■ INDONESIA
Suharto's health improving
The health of ailing former president Suharto has improved and he could eventually recover enough to go home, the head of his medical team said yesterday. Suharto has been in hospital for more than two weeks and is on a ventilator after suffering multiple organ failure. The medical team treating Suharto at Jakarta's Pertamina hospital said in a statement he was still on a ventilator, but his heart and lung functions had improved and there were fewer signs of systemic infection.
■ CHINA
Woman filmed lover's death
A 19-year-old Chinese student recorded the killing and dismembering of her married lover by her boyfriend, the Southern Metropolis Daily said on Friday. The second-year student in Yunnan Province, her boyfriend and another male accomplice had all been arrested after the killing last month, the report said. The victim, 39, was a married manager at a local highway and bridge building company, it said. The girl, who met the victim as a nightclub hostess, filmed as he was killed and his body was cut into "hundreds of pieces," the newspaper said.
■ INDIA
Animal activists arrested
Police arrested three animal rights campaigners for protesting bullfighting in the state of Tamil Nadu, the Press Trust of India reported on Friday. Ingrid Newkirk, president of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), was taken into custody on Thursday after she blindfolded a statue of Indian freedom champion Mahatma Gandhi. Two other PETA activists were also arrested in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore District on charges of "hurting the religious sentiments" and unruly behaviour, police said. The activists said they blindfolded Ghandi's statue to express their resentment against the centuries-old sport. The three were released on bail later on Thursday.
■ INDIA
Court convicts 12 of murder
A Mumbai court convicted 12 men on Friday of gang-rape, murder and fabricating evidence in the killing of 14 people during one of the country's worst religious riots. Their sentences will be announced tomorrow. All 12 sobbed when Mumbai Sessions Court Judge U.D. Salvi read out the verdict and said they would appeal the convictions in a higher court. Mumbai Sessions Court Judge U.D. Salvi acquitted seven other defendants. Eleven of the convicted men face possible death sentences for gang-rape, murder and conspiracy in the case, which dates back to the 2002 Hindu-Muslim riots in Gujarat state. The 12th, a policeman, was found guilty of fabricating and destroying evidence and faces up to 10 years in prison.
■ CHINA
Church leaders freed
Four church leaders have been released from a Chinese labour camp after their sentences were lifted following help from Christian rights association China Aid (CAA), the group said yesterday. Wang Caizhang, 34, Ma Zhao, 35, Yang Situan, 39, and Du Dongliang, 32, were sentenced in August to 18 months re-education after being caught holding Sunday worship in Hubei Province, CAA said on its Web site. In a ruling Hubei's Labor Administration Committee said the sentences of the four men were "not based on clear facts and not supported by sufficient evidence," CAA said. "This is clearly another victory of the rule of law in China," said CAA spokesman Bob Fu, who described the decision as unprecedented.
■ UNITED STATES
Writers may begin talks
Striking Hollywood writers could begin informal talks with studio chiefs as early as next week in an effort to end a two-month walkout that has hobbled the entertainment industry, a person familiar with the bargaining strategy of the writers union said. Word of the possible break in the stalemate came on Friday, a day after the Directors Guild of America announced a tentative contract deal that resolved new-media compensation issues that are also central to the Writers Guild dispute.
■ COLOMBIA
Theft scarier than volcano
A volcano in southwestern Colombia spewed ash on Friday after a violent eruption, while authorities fought to persuade thousands of living in the mountain's shadow to evacuate. No damages or injuries were reported in the eruption of the 4,276m Galeras volcano, which began at 8:06pm on Thursday. Although authorities ordered the 8,000 residents of the two towns nearest the volcano evacuated, few people abandoned their homes, fearing theft, the mayor of Pasto, Eduardo Alvarado, said.
■ BRAZIL
Police kill four in raid
At least four suspected drug traffickers were killed in a police raid on a slum in northern Rio de Janeiro on Friday, officers said. Armored police vehicles backed up by helicopters launched the heavily armed assault on the Pedreira favela. They were received with gunfire and grenades, military police said. An initial toll gave four suspects killed and one wounded. Four policemen were also wounded. Officers said the raid came after drug traffickers in the slum rebuffed an offensive by a rival gang.
■ UNITED STATES
Lawyer acquitted of rape
A lawyer once listed as one of People magazine's most eligible bachelors was acquitted on Friday of charges he tried to rape a 19-year-old woman, but he still faces allegations from two other women. Prosecutors alleged that Gary Zerola, 36, attacked the woman after charming her with gifts and alcohol. His attorney called the woman a party girl and habitual liar who made up a violent scenario. A jury in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, took less than a day to find Zerola, a former prosecutor, not guilty of assault with attempt to rape, kidnapping, indecent assault and battery and other charges. The woman, now 20, had testified that Zerola let her drive his Porsche and bought her a US$450 Dolce & Gabbana dress and US$200 shoes at Neiman Marcus. She said Zerola attacked her after they stopped at his apartment to use the bathroom.
■ UNITED STATES
Tiger may have been taunted
Police believe the three people mauled by a tiger yelled and waved at the cat from atop a railing before it lunged at them. Paul Dhaliwal, 19, was severely injured when the 113kg Siberian tiger named Tatiana clawed its way up the wall of its enclosure, leapt out and mauled him on Christmas Day. His brother, Kulbir, 24, was also injured, and their friend, 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr, was killed. All three victims had marijuana in their systems, and Paul Dhaliwal's blood alcohol level was 0.16 -- twice the legal limit for driving, according to the affidavit. "Clearly there's the lesson to be learned here," said zoo spokesman Sam Singer. "The lesson is that it's not a good idea to drink, it's not a good idea to be high on dope, and it's not a good idea to taunt a man-eating tiger."
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
JOINT EFFORTS: The three countries have been strengthening an alliance and pressing efforts to bolster deterrence against Beijing’s assertiveness in the South China Sea The US, Japan and the Philippines on Friday staged joint naval drills to boost crisis readiness off a disputed South China Sea shoal as a Chinese military ship kept watch from a distance. The Chinese frigate attempted to get closer to the waters, where the warships and aircraft from the three allied countries were undertaking maneuvers off the Scarborough Shoal — also known as Huangyan Island (黃岩島) and claimed by Taiwan and China — in an unsettling moment but it was warned by a Philippine frigate by radio and kept away. “There was a time when they attempted to maneuver
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