropriate punishment," said Carl Thayer, a long-time Vietnam watcher at the Australian Defense Force Academy.

  ■ Thailand

  Chief faces murder rap

  The leader of a village near the Myanmar border in western Thailand has been charged in the murder of six Myanmar migrant workers whose charred remains were found in the area recently, a police official said. Woon Tarmingkum, head of the Mae Pa village in Mae Sot district, was arrested and charged on Saturday, said Major General Saweit Pincinchai. "We received a warrant to arrest Woon for slaying six Myanmar people, and we expect to arrest more culprits after interrogating him," Saweit said.

  ■ India

  Movies turn up the heat

  India's film industry is starting to break decades-old stereotypes by dealing openly with sex. In a marked departure from formulaic storylines and hackneyed treatment of love scenes, several movies are also dealing in generous doses of skin in an attempt to draw in audiences after the industry has not seen a single big hit so far this year. Andaaz (Style), which hit screens across the country last week, features a former Miss Universe and a former Miss World, whose skimpy costumes have generated more buzz than their acting abilities. Khwaish (Desire) is being billed as a phenomenon in Indian cinema -- with no less than 17 kissing scenes and portraying a young couple who are anything but shy about discussing their sex life.

  ■ Australia

  Transplant patient scorched

  Australian heart transplant patient Keith Cooper ended up with third degree burns when the operating table in a Brisbane hospital went up in flames during life saving surgery, news reports yesterday said. Despite burns to his back, shoulders and ears, the surgery at Prince Charles Hospital was completed and Cooper is recovering. It was the first operating table fire in Australia, the Sun-Herald newspaper reported. Hospital spokesman Grant s said an investigation was under way into the accident.

  ■ Pakistan

  Islamic youths attack circus

  About 100 youths allied with a hard-line Islamic party attacked a circus to stop what they called its obscenity and gambling, police said on Saturday. The assault occurred on Friday night in Gujranwala, a city that is 100km northwest of Lahore, the capital of Pakistan's eastern Punjab province, policeman Saud Aziz said. Wielding sticks and clubs, the youths attacked organizers and performers at the circus, witnesses said. The assault led to a stampede by the crowd, but no serious injuries were reported. The youths were allegedly led by Hameed Ullah, a local cleric and legislator in Parliament, residents said.

  ■Switzerland

  Activists `organized'

  Several hundred anti-globalization activists blocked bridges in Geneva on Sunday morning in an attempt to prevent participants at the G8 summit from crossing by land to the meeting site in the French resort of Evian. The action came in the wake of a demonstration the night before in Geneva in which about 300 protesters marched through the streets shortly after 11pm, breaking windows and vandalizing cars. Canton police officials in Geneva said more than a dozen stores were destroyed, and called the troublemakers "a well organized group."

  ■ Croatia

  Over his dead body?

  A 66-year-old German national blew up a house in the Adriatic town of Pula Saturday and died on the spot, the state-run HRT television reported. The report said that the man was identified as Erich Franck, whose body was found on the burning ruins of a house in Pula, a town on the Istrian peninsula. Witnesses said the explosion was so powerful that parts of a house flew 50m away from the site, but no one else was injured in the blast. Media reports said Franck had been in a dispute over the ownership of a house which he had owned with his wife, Fatima Sogolj, 43.

  ■ Guatemala

  Canada beef banned

  Guatemala on Saturday banned imports of beef and beef products from Canada and other countries where mad cow disease exists, an official said. "Canada is the country initially affected by the measure since the disease was recently discovered there," Agriculture Ministry animal and plant safety chief Robin Ibarra told reporters.

  ■ Italy

  Berlusconi defiant

  Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi Saturday denounced as grotesque and overdone a prosecution request for an 11-year jail sentence on a close political associate on trial for corruption. At a hearing on Friday during the Milan trial, the prosecutor called for the heavy sentence on parliamentary deputy Cesare Previti for alleged corruption of magistrates.

  "The prosecution requests ... fit into the pattern of using the law for political purposes during election campaigns," Berlusconi said.

  ■ Germany

  Love Parade precursor

  Bikinis, shorts and mini-skirts were the standard uniform as 100,000 techno fans danced the sunny day away at the "G-move" music event in Hamburg. The ravers, mostly decked out in sparse orange and green clothing, strutted their stuff behind 18 sound trucks that wound their through the northern German city to the port area where the party was to go on all night. "There are less people than in previous years but we will still party until morning," 29-year-old Andre said dressed in camouflage shorts.

  ■Yemen

  Bull storms parliament

  A raging bull broke free from his captors and stormed Yemen's parliament square, injuring three people before being shot dead by guards, eyewitnesses said. The bull, already facing slaughter in front of parliament by tribesmen wanting to highlight grievances against a member of parliament, jumped off their vehicle and went on a rampage. A foreigner of unknown nationality was critically injured and taken to hospital. Two other people were slightly hurt, witnesses said. Under local tribal customs, slaughtering a bull can express grievance, objection, sorrow or penitence.

  ■ United Kingdom

  Most dies in London

  Mickie Most, a music producer who helped craft the sound of the 1960s' "British invasion," has died aged 64. Most died of cancer at his home in north London on Friday, his family said. Born Michael Peter Hayes in Aldershot, England in 1938, Most broke into Britain's fledgling 1950s rock'n'roll scene as a member of the Most Brothers. Moving to his wife's homeland of South Africa, he topped the charts by covering US hits with his band The Playboys. But his biggest influence was as a producer who helped British acts like The Animals, and Donovan break into the US.

  ■ United States

  Manson disciple sues

  Former Charles Manson disciple and convicted murderer Susan Atkins is suing Governor Gray Davis, contending his policy opposing parole for nearly all murderers has made her a political prisoner. Parole board members and prison officials also are named in the federal civil rights lawsuit, which accuses them of ignoring the Constitution and parole rules to keep Atkins behind bars. Her attorney Eric Lampel say psychiatrists call her a model prisoner who is not a threat to society. Atkins, 55, who confessed at the sensational 1970-71 Manson trial that she fatally stabbed pregnant actress Sharon Tate, has since recanted that confession, saying she was present but did not kill Tate.

  ■ United States

  Bombing suspect arrested

  Eric Robert Rudolph, the Olympic Park bombing suspect who became almost a mythic figure during his years on the run in the Appalachian wilderness, was arrested early Saturday as he scavenged for food behind a grocery store. After a massive manhunt that included infrared scopes on helicopters and logs rigged with motion detectors, it was ultimately a rookie officer on patrol at 4:30am who spotted a man with a camouflage jacket, blue work britches and a stubbly beard behind a Save-A-Lot food store. Rudolph is also a suspect in bombings at an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, outside a gay nightclub and an office building in Atlanta.

  ■ United Kingdom

  Plane crashes at air show

  A Swedish pilot has died after his plane plummeted to the ground after "disintegrating" shortly after take-off at a British air show, organizers said Saturday. Pierre Hollander, 59, was flown to hospital by air ambulance following the crash earlier Saturday outside Coventry, central England, which was witnessed by thousands of shocked bystanders. Hollander's aircraft, which was a replica of the Spirit of St Louis in which Charles Lindbergh made the first non-stop solo flight from New York to Paris in 1927, landed away from the crowd and none of the spectators was injured.

  Agencies
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