Tue, Dec 18, 2007 page4

• World News Quick Take

  • AGENCIES
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  ■ INDIA

  Rebels free 299 inmates

  Embarrassed authorities in the central part of the country have stepped up prison security and suspended five officials after jailed Maoist rebels overpowered guards and freed 299 inmates, authorities said yesterday. The five officials have been suspended from the prison in Chhattisgarh state pending an inquiry and officials have asked neighboring states for help to catch the escapees, who fled on Sunday.

  ■ INDONESIA

  Rat and possum discovered

  Researchers in a remote jungle have discovered a giant rat and a tiny possum that are apparently new to science, underscoring the stunning biodiversity of the Southeast Asian nation, scientists said yesterday. Unearthing new species of mammals in the 21st century is considered very rare. The discoveries by a team of US and Indonesian scientists are being studied further to confirm their status. The animals were found in the Foja mountains rainforest in eastern Papua Province in a June expedition.

  ■ JAPAN

  Fighter purchase postponed

  The government plans to postpone buying next-generation fighter aircraft to replace part of its aging air force fleet because the US is unwilling to export its state-of-the-art F-22 stealth fighter, a newspaper said yesterday. The Lockheed Martin Corp fighter, also known as the Raptor, boasts stealth capabilities far superior to any of its rivals, but the US Congress has opposed its export, even to allies such as Japan, for security reasons. Japan's Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba said in October the ministry was considering other options.

  ■ MALAYSIA

  Murder charges dropped

  Malaysian prosecutors dropped attempted murder charges against 31 ethnic Indians yesterday, a move likely to soothe the minority community, chafing over complaints of racial discrimination in this Muslim-majority country. They were produced in court where prosecutors said all charges are being abandoned against four of them. Prosecutors also dropped an attempted murder charge -- punishable by 20 years in prison -- against the remaining 26. In exchange they pleaded guilty to causing mischief during a disturbance, which is punishable by up to five years in jail.

  ■ CHINA

  Guangxi suffers drought

  Nearly 1 million people lack drinking water in a southern Chinese province that is suffering its worst water shortage in more than 50 years because of insufficient rain, state media said yesterday. Water levels in rivers and lakes have fallen by half from last year in poor, mountainous Guangxi, where nearly all county-level cities are facing their most severe water shortage since 1951, the People's Daily newspaper reported. The situation is particularly serious in nearly half of the province's towns, said the newspaper.

  ■ AUSTRALIA

  Crackdown on oyster rustling

  As Australians prepare to heap their tables with fresh seafood for Christmas, police yesterday said they have been trained to crack down on oyster theft. Farmers have warned of an increase in oyster rustling during the summer harvest period, prompting police in New South Wales state to attempt to reduce the theft of the succulent delicacy. "We've done some training up there at Port Macquarie and Forster with the fisheries department," a police spokesman said in reference to two oyster producing areas. Police will increase surveillance on oyster beds as well as the likely outlets for the stolen goods such as roadside vendors, he said.

  ■ CAMBODIA

  Visa pact inked with Thailand

  Thailand and Cambodia agreed yesterday to allow foreign tourists to enter on a single visa. "This means a tourist can get a visa either for Thailand or Cambodia and can visit the two nations," Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said after signing the agreement with visiting Thai counterpart Nitya Pibulsonggram. The deal was the first of a hoped for series also involving Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam, he said. "We want to see the five countries become one tourist destination," Hor Namhong said. Thailand is aiming to have 15 million foreign tourists this year while Cambodia had 1.7 million last year, most of whom visited the ancient Angkor temples.

  ■ JAPAN

  Cops arrest driver aged 100

  A 100-year-old Japanese man who was arrested after his car hit an umbrella held by a child said driving was his ticket to avoiding senility. "Driving helps me from going senile because it keeps me alert," police in Sendai quoted the driver, Masaru Hori, as saying. The incident marked the second time Hori had been caught for driving without a license since it was revoked after a hit-and-run accident in August, police said. He was also involved in a similar accident last month, they said. Hori was arrested on Friday after a policeman saw him hit an umbrella that a seven-year-old child on the street was holding. The child was unhurt. Police told the man's family to get rid of the car, media said, and Hori swore his days of illegal driving were over.

  ■ RUSSIA

  Dissident seeks asylum

  The diplomatic tensions with Britain took a new twist on Sunday when a man linked to the murdered dissident Alexander Litvinenko sought political asylum in Britain. Andrei Sidelnikov, 32, was prevented from leaving Moscow last week by the Russian secret service, which intercepted him at the airport but it is understood he arrived in London on Sunday from Kiev. Sidelnikov, the leader of a small opposition youth movement, is known to have met Litvinenko in a cafe off Oxford Street, central London, on Oct. 30 last year, two days before Litvinenko was poisoned with polonium-210.

  ■ RUSSIA

  Ballistic missile tested

  A test launch of a new intercontinental ballistic missile was successfully held yesterday, the navy said. A statement said the missile was launched from the Tula nuclear-powered submarine in the Barents Sea in the Arctic and hit a designated area in the Kura testing ground on the Kamchatka Peninsula on the Pacific coast. "The launch was conducted from an underwater position as a part of training to test the readiness of the marine strategic nuclear forces," the statement said. A navy spokesman would not say what type of missile was tested. Itar-Tass news agency said the submarine carried Sineva missiles commissioned by a decree from President Vladimir Putin in July.

  ■ FRANCE

  Sarkozy's in love

  Recently divorced President Nicolas Sarkozy doesn't appear to be hiding his latest love interest. He visited Disneyland Paris with supermodel-turned-singer Carla Bruni last weekend, the weekly Express reported on its Web site on Sunday. Three magazines will run images of the two in this week's editions, the Express said. The president's office would not comment on the status of the two. But the daily Le Figaro, seen as close to the conservative president, is running a front-page image of the Italian-French Bruni yesterday over the headline "Carla Bruni: The President's Girlfriend."

  ■ IRAN

  Chris de Burgh to perform

  His folksy middle-of-the-road rock and schmaltzy balladry may have opened him up to much mockery over the years. But not in Tehran. Chris de Burgh is to capitalize on his inoffensive image and not inconsiderable following in the Islamic republic by becoming the first major Western artist to perform live since the 1979 revolution. The culture and Islamic guidance ministry has relaxed its hostile policy toward Western pop music by giving De Burgh, 59, permission to stage a concert in Tehran next year. He will play in a 12,000-seater venue.

  ■ TURKEY

  Priest stabbed to death

  A Catholic priest was stabbed on Sunday in the latest attack against Christians in the mainly Muslim country, police said. Father Adriano Francini was stabbed in the stomach in the attack in the Saint Antoine Church in the western city of Izmir, but his life was not in danger, a police official said. The Anatolia news agency reported that the 19-year-old assailant, identified only by his initials R.B., was caught shortly afterwards with the knife he used in the attack. The suspect told police that he had contacted the Saint Antoine Church by telephone after searching the Internet for churches "out of curiosity," Anatolia said.

  ■ BRAZIL

  Space mission launched

  Brazil and Argentina launched a rocket into space on Sunday in the first joint space mission by the two South American nations. The VS30 rocket, which carried experiments from both countries, blasted off from the Barreira do Inferno launch center in the northern Rio Grande do Norte state, the Brazilian Space Agency said in a statement. The rocket reached a height of 121km and its flight -- which lasted nine minutes and 25 seconds -- was considered ``perfect,'' the agency said. Bad weather had delayed liftoff several times since last Wednesday.

  ■ UNITED STATES

  Singer Dan Fogelberg dies

  Dan Fogelberg, the singer and songwriter whose hits Leader of the Band and Same Old Lang Syne helped define the soft-rock era, died on Sunday at his home in Maine after battling prostate cancer. He was 56. Fogelberg discovered he had advanced prostate cancer in 2004. Fogelberg's heyday was in the 1970s and early 1980s, when he scored several platinum and multi-platinum records, fueled by such hits as The Power of Gold and Nether Lands. He put out his first album in 1972.

  ■ UNITED KINGDOM

  Ex-MP charged with perjury

  Former Scottish member of parliament Tommy Sheridan has been charged with perjury over allegations that he lied to jurors about his sex life during a high-profile libel trial, police said in Glasgow yesterday. The former leader of the Scottish Socialist Party vowed to fight the claims, which he said were brought about by a political witch-hunt. Sheridan, 43, was arrested by plainclothes officers just minutes after finishing a radio phone-in show he hosts. The charges came a year after he successfully fought libel action against the News of the World Sunday tabloid. During the trial, he had denied claims he had cheated on his wife, Gail, indulged in drug-fueled orgies and visited a "swingers" sex club. Police, who were asked to launch an investigation by the trial judge who had raised concerns of "contradictory evidence," charged Sheridan with perjury late on Sunday. He faces up to five years in jail if convicted.

  ■ MEXICO

  Damaged oil rig capped

  Oil workers have capped a damaged oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico that spilled crude and natural gas for almost two months after a deadly high-seas collision, state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos announced on Sunday. At least 21 employees were killed in the Oct. 23 collision with a drilling rig during a storm. Roughly 420 barrels of oil per day spilled from the damaged platform since late October. The company faced a nightmarish combination of leaking crude, bad weather, a stubborn fire fueled by leaking natural gas and the presence of other toxic gases emanating from the well in trying to cap it.

  ■ CANADA

  Ontario reactor restarted

  Atomic Energy of Canada said it has reopened a nuclear reactor whose shutdown created a critical shortage of radioactive isotopes used to diagnose and treat cancer patients. The National Research Reactor was safely returned to service at 3:44am on Sunday. It was anticipated that medical isotopes would begin to be removed for processing within four days. The reactor was shut down on Nov. 18 for maintenance. But the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission ordered an indefinite closure after discovering the reactor had violated safety measure for a year.
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