■Japan
Briton sent to prison
A British man was sentenced to 14 years in prison yesterday and given a 5 million yen (US$42,373 dollar) fine for smuggling drugs into Japan in a trial that has triggered fears of serious human rights abuses. Nicholas Baker's guilty verdict came despite a campaign by a British lawmaker and a human rights lawyer to push for a fair trial. Sabine Zanker, a lawyer for the London-based human rights group Fair Trials Abroad, argued that the prosecution had blocked key defense evidence from appearing in court and said Baker would appeal the decision. Baker, 32, was caught at Narita airport near Tokyo in April last year with more than 40,000 ecstasy pills and almost one kilogram of cocaine in a suitcase he insisted belonged to a "mate" and traveling companion.
■ Thailand
Alleged rape victim charged
A Hong Kong tourist who says she was gang-raped in Bangkok was arrested Thursday and charged with defamation and filing a false complaint, a senior police officer said. The 27-year-old freelance journalist holidaying here last week claimed she was raped by the driver of a three-weeled "tuk tuk" taxi and three other men on June 3 in front of Parliament House. The driver Thongbai Ummahear, whom police had arrested but dropped charges against on Thursday, filed the defamation suit while police posted the false complaint charge.
■ Australia
Lawyer sues counselor
A lawyer is suing a marriage guidance counselor for having sex with his wife only weeks after he was hired to help save their union, news reports Thursday said. Brisbane psychologist Owen Pershouse denies the claim brought by lawyer Michael Baker, the Courier-Mail reported. Baker alleges Pershouse began an affair with his wife only weeks after the joint counseling sessions began in 1993. The case comes before a Brisbane court in August.
■ Cambodia
Islamic terrorists hunted
Cambodia charged a fourth suspected Muslim militant yesterday as Southeast Asia intensified a crackdown on a shadowy radical Islamic network blamed for terror attacks in the region. In Thailand, police were hunting for accomplices of Muslims arrested in connection with a plan to attack US interests and beach resorts there. Sman Esma El, a 23-year-old Muslim teacher at a Kuwaiti-funded Islamic school west of Cambodia's capital, was arrested on Wednesday and charged him with international terrorism activities linked to the network of the Jemaah Islamiah southeast Asian militant group.
■ Indonesia
Soldiers jailed for beatings
An Indonesian court-martial yesterday jailed three more soldiers for beating up villagers during a hunt for separatist rebels in Aceh province. Military judge Major Hulwani jailed the two privates and a sergeant for between four months and four months and 20 days. They were the second group of soldiers to be court-martialled since Indonesia on May 19 launched its biggest military operation for a quarter-century to crush the Free Aceh Movement. The same tribunal at Lhokseumawe city in North Aceh on Monday sentenced three privates to four months in jail over the incident at Lawang in Bireuen district
■Germany
Housemate rots on couch
German authorities put a 43-year-old man into psychiatric care after he was found living with his housemate who had been dead a month. Police discovered the rotting body of the 58-year-old man on his living room couch, following a tip-off from a hired gardener who grew suspicious after being repeatedly sent away. An autopsy on the body gave no hint of foul play, police said. "The man told us he had just stopped eating," said Hans Roeck, a police spokesman in the town of Aalen.
■ United States
Legislator wants "fat tax"
Citing evidence that fatty foods are health hazards, a New York state legislator wants to make junk food junkies pay. Representative Felix Ortiz, a Democrat from the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, said on Wednesday he plans to introduce legislation imposing a one-percent sales tax on fatty foods. He said he believes government should use taxes to discourage the eating of "junk food," just as it does with cigarettes because of the growing cost of health problems related to obesity. "I'm trying to make everyone part of the solution," Ortiz said."
■ Canada
The elderly tested for SARS
Nearly two dozen people from two facilities for the elderly in Ontario were being tested for possible SARS symptoms, while hundreds more were quarantined as a precaution. Officials on Wednesday reported 63 probable cases of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, down one from the previous day. More than 100 people were being monitored due to SARS symptoms. That included 23 people moved from a nursing home and a retirement home in Whitby, Ontario, 70km east of Toronto, to other hospitals to undergo tests for SARS. "None are critical, they are not suggestive of SARS, but we're checking to make sure," said Dr. Donna Reynolds, a regional health official.
■ United States
Pox vaccine available
US officials said they would distribute the smallpox vaccine to people exposed to the monkeypox virus, as the number of suspected victims of the deadly virus rose to 54. Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia said the vaccine would be released to veterinarians and health workers involved in the investigation to help them fight off the virus. The Department of Health and Human Services also banned the importation of rodents from Africa and the movement of prairie dogs within the US. With 54 suspected cases in four states, the US is doing everything it can to contain the source of the outbreak.
■ United Kingdom
"Bastards" pester Blix
Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix said the Bush administration criticized UN inspections -- but he denied that it pressured him or that he called US officials "bastards." Blix, who oversaw a fruitless search for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction for three months, was quizzed about an interview published in London's Guardian newspaper. "I have my detractors in Washington. There are bastards who spread things around, of course, who planted nasty things in the media," Blix was quoted as telling the newspaper. Asked Wednesday whether he used the word "bastards" referring to the Bush administration, Blix replied: "No, no, absolutely not. I was talking about private individuals."
Agencies
School bullies in Singapore are to face caning under new guidelines, but the education minister on Tuesday said it would be meted out only as a last resort with strict safeguards. Human rights groups regularly criticize Singapore for the use of corporal punishment, which remains part of the school and criminal justice systems, but authorities have defended it as a deterrent to crime and serious misconduct. Caning was discussed in the parliament after legislators asked how it would be used in relation to bullying in schools. The debate followed stricter guidelines on serious student misconduct, including bullying, unveiled by the Singaporean Ministry of
‘GROSS NEGLIGENCE?’ Despite a spleen typically being significantly smaller than a liver, the surgeon said he believed Bryan’s spleen was ‘double the size of what is normal’ A Florida surgeon who is facing criminal charges after allegedly removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen has said he is “forever traumatized” by that person’s death. In a deposition from November last year that was recently obtained by NBC, 44-year-old Thomas Shaknovsky described the death of 70-year-old William Bryan as an “incredibly unfortunate event that I regret deeply.” Bryan died after the botched surgery; and last month, a grand jury in Tallahassee indicted Shaknovsky on a charge of manslaughter. “I’m forever traumatized by it and hurt by it,” Shaknovsky added, also saying that wrong-site surgeries can happen “during
A MESSAGE: Japan’s participation in the Balikatan drills is a clear deterrence signal to China not to attack Taiwan while the US is busy in the Middle East, an analyst said The Japan Self-Defense Forces yesterday fired a Type 88 anti-ship missile during a joint maritime exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces, hitting a decommissioned Philippine Navy ship in waters facing the disputed South China Sea, in drills that underscore Tokyo’s rising willingness to project military power on China’s doorstep. The drill took place as Manila and Tokyo began talks on a potential defense equipment transfer, made possible by Japan’s decision to scrap restrictions on military exports. The discussions include the possible early transfer of Abukuma-class destroyers and TC-90 aircraft to the Philippines, Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. Philippine Secretary of
A South Korean judge who last week more than doubled former South Korean first lady Kim Keon-hee’s prison sentence was found dead yesterday, police said. Shin Jong-o was found unconscious at about 1am at the Seoul High Court building, an investigator at the Seocho District Police Station in Seoul said. Shin was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead, he said. “There is no sign of foul play in the death,” the investigator added. Local media reported that Shin had left a suicide note, but the investigator said there was none. On Tuesday last week, Shin presided over 53-year-old Kim’s appeal trial, finding her guilty
RSS