■ INDONESIA
Police seek militant
Police searched yesterday for a militant who escaped from jail in eastern Indonesia while serving a 20-year prison term for masterminding a deadly cafe bombing. Jasmin bin Kasau apparently used a rope to climb the walls of Guning Sari prison on Sulawesi island late last Friday as inmates were performing communal prayers, the jail's security chief Muhammad Fadli said. Bin Kasau and several other Islamic militants were serving prison terms for the 2004 bombing of a cafe on Sulawesi, which in 2000 and 2001 saw deadly battles between Muslim and Christian gangs that killed at least 1,000 people. The blast on the cafe in Palopo district killed four people. Police spokesman Dwi Hartono said "negligence" by prison guards was suspected in the breakout, adding that officers were unable to find him yesterday.
■ CHINA
Fake `maotai' seized
Quality supervisors raided a hotel and made the biggest-ever seizure of fake maotai, the fiery national liquor favored by Chinese Communist Party leaders at state banquets. Fake liquor is common in the country, which has been assailed on all sides over health safety in recent months involving exports ranging from toothpaste, tires and toys to seafood and drugs. Beijing executed six people in 1998 for producing and selling liquor tainted with methanol which killed 30 people in one of the country's worst poisoning cases. More than 2,500 bottles of fake maotai were found at a hotel in Korla in the predominantly Muslim region of Xinjiang, the Beijing News said. It was the biggest case involving the fake liquor, which can be priced from a few hundred yuan to a staggering 38,000 yuan (US$4,900).
■ VIETNAM
Marriage brokers busted
Three Vietnamese were detained in Ho Chi Minh City for parading 65 young women to before two South Korean men as part of an illegal marriage brokering service, police said yesterday. The 46-year-old man and two women, aged 42 and 24, were detained in a restaurant, a police officer said, adding an investigation was underway. The Thanh Nien newspaper said that the ringleader, Huynh Van Binh, told police he had organized four similar events. He had introduced around 240 women to South Korean men since 2005 and earned US$1,500 for each successful case, the paper reported. Vietnam has recently become a popular destination for bachelors from South Korea, Taiwan and elsewhere searching for wives, often on week-long trips that include medical checkups, visa procedures and speedy honeymoons.
■ MALAYSIA
No fasting needed in space
The nation's first astronaut will not be required to fast while in space during Ramadan, Science Minister Jamaluddin Jarjis said yesterday. "When you travel there is no compulsion to fast," he said. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, 35, is one of three people who will lift off in a Russian space craft on Oct. 10 for a 10-day mission in the International Space Station. Jamaluddin said Muszaphar, who has been fasting during training, can postpone the fasting until after he returns. Ramadan started on Sept. 13 and is expected to end on Oct. 12. Jamaluddin said he expects Muszaphar to pray only three times a day instead of the obligatory five to reduce the inconvenience of going through prayer rituals in the gravity-free atmosphere.
■ MALAYSIA
Police rescue caged girl
A seven-year-old girl kept in an iron cage overnight by her mother was rescued by police after neighbors raised the alarm, the Star daily said yesterday. The mother, who is being investigated by police, faces losing custody of the child, the newspaper said. "When I got up to check, I saw this little girl in the iron cage. It was so sad to see a child calling out for her mother to release her," the neighbor said. "After a while, the cries stopped. I thought the mother had taken her in but that was not the case ... I got angry. She must have been kept there the whole night." Another neighbor said he had seen the child locked out of the front gates of the property, sometimes for several hours.
■ MALAYSIA.
Cop mistaken for thief
An undercover policeman was mistaken for a thief and detained by a market crowd when he tried to arrest two pornographic video peddlers in Penang on Sunday, police said yesterday. Stall operators and shoppers cornered the plainclothes officer who was attempting to confiscate bootleg VCDs and DVDs, after somebody shouted "robber," police chief Wan Abdullah Tuanku Said said. The two peddlers escaped, and four other people ran off with all the disks while the crowd was busy holding the man they believed was a thief.
■ INDIA
Actress tricks director
Bollywood actress Celina Jaitley played a practical joke on New Zealand director Ken Khan by teaching him insults in Hindi, the Mumbai Mirror said yesterday. At a party during the recent filming of Love Has No Languages in New Zealand, Jaitley urged Khan to greet Indian guests by saying: "Namaste, tera baap chor hain," or "Greetings, your father is a thief." "Of course, later I told the guests that it was a prank," she said.
■ ISRAEL
Man killed in crash brawl
A routine fender bender erupted into a deadly brawl between rival Arab families, killing one man and wounding three others, two of them critically, police said on Sunday. The incident occurred in the Arab-Israeli town of Tireh after one driver smashed his side mirror while trying to edge past another car in a narrow alleyway, Israeli radio reported. After a brief argument, the two drivers each called their relatives for support, the report said. During a subsequent brawl, one man pulled out a pistol and opened fire, shooting four men, police said. One died of his wounds on Sunday morning. Two others were critically wounded and the fourth was in moderate condition, police said.
■ MADAGASCAR
President expects poll win
President Marc Ravalomanana said on Sunday he expected to retain his party's two-thirds majority in the National Assembly after voting started for Madagascar's 127-seat lower house of parliament. The election is not expected to bring any major change of power on the giant island nation. But it may show levels of satisfaction with Ravalomanana, whom analysts praise for his attempted reforms but question for his authoritarian tendencies. "I'm sure of it," Ravalomanana said after being asked if he expected his party to keep the roughly two-thirds majority it holds in the lower house.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Three die in boat accident
Three crewmembers have died after an accident aboard a rescue vessel on the North Sea, the boat's owners said on Sunday. The men, two Britons and a Pole, were working aboard the Viking Islay -- a 53m rescue vessel -- when the accident occurred, Vroon Offshore Services Ltd said in a statement. The men were airlifted by the Royal Air Force to the Hull Royal Infirmary in northeast England, where they were pronounced dead, an official at the hospital said
■ ZIMBABWE
I was framed: archbishop
The archbishop who resigned after allegations of adultery, said on Sunday the charges were orchestrated by the state in order to prevent him from speaking out on human rights. Bishop Pius Ncube told the BBC that images allegedly showing him in bed with his married female secretary had been produced by the government in order to try to "break" him. "This was the evil plan of the government to isolate me and to cut me off from the human rights drive in the country, evil plans of trying to break me," Ncube said. "That has not succeeded," he said.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Boy stabbed to death
Police in Yorkshire yesterday questioned the father of a four-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl after the boy was stabbed to death and his sister left with serious injuries on Sunday. Ryan Hawkins and his sister Donna were both taken to hospital after being found with multiple stab wounds at their father Chris' house in Huddersfield on Sunday afternoon. The young boy died from his wounds shortly after being admitted. Donna was said to be in serious but stable condition after surgery, West Yorkshire police said. The children's father and another man were arrested on Sunday on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, the police said. Media reports yesterday quoted relatives as saying that the children's father had split from their mother a couple of months ago.
■ UNITED STATES
Gays abundant on cable
The number of gay characters depicted on TV is falling on network television, which Americans receive for free, but rising on cable channels, a study by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) found. In the 2007-2008 TV season, broadcast series will feature seven regularly seen characters who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, down from nine characters last year and 10 the season before, GLAAD said. Most are on one network -- ABC. The new figure represents 1.1 percent of all regular characters on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and CW, compared to 1.3 percent last year, according to the study to be released yesterday. A total of 87 comedies and dramas with 650 characters were analyzed.
■ UNITED STATES
Planters founder honored
An Italian immigrant who grew his fresh-roasted peanut business from a small pushcart in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, into a worldwide corporate behemoth has been recognized with a state historical marker. Amedeo Obici moved to the US at age 12, speaking no English. The peanut business he started in 1906 became Planters Peanuts, now owned by Kraft Foods. About 100 people gathered on Saturday outside an office building that served as the peanut giant's world headquarters from 1925 to 1961 for the unveiling. "I don't believe many people know Planters began in Wilkes-Barre. This marker gives you a little peek at the story," said Andrea MacDonald, of Pennsylvania's Bureau of Historic Preservation. Obici died in 1947. His great-niece, Jolyne Dalzell, attended the ceremony and said she was proud.
■ UNITED STATES
James Brown estate pursued
The woman who claims she is the oldest daughter of James Brown said she would be in court in Columbia, South Carolina, yesterday to pursue a piece of the late soul singer's estate. "I've been walking around looking like this man for 45 years," said LaRhonda Petitt, a retired flight attendant and school teacher. "I'm not talking no negative talk, I'm talking about what's right." A judge is scheduled to go over pending issues in the ongoing court battle over Brown's will, said attorney Jim Griffin, who represents Petitt. Brown died Christmas Day last year of heart failure at age 73. His will, which is being disputed, names six adult children. But at least three other people, including Petitt, say DNA testing proves they are his children. Petitt, who was born and lives in Houston, said on Sunday she would like all people claiming to be Brown's children to take a DNA test.
■ UNITED STATES
Release of hostages sought
Relatives of three Americans held by Marxist guerrillas in Colombia met on Saturday in Florida with a Colombian lawmaker acting as a mediator to win the release of dozens of hostages. Colombian Senator Piedad Cordoba talked in Orlando with the families of Thomas Howe, Keith Stannsen and Marc Gonsalvez, US State Department contractors who were seized in Colombia in February 2003 after the rebels shot down their plane in the jungle during an anti-drug mission. Cordoba is trying to get the Uribe administration and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to agree on an exchange of 500 FARC prisoners for 45 hostages held by the rebels, including the Americans and Franco-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt. The Americans' families will also meet with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
‘DISCRIMINATION’: The US Office of Personnel Management ordered that public DEI-focused Web pages be taken down, while training and contracts were canceled US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday moved to end affirmative action in federal contracting and directed that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff be put on paid leave and eventually be laid off. The moves follow an executive order Trump signed on his first day ordering a sweeping dismantling of the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs. Trump has called the programs “discrimination” and called to restore “merit-based” hiring. The executive order on affirmative action revokes an order issued by former US president Lyndon Johnson, and curtails DEI programs by federal contractors and grant recipients. It is using one of the
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