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International News

From The Asian Reporter, V18, #16 (April 15, 2008), page 2.

BEIJING (AP) — Police detained more than 20 people, including eight foreigners, during a drug raid in a popular Beijing bar district, Chinese state media reported. The raid was based on a tip police received about drug use at Phoenix Café and Pure Girl Bar in the city’s Sanlitun bar district, Xinhua News Agency reported. The area is popular with both Chinese citizens and foreigners. Xinhua, citing the Beijing Public Security Bureau, said police "apprehended the suspects and seized drugs including Yaba tablets, ecstasy, and marijuana." It did not give any nationalities or say if anyone had been formally arrested. A woman who answered the phone at the Beijing Public Security Bureau said no information on the raid was available. She refused to give her name. The raid comes amid a general tightening of security all over Beijing in the run-up to the Olympics in August.

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — Thailand’s prime minister berated a fortuneteller for predicting his government will face unrest next month and suggested the seer may have had an ulterior motive. Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, speaking on his weekly radio and TV show, said his reputation was damaged by the widely reported prediction that he would instigate a military coup against his own government. "I think the fortuneteller should consider whether what he said was an intrusion into my affairs," Samak said. "My reputation was damaged by what he forecast, but I’ll let him get away with it this one time." Samak did not name the fortuneteller, but it was clear he was referring to Warin Buawiratlert, who according to recent press reports has predicted there will be a coup in May. Samak questioned why the fortuneteller was making such a statement. "Why is this fortuneteller taking this action?" Samak asked. "What is he thinking? Or is someone asking him to do this? Or is he paid to do this?" Warin is reputed to be close to members of the military who staged a coup in 2006. Samak also pointed out that the fortuneteller had wrongly predicted that Democrat Party chief Abhisit Vejajjiva, his rival, would become prime minister.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A plan to build a major pig farm outside Malaysia’s largest city has triggered protests by some Muslim residents whose religion considers the animal unclean. About 200 people carrying banners staged a demonstration outside the Selangor state government’s office and handed a protest note to officials, the national news agency Bernama reported. "We are worried that the number of pigs will increase and the environment will be polluted with the stench of pig waste," Bernama quoted a protester, Mohamad Tarmudi Tushiran, as saying. Prominent newspapers published letters from angry Muslims. "They are challenging Muslims and stirring protests because a pig farm that involves such huge expenses is inappropriate for a country where Islam is the official religion," Mohamed Idris Abu Bakar, a federal government lawmaker, told the Malay-language Berita Harian newspaper. But Abdul Khalid, the state’s chief minister, defended the plan, saying it would be environmentally safe and provide a centralized venue for all pig rearing in Selangor. The project "will be implemented fairly in line with multiethnic harmony," Abdul Khalid said in a statement.

MANILA, The Philippines (AP) — A Canadian tourist who apparently was having money problems fell to his death from the rooftop of a four-story hotel in the central Philippine city of Cebu, police said. Homicide investigators said they were looking at all possibilities, including suicide and foul play, in the death of Robert Van Cook, 55, from Virden, Manitoba. Cook’s body was found sprawled on the budget hotel’s parking lot before dawn. A chair was found beside the railing of the hotel’s rooftop, and police were investigating if it was connected to Cook’s fatal fall. "We are looking at one angle — that he was a bit depressed because of financial problems — but we cannot say yet that it’s suicide," said Senior Inspector Mario Munilar. No one saw Cook jump or fall from the roof, and his severely injured body was found by a security guard in the hotel parking lot. A police report quoted the hotel staff as saying Cook had been staying at a room on the hotel’s second floor since February 17, but had failed to pay his bills since March 20.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s oldest person has died in central Japan, officials said. She was 113. Kaku Yamanaka died at a hospital where she was taken early Saturday after falling ill at a nursing home in Yatomi City in Aichi prefecture (state), an official at her nursing home said on condition of anonymity, citing policy. Born on December 11, 1894, Yamanaka became Japan’s oldest person when Tsuneyo Toyonaga, 113, died in February. Yamanaka was known for her love of singing and took part in local karaoke contests, the nursing home official said. Japan has one of the world’s longest average life spans — a factor often attributed to a healthy diet rich in fish and rice. In 2006, Japanese women set a new record for life expectancy at 85.81 years, while men live an average of about 79 years. The number of Japanese living beyond 100 has almost quadrupled over the past 10 years. There were 32,295 centenarians in 2007, according to the Health Ministry. Edna Parker of Shelbyville, Indiana, is recognized as the world’s oldest person at age 114, according to Guinness World Records. She was born on April 20, 1893.