Sun, Dec 03, 2006 page7

• World News Quick Take

  • AGENCIES
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  ■ Thailand
  Man killed, schools burned

  Suspected Islamic militants have killed a Buddhist man and torched two schools in Yala, one of three insurgency-plagued provinces on the Malaysian border, police said yesterday. The 34-year-old man was killed in a drive-by shooting on his way to work. In Narathiwat Province, a school building was burned down late on Friday in an arson attack blamed on Islamic insurgents. Another arson attack during the night destroyed a teachers' dormitory in nearby Pattani Province, police added.

  ■ Afghanistan

  Opium production shoots up

  Opium poppy cultivation shot up a massive 61 percent in Afghanistan this year in a setback for US and NATO efforts to clamp down on the country's illegal drug industry, according to new figures released by the White House. The anticipated record crop is seen as another boost for the resurgent Taliban as the Islamic guerrilla movement is often accused by US officials of using proceeds from drug sales to buy weapons and attract new recruits.

  ■ India

  Bridge collapses onto train

  A 150-year-old bridge collapsed, crushing a train carriage that had been traveling beneath in eastern India and killing at least 22 passengers. Large slabs of red stone and concrete buried the sleeper carriage, trapping the people inside, said local government administrator Viplav Kumar, who was at the scene. Fourteen people were pulled out alive, he said. The foot bridge at the Bhagalpur station, in the eastern state of Bihar, was in the process of being dismantled when it collapsed as the train passed under it early in the morning, Kumar said. Railway Minister Lalu Prasad told reporters that there could still be more people trapped in the wreckage. Prasad ordered an inquiry into the incident and suspended two railway engineers who were responsible for dismantling the bridge.

  ■ Myanmar

  Customs officials arrested

  113 customs officials have been ordered arrested in Myanmar in the latest crackdown on corruption in the army-ruled country, officials said yesterday. The arrest order for the Customs Department staff was issued on Monday after a probe by the Bureau of Special Investigation which questioned more than 500 customs officials. "At the interrogation we were asked how much in bribes we had taken since we joined the department and what we bought with the ill-gotten money," said one customs official who declined to be named. Since the junta launched an anti-corruption drive in May, more than three dozen customs officials have been sentenced to jail terms ranging from 14 years to 66 years after undergoing closed trials.

  ■ Philippines

  Islamic militant captured

  Local security forces have arrested one of the founding members of a radical Muslim group suspected of involvement in the country's worst terrorist attack, a marine spokesman said yesterday. Feliciano de los Reyes, who jumped bail after being arrested in 2002, was captured on Thursday on Basilan island, the spokesman said. Reyes' arrest follows the capture last year of leaders belonging to the Rajah Solaiman Movement, which, along with another Philippine terrorist group Abu Sayyaf, was blamed for killing more than 100 people in a ferry bombing near Manila in 2004.

  ■ Germany
  Offensive Santas destroyed

  A chain of shops has removed miniature wooden Santa Claus figures from its shelves and destroyed them after customers complained it looked like they were giving the stiff-armed Hitler salute that is outlawed. Josef Lange, a spokesman for the Rossmann chain that has 1,200 outlets, said on Friday that the figures upset some customers. "We were astonished by the reaction," Lange said. "It looks like he's just pointing up to the sky and we were surprised that anyone saw the so-called `Hitler salute' in that. But we responded and had the entire inventory removed and destroyed."

  ■ United Kingdom

  Pasta sauce not an STD

  Nearly two-thirds of Britons think the fiery Italian sauce Arrabiata is a sex infection, according to a survey on Friday. The survey, of 1,015 people and released on World AIDS day, also showed nearly half were unable to identify a range of common sexual complaints. "What is very worrying is the lack of knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases [STDs] revealed in the survey," sex therapist Emily Dubberley said. "Sixty-three percent in the UK thought an Italian sauce was an STD and over 43 percent couldn't identify any of the common sexual complaints we asked about."

  ■ Turkey

  Man sentenced to study

  A blind pensioner has been sentenced to a 26-day reading and writing course at his local public library after he failed to vote on time in an election for his village cooperative, his son said on Friday. A prosecutor in Kutahya Province sentenced Ismail Canseven, 73, to the education course after he did not show up for the election in May, Isa Canseven said. "What am I going to do in a library? I can't see out of either of my eyes, and I can't read or write anyway," Friday's edition of the Hurriyet newspaper quoted Ismail as saying. People are obliged by law to vote in Turkey.

  ■ France

  Wine education called for

  Schools should teach young people how to appreciate wine, a group of parliamentarians said on Thursday. French winemakers have suffered from a decline in exports and a fall in consumption at home, where 92 percent of those under 25 years old say they prefer other drinks. "To hold a forceful position in the world, French wine must first assume a strong position at home," they said, calling for schools to inform young people about the origins, history and characteristics of French wines. "Learning about healthy living starts from childhood and primary school," said a report, compiled by Philippe-Armand Martin and Gerard Voisin from the ruling party.

  ■ Finland

  Prime minister dumps love

  Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, dubbed Finland's sexiest man, broke up by text message with the girlfriend he had met on the Internet, she said in a magazine interview. "Matti dumped me in a text message, where he said `that's it'," Susan Kuronen told the magazine Me Naiset in an interview published on Friday. Her relationship with Vanhanen, a divorced 51-year-old father of two, ended a few weeks ago. Vanhanen, who declines to comment on the relationship, was cited as Finland's sexiest man by French President Jacques Chirac earlier this year, when Finnish tabloids were running daily front-page details of the romance.

  ■ United States
  J-Lo's first husband fights on

  Jennifer Lopez's first husband, Ojani Noa, told a judge that he plans to fight her efforts to quash a tell-all memoir. Noa, 31, said on Friday in a pretrial hearing that he regrets agreeing to a June 30 preliminary injunction that prohibits him from "criticizing, denigrating, casting in a negative light or otherwise disparaging or causing disparagement" to Lopez. The judge gave Noa until Jan. 17 to hire a lawyer or represent himself. Lopez filed her lawsuit April 10 and obtained a temporary restraining order barring Noa from publishing intimate details of their sex life.

  ■ Venezuela

  Navy captain arrested

  A Navy captain arrested this week was allegedly about to deliver to opponents of President Hugo Chavez a list of officers disposed to help topple the government, according to a high-ranking military official. The arrest on Wednesday was not related to a sniper plot that Chavez, the following day, said had been prepared by "fascist" militants against Manuel Rosales, his main opponent in today's presidential vote, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk to reporters. Chavez told international reporters on Thursday that a rifle with a telescopic sight was seized by intelligence agents who broke up a plot to shoot Rosales.

  ■ United States

  Church to settle lawsuits

  The largest Roman Catholic archdiocese in the country, Los Angeles, said it will pay US$60 million to settle 45 sex abuse lawsuits, among the biggest resulting from the molestation crisis that has plagued the church. The cases were among more than 500 abuse claims pending against archdiocese. A lawyer for the plaintiffs said that an agreement had not been signed but that the parties were close. "It's a day of healing and reconciliation as we move forward with these 45 cases," Cardinal Roger Mahony said on Friday. "This is very special for these victims in their moment of healing," he said. The settlement outlined by the archdiocese involves 22 priests and allegations.

  ■ United States

  State says no to Santa beer

  A beer distributor says the northeastern state of Maine is being a Scrooge by barring it from selling a beer with a label depicting Santa Claus enjoying a pint of brew. The dispute recalls a similar squabble last year when Connecticut told Shelton Brothers it had problems with its Seriously Bad Elf ale. "Last year it was elves. This year it's Santa. Maybe next year it'll be reindeer," said Daniel Shelton, owner of the company in Belchertown, Massachusetts. The lawsuit, filed Thursday, contends the state's action violates the Constitution's guarantee of free speech by censoring artistic expression. But the state says it's within its rights. The label with Santa might appeal to children, said a Maine police officer.

  ■ United States

  Lohan seeks AA treatment

  Bobby star Lindsay Lohan is in treatment for alcohol abuse, her spokeswoman told People magazine on Friday. Lohan, 20, has been attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, her publicist Leslie Sloane said in Los Angeles. "This is a positive. Let's hope that the press doesn't turn it into a negative," she said, in hopes journalists will not track her down as she attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. "Maybe if [the press] backs off on her she'll be in a good space," she said. Lohan has quickly become a sought-after actor, but alcohol caught up with her even before reaching the legal drinking age in most states.
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