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International News

From The Asian Reporter, V18, #14 (April 1, 2008), page 2.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s top court has ruled that a so-called "love shot," in which two people drink glasses of alcohol with their arms intertwined, doesn’t always signify affection and can be a form of harassment. The Supreme Court fined a man 3 million won ($3,070) for forcing a restaurant waitress to drink alcohol with him in a love shot, court spokesman Kang Kyu-seok said. Judges ruled that the man’s behavior was tantamount to sexual harassment, Kang said. The owner of a construction company forced the waitress at a golf course restaurant in 2005 to wrap her arm around his neck while he did the same to her while drinking shots — an advanced version of a love shot — Kang said. The man, a club member, threatened to get her fired if she refused, he said. The man acknowledged that he drank with her in a love shot, but insisted she had agreed to do so, the court said.

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — Health officials in Thailand have launched a national campaign against rats — starting with their own offices. Nearly 50 rats were caught inside the Health Ministry compound in Bangkok within two days, prompting the announcement of a national anti-rodent campaign. The infestation of the ministry responsible for promoting health and hygiene shows just how pervasive Thailand’s rat problem has become, health minister Chaiya Sasomsup said in a statement. "Rats are commonly found wherever there is food, debris, and garbage — not just at the Health Ministry," Chaiya said. The ministry has instructed more than 10,000 health offices, including hospitals and public clinics, to follow its lead and start eradicating rats by setting out traps and practicing better hygiene.

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Thailand’s new prime minister visited Vietnam and witnessed the signing of an agreement aimed at ending human trafficking between the countries. Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and his Vietnamese counterpart, Nguyen Tan Dung, held talks for an hour after reviewing an honor guard at the Presidential Palace. The two also witnessed the signing of the agreement, "Cooperation in Eliminating Human Trafficking, Notably of Women and Children." Details of the agreement were not immediately available. In recent years, police have broken up several rings that trafficked Vietnamese women to Malaysia through Thailand and Cambodia. Samak has also visited Laos, Cambodia, Singapore, and Myanmar since becoming Thailand’s prime minister this year. It is a custom for new leaders in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to visit other members of the 10-country grouping.

NEW DELHI, India (AP) — A baby girl who fell into a 45-foot well was rescued after 27 hours in the hole, officials said. Soldiers, police, and other rescuers spent much of the day trying to pull the two-year-old girl, identified only as Vandana, from a manmade well in a village near Agra, the site of the famed Taj Mahal, said Mukesh Meshram, the top official in the district south of New Delhi. Rescuers used heavy earth-moving equipment to help get the child out. They also played music into the hole to help soothe the child. In video footage broadcast on Indian television, the crowd of hundreds of people who gathered near the scene could be seen surging forward as a man flanked by soldiers carried Vandana from the hole to a waiting ambulance. "The girl looked dazed and started crying," Meshram said. "She was immediately handed over to paramedics and doctors." While Meshram could not provide details of the baby’s condition, the CNN-IBN television station reported that the child was in good shape but being held overnight for observation at a nearby hospital.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Nearly 40 trucks carrying fuel to U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan were destroyed in two bomb attacks on the Pakistani border, officials said. About 100 people were wounded, said Muhammad Iqbal Khan, a local government official. The explosions were caused by two bombs planted in the parking lot of a customs station on the Pakistani side of the Torkham crossing, Khan said. A day later, police detained nine people for questioning — three parking lot attendants and six border guards who were on duty at the time, he said. Coalition officials in Afghanistan were not immediately available to comment. Fuel tankers headed for U.S. and NATO bases in Afghanistan have been repeatedly targeted by militants close to the Pakistani border.

HONOLULU (AP) — The defense attorney for a man being tried for murder in the disappearance of a Japanese woman says what happened was a terrible accident. Attorney Donald Wilkerson says Kirk Lankford’s work truck accidentally struck Masumi Watanabe in April of last year. Wilkerson said in opening arguments delivered after the prosecution rested its case that Watanabe got into the truck and Lankford tried to take her home. According to Wilkerson, the truck was going about 40 miles per hour when Watanabe jumped out, struck her head on a boulder, and died. The defense attorney says Lankford feared for his job, so he didn’t report what happened and attempted to bury Watanabe’s body. Wilkerson says Lankford wound up disposing of the body in the ocean.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean police have arrested a man suspected of illegally trading human eggs for infertile couples, an officer said. The suspect, identified by his family name Kim, used the internet to arrange the transactions, said Kim Ku-hyun, a police officer in South Chungcheong province. The suspect confessed to receiving 120 million won ($118,000) in around 50 transactions involving buyers, surrogate mothers, and infertile couples, he said. All of the people involved were South Korean citizens, he said. The suspect was arrested March 5 in the city of Daejeon in South Chungcheong, the police officer said. He faces up to two years in prison if convicted. South Korea’s bioethics law, which went into effect in 2005, bans trade in human eggs as well as egg donation for research purposes.