Mon, Sep 18, 2006 page6

• World News Quick Take

  • AGENCIES
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  ■ Thailand

  Prison riot ends

  

  PHOTO: AP

  Approximately 100 inmates rioted yesterday at Yala provincial prison, burning down offices and destroying living quarters, a provincial governor said. Authorities managed to bring the riot at the prison under control within two hours after tense negotiations with the prisoners. The fighting ended after authorities agreed to transfer three officials and allow Muslim inmates to cook their own meals during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The riot started after prisoners alleged that a fellow inmate had been badly beaten by a warden. About 600 prisoners are held at the prison. No casualties were reported from the riot.

  ■ Hong Kong

  Auction brings big bucks

  Residents snapped up HK$11 million (US$1.4 million) worth of personalized number plates on Saturday, reports said yesterday. In the first auction of its kind in the territory, registration plates bearing such legends as HANDSOME, K1NG and the priciest of all "1 LOVE U" went under the hammer in aid of local charities. Drivers were invited to request their preferred number and bids were then asked for that design. The highest bid came for the plate with the most sentimental meaning -- 1 LOVE U -- which topped out at HK$1.4 million (US$179,900), according to the Sunday Morning Post. Among the most popular number combinations were those with auspicious connotations. One that read "CCUE", which sounds like the Cantonese phrase "see see yu yee," or "everything goes according to one's will," went for HK$460,000.

  ■ India

  Boiling oil test held

  Tribal elders in Rajasthan state asked men in their village to grasp a ring from boiling oil in a medieval test to prove that they had not stolen rice meant for a school meal plan, a report said yesterday. The elders issued the diktat last weekend after 1,500kg of rice meant for a mid-day meal for students went missing at the start of the month, the Indian Express reported. Unable to find those responsible for the theft, the council asked all men to pick up a ring at the bottom of a cauldron of boiling oil, failing which they would be held guilty. A week after the incident, about 150 men, mostly laborers, were nursing burn injuries, the newspaper said.

  ■ South Korea

  Joint ocean survey planned

  Seoul and Tokyo have agreed to launch a week-long joint ocean survey around a cluster of disputed islets early next month, the South Korean Foreign Ministry announced yesterday. The survey will cover waters around the disputed islets in the Sea of Japan, with three inspectors to board each other's ships. The agreement came after the vice ministers from both sides held intense talks over Seoul's protest at Tokyo's original plan to conduct the survey alone. Japan has been surveying the effects of radioactive waste dumped by the former Soviet Union near Vladivostok since 1993. Japan, South Korea and Russia conducted joint surveys in 1994 and 1995.

  ■ Japan

  Military satellites planned

  The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) plans to submit a bill to parliament as early as this year allowing military use of space for defensive purposes, the Yomiuri Shimbun said yesterday. The proposed law would enable the government to launch reconnaissance satellites for defense purposes, enabling it to detect North Korean missile launches and other military incidents, the daily said.

  ■ Brazil

  Eye-popper wants respect

  Claudio Paulo Pinto is looking for work. Pinto can pop his eyeballs at least 7mm out of their sockets, a national record for eye-popping according to RankBrasil, an organization modeled after the Guinness Book of World Records that lists Brazilian records. Pinto had a job scaring visitors in a commercial haunted house in Belo Horizonte but was recently laid off, and he is now seeking international recognition for his ability. "I was measured by an opthamologist on television in January. I could pop my eyes out 7mm," Pinto said on Saturday. "Since then, my capacities have improved over 50 percent." The title of "furthest eyeball popper" in the Guinness Book of World Records currently belongs to Kim Goodman of Chicago, who can pop her eyeballs 11mm out of her sockets.

  ■ South Africa

  Shark attacks spark debate

  As summer approaches a highly charged debate is raging over the upsurge in shark attacks. "A 77-year-old swimmer and a fisherman have been eaten alive, a British surfer and a False Bay lifeguard have been maimed," said Paul Botha, a surfing-lodge owner at the Cape's Muizenberg beach, where many of the attacks have taken place. "At least three surf skis and a surfboard have been bitten, dozens of wave riders have been bumped or terrified, sharks have tried to jump into boats and attacked a seal in Kalk Bay harbor," he said. In the past four years, 13 attacks have been recorded, seven on individuals and six on craft.

  ■ Ivory Coast

  New Cabinet named

  Ivory Coast named a new Cabinet on Saturday, replacing the ministers of transport and environment but reappointing most others, after a toxic waste dumping scandal prompted the resignation of the entire 32-member body last week. The appointments followed a day of violent protests in which residents of the port city of Abidjan blocked roads, burned buildings and attacked the transport minister, who had stepped down with the rest of the Cabinet. Young men stopping cars and brandishing sticks said they were angry about the government's handling of the dumped waste.

  ■ Moldova

  Transdnestr holds plebiscite

  The breakaway region of Transdnestr held a referendum yesterday on whether to stick to its separatist course and eventually join Russia, a vote that could raise tensions as Moldovan authorities try to integrate their country with the West. The poll was expected to return an overwhelming "yes" vote despite an absence of international recognition for the sliver of territory located on Moldova's eastern edge next to Ukraine. Voting was preceded by a major publicity campaign backing the separatist course of the Transdnestr administration headed by Igor Smirnov. But European election observers were boycotting the vote, citing the undemocratic nature of the administration. The referendum will have no legal weight as no state or international organization recognizes the region's independence.

  ■ United Kingdom

  Green munitions

  British arms manufacturer BAE Systems is designing "environmentally friendly" weapons, including "reduced lead" bullets, "reduced smoke" grenades and rockets with fewer toxins, the Sunday Times reported. Other initiatives include armored vehicles with lower carbon emissions, more sustainable artillery and even recycling or composting waste explosives. "Weapons are going to be used and when they are, we try to make them as safe for the user as possible, to limit the collateral damage and to impact as little as possible on the environment," a Systems director of corporate social responsibility spokesperson was quoted as saying.

  ■ Canada

  Shooter's mother shocked

  The mother of a young shooter who murdered one woman and wounded 19 others in Montreal said on Saturday that she did not bring him up to be a killer. "He was a little bit sad this year, but we never, never thought that this could happen," Parvinder Sandhu told the National Post in the interview published on Saturday. Kimveer Gill opened fire inside a college, killing a woman and wounding 19 people before committing suicide. "The girl, I feel so sorry for her parents. If you want to give them the message, tell them that the parents are feeling very, very sad and very, very mad about what happened there, and we never expected that," Gill's mother said. "My sympathy is with them, and they should forgive us because it's not our fault."

  ■ United States

  New Orleans tackles crime

  National Guard troops and state police will patrol New Orleans through December, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco said on Saturday at a summit of law enforcement officials and crime experts called to address a spate of killings marring the recovery from Hurricane Katrina. "Crime has no role in recovery," Blanco said. "It limits our ability to recover." Police are on pace to recover as many illegal firearms this year as they did in the two previous years -- even though half as many people live in the city now, said Robert Browning, an agent with the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

  ■ Yemen

  Four al-Qaeda detained

  Four al-Qaeda members planning attacks in the capital were arrested on Saturday in possession of explosives, the interior minister said, a day after security forces foiled twin suicide bombings of oil installations. "The security services have today arrested in Sanaa a cell of four terrorists with links to al-Qaeda who were planning terrorist attacks" in the capital, Interior Minister General Rashad al-Alimi told a news conference. The four men were found with almost 200kg of explosives, detonators and false documents, and were likely connected to Friday's abortive attacks on the oil installations.

  ■ Yemen

  No force, Chirac says

  French President Jacques Chirac has asked Yemen not to use force to free four French tourists held hostage in the southeastern province of Shabwa, the interior ministry said on Saturday. "The French government and President Chirac in person have insisted that the Yemeni authorities not use force no matter how long the tourists are detained," Interior Minister Rachad Mohammad al-Alimi said during a press conference. Yemeni authorities are in talks to secure the tourists' release after they were abducted on

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