■ Vietnam
Glitter paid girls' families
Former British rocker Gary Glitter paid US$4,000 to the families of two Vietnamese girls whom he is accused of sexually abusing in exchange for their cooperation, his lawyer said yesterday. Attorney Le Thanh Kinh said Glitter has given US$2,000 each to the families of an 11-year-old and 12-year-old he allegedly had sex with after they agreed to write letters to the court asking that the case be dropped. "If we pay the money for the two families, when this case goes to court, maybe Mr Gary will receive a lighter penalty," Kinh said. The families, who were paid two weeks ago, had originally asked for US$10,000 and US$5,000 respectively, Kinh said. "After receiving the money, they informed the investigation bureau that they don't want to go to court and they want to drop the case," he said.
■ India
Fiery crash kills at least 30
A bus collided with a truck on a highway in western India yesterday and burst into flames, killing at least 30 people, police said. The head-on collision took place near the town of Baruch in the state of Gujarat, Police Superintendent G. S. Malik said. Twenty-two people were killed at the scene, and eight later died of burns at a hospital, the officer said. Six people remained in critical condition. "The fuel tank of the Volvo coach burst on impact, which ignited a deadly fire," Malik said. Authorities would conduct DNA tests to determine the identities of the dead, all overnight travelers on their way to Ahmadabad, the state's capital, from Bombay, he said. The bus had carried 41 passengers. The truck driver, who escaped unhurt, was arrested, Malik said. Baruch is about 216km north of Ahmadabad.
■ China
Guangzhou building towers
Guangzhou has started work on twin skyscrapers slated to become China's second-tallest buildings, state media reported yesterday. The Zhujiang New City Twin Towers will stand 432m high with 104 storeys and are expected to cost over 10 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) to build, the China Daily reported. Construction of the Western Tower is due to be completed in 2010, when Guangzhou will host the Asian Games, with the Eastern Tower to follow, according to the paper.
■ China
Father is oldest transsexual
A 52-year-old father who endured a life of self-denial has now become China's oldest transsexual, state media reported yesterday. "My life as a woman has started," Xinhua news agency quoted him as saying yesterday after a sex-change operation this month in Hunan Province. The Hong Kong newspaper Ta Kung Pao named the man as Zhao Changshang. It reported that he had wanted to be a woman from childhood and that he used to try on the clothes of his sisters. He married under family pressure at age 27 and divorced in 2001, and other reports said that his daughter had cut off contact with him after the operation. He plans to marry his boyfriend of three years, Ta Kung Pao said.
■ South Korea
Books on scientist spurned
South Korean publishers rushed to put books on celebrated scientist Hwang Woo-suk on store shelves only to find him embroiled in a scandal and their products becoming one of the biggest flops of the holiday season. Hwang was once called the pride of South Korea for bringing the country to the forefront of stem cell and cloning research. Publishers aiming to cash in on his fame put out 16 books on him -- 10 of which were children's books. In past days, however, those same books were headed back to the publishers. "We started taking children's books on Hwang off the shelves just before Christmas," said Kim Yea-won, a clerk at major book seller Kyobo. "Nobody wants them now."
■ Hong Kong
Tree smugglers arrested
Two Chinese smugglers have been arrested for stripping Hong Kong hillsides of "sacred trees" believed to have mystical healing powers, police said yesterday. The men were arrested after a high-speed boat chase with Buddhist pine trees on board which had been stolen from hillsides in Hong Kong's rural New Territories district, a police spokesman said. The trees are believed to bring good luck and to have magical healing powers and sell to wealthy Chinese families for up to around US$1,300 each.
■ Hong Kong
Tsang goes to Beijing
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) told Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang (曾蔭權) yesterday that the city should unite to solve "deep-rooted conflicts and problems," a week after Hong Kong's pro-democracy opposition rejected a Beijing-backed proposal for political reform. Tsang's trip to Beijing was his first duty visit with Chinese Communist leaders since he took office in July. The meetings were closely watched for signs of Beijing's possible disappointment with Tsang over last week's bitter, embarrassing legislative defeat, in which lawmakers rejected Tsang's Beijing-backed proposal for gradual democratic reforms. Wen said developing Hong Kong's democracy has always been Beijing's stance, but that the process must be gradual.
■ Italy
9,000 antiquities recovered
Police in Rome have put on display an astonishing haul of artefacts they say was plundered from archaeological sites in Italy by a 74-year-old man. Officers who raided the man's home found 9,000 antiquities stolen over a period of years as well as a sophisticated restoration lab, metal detectors and other devices used by amateur archaeologists. Thousands of Etruscan and Roman terracotta vases, polychrome mosaic tiles, pieces of travertine and multi-colored marble that once adorned Roman villas were recovered. Ancient copper and bronze objects, amphorae, goblets, masks, brooches, votary statuettes and oil lamps were also found.
■ Bosnia
Officials close in on Mladic
The decade long hunt for the Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic appeared to be close to a breakthrough on Tuesday after police revealed they had intercepted one of his mobile phone calls. Serbian officials said the arrest of General Mladic -- wanted for genocide for his involvement in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre -- "has never been closer." There is now growing speculation that General Mladic's capture could be imminent. Over the weekend, former security officials in Belgrade said he was secretly negotiating with the Serbian authorities, with a view to giving himself up to the UN tribunal in The Hague.
■ United Kingdom
Geldof helps Tories
Bob Geldof, the rock singer behind the Make Poverty History campaign and Live8 concerts, is to act as a consultant to Britain's main opposition Conservatives, the party announced yesterday. Geldof, who led calls for the Group of Eight richest nations to act on debt, trade and poverty during July's Gleneagles summit, will work as an adviser to Tory leader David Cameron's new Globalization and Global Poverty policy group. The move is likely to be seen as a coup for Cameron, who was elected to the post earlier this month, and signals a move by Tories onto ground championed by Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair and his finance minister Gordon Brown.
■ United Kingdom
Police worry about funding
Police are concerned that they will struggle to thwart a repeat of the July 7 suicide bomb attacks on London if they are not given more money and officers, the Times reported yesterday. The newspaper cited an unnamed "senior figure at the center of the fight against terrorism" as telling it that Prime Minister Tony Blair's government had reneged on their promises to bolster resources for the "war on terrorism." It said senior figures at London's Metropolitan Police feared the force would not see most of the expected £135 million (US$233 million) in national security funding to be allocated in the new year.
■ Netherlands
Police seek boa thieves
Police are mystified how thieves got away with 24 boa constrictors from a suburban zoo in the administrative capital of The Hague, a spokesman said on Tuesday. The slippery group comprising two adult snakes stretching to 2.5m and 22 youngsters up to about 50cm disappeared sometime on Christmas Eve. "Investigators don't understand how the thieves were able to grab all these reptiles," said police spokesman Wim Hoonhout.
■ United States
Bank robbed again
The Vail, Colorado bank at the center of this year's "Dumb and Dumber" robbery by two men from Australia was hit again on Tuesday, with a suspect making off with an undisclosed amount of cash, town officials said. Vail police canvassed the area surrounding the WestStar bank as hundreds of skiers and snowboarders crowded the streets at the end of the day. "We're focusing on all areas," Sergeant Dirk Ethridge told the Vail Daily. "We don't know if he left or if he's here." Police described the suspect as a man is in his early 50s. Police cordoned off a staircase leading to the bank in the hopes a dog could pick up the suspect's scent.
■ United States
Union approves contract
The executive board for New York's transit workers union approved a tentative new contract, five days after it ended a paralyzing bus and subway strike that stranded millions of commuters during the holiday season. The tentative contract, announced late on Tuesday by union President Roger Toussaint, would give workers a 10.9 percent pay raise over three years and require them to contribute to their health care plans. It still must be approved by 33,700 members of the Transport Workers Union. Toussaint said the contract provided "for a host of other provisions that will go a long way to help in improving the relations" between transit workers and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
■ United States
Grass fires raging
Fires fueled by dry brush and driven by gusty winds raced across parts of Texas and Oklahoma, killing at least one person, damaging scores of homes and forcing the evacuation of a small town. In Cross Plains, a town of about 1,000 people 240km southwest of Dallas, at least 25 homes and a church were burned and residents evacuated. "All day today there was so much smoke it was like nighttime," rancher Dean Dillard said. Texas Governor Rick Perry deployed state firefighters and issued a disaster declaration Tuesday after at least 73 fires were reported burning in the northern and central parts of the state.
■ Bolivia
Morales institutes pay cuts
Bolivia's socialist president-elect, Evo Morales, and his entire Cabinet will take a 50 percent pay cut so more staff can be hired for the education and health sectors, Morales announced late on Tuesday. "This is a democratic revolution and we will answer the Bolivian people's call," Morales said. "Its a question of sharing the country's situation among us all," said Morales, who has vowed to make multinationals pay more into the national economy and to raise Bolivia from its status as one of Latin America's poorest nations. Morales said his future salary of some US$3,600 per month would be slashed to US$1,800.
■ Venezuela
Fireworks start fire
An accidental fireworks explosion touched off a blaze that raced through a busy strip mall in southeastern Venezuela, killing at least 12 people and injuring five others, authorities said on Tuesday. The death toll from Monday's fire was expected to rise in the next 24 hours as crews picked through the charred debris where some victims could be trapped, said Antonio Rivero, a director with the national civil protection services. State-run Bolivarian News Agency reported at least 18 people had died. The fire broke out in fireworks stored at a weapons store.
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Chinese authorities increased pressure on CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd over its plan to sell its Panama ports stake by sharing a second newspaper commentary attacking the deal. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office on Saturday reposted a commentary originally published in Ta Kung Pao, saying the planned sale of the ports by the Hong Kong company had triggered deep concerns among Chinese people and questioned whether the deal was harming China and aiding evil. “Why were so many important ports transferred to ill-intentioned US forces so easily? What kind of political calculations are hidden in the so-called commercial behavior on the
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