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International News
Fiji dig yields fine jewelry from early Lapitas
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Hollywood hopes theme parks, superheroes fly in Middle East
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From The Asian Reporter, V18, #18 (April 29, 2008), page 2.
Crocodile kills accused illegal logger
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — A crocodile attacked and killed a man who was under arrest for alleged illegal logging in Myanmar, the country’s state-run newspaper reported. Myint Zaw was being transported to detention by forest rangers in a boat in the Ayeyarwaddy River delta when the crocodile knocked him out of the boat and killed him, the Myanmar-language Kyemon daily reported. Myint Zaw and three other men were arrested recently for possession of mangrove trees believed to have been illegally cut from Meinmahla Kyun Wildlife Sanctuary, southwest of the country’s biggest city, Yangon, the paper said. No other details were available. The wildlife reserve was established in 1994 and is inhabited by endangered saltwater crocodiles that live in the mangrove swamps.
Police arrest two for allegedly stealing sperm
MUMBAI, India (AP) — A laboratory technician who allegedly tried to make a quick buck by stealing samples from the sperm bank where he worked has been arrested after a suspicious doctor tipped off police. Sunil Mohite, a laboratory worker at Cryobank in Aurangabad city in western India, and a relative, Anil Mohite, tried to sell 101 vials of sperm to a doctor in Mumbai for 25,000 rupees ($625), Aurangabad police chief Krishna Lal Bishnoi said. The laboratory worker was identified as Sunil Mohite. The doctor declined — then called the police, who arrested the pair, Bishnoi told The Associated Press. "The doctor contacted police because they (doctors) usually refer patients to infertility clinics for treatment. They are never approached with sperm vials on sale," said Bishnoi. Mohite "must have thought he would steal the sperm and establish his own contacts to sell the vials," Bishnoi said. Cyrobank could not immediately be contacted for comment. Infertility experts in Mumbai were astounded by the alleged theft. "Bizarre is the word that comes to mind," said Dr. Aniruddha Malpani. "An unlabelled vial is worse than useless." The Mohites will be charged with stealing and cheating, and each face up to seven years in prison if convicted, Bishnoi said.
Philippine military hands cash reward to tipster
MANILA, The Philippines (AP) — Philippine military officials have given a reward to a tipster who helped soldiers arrest an Islamic militant wanted for kidnapping Americans. Lt. Gen. Nelson Allaga, head of the Western Mindanao Command, turned over 500,000 pesos ($11,900) to the unidentified informant at a ceremony in southern Zamboanga city. Allaga says the tipster provided information that led to the capture last year of Omar Jakarain Ibno — alias Abu Mogera — an alleged bomb expert trained by militants from Southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiyah. Police said his arrest with two other militants disrupted plots to bomb tourist and shopping centers in the volatile southern Philippines. Ibno was also wanted for the 2001 kidnapping of tourists, a yearlong abduction saga that left several hostages dead, including two Americans.
Two arrested for alleged investment scam in Vietnam
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnamese police have arrested two people for their alleged involvement in a scam that swindled local investors out of some $1.5 million, state media reported. The man and woman, both from Ho Chi Minh City, were taken into police custody and accused of fronting a firm that claimed to represent a Canadian company offering investors annual interest rates of 20 percent, the Thanh Nien Daily newspaper reported. They have yet to be charged with any crime. The pair claimed their company was actually run by a Chinese national from Hong Kong who had fled with the money, the newspaper said. Police officials were not immediately available for comment. Police were investigating several other firms with similar practices, the newspaper said.
Detained immigrants set fire to detention center
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Around 60 illegal immigrants rioted and set fire to a building at a detention center in Malaysia after some of them were rejected for political asylum by the U.N., police said. The immigrants, most from Myanmar, torched the administration building of the detention center in central Negeri Sembilan state before authorities quelled the riot, state police chief Osman Salleh said. No injuries were reported, but the blaze damaged part of the building, he said. Fourteen people — six from Myanmar, six from Indonesia, one from Vietnam, and another from Cambodia — were under investigation for rioting, Osman said. Osman said the detainees used smuggled lighters and old clothes to start the fire. He said the riot started when the immigrants — some of them refugees — became upset when they were not selected by the United Nations for entry to a third country. The U.N. could not immediately confirm whether any of them were rejected for refugee status.
Handcuffed drug suspect kills Cambodian police officer
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A handcuffed suspected drug dealer fatally shot a policeman and wounded four other officers with a concealed handgun during a raid, police said. Phnom Penh police Chief Touch Naroth blamed the officers for failing to properly search the suspect when they stormed his room in the Cambodian capital. After handcuffing the suspect, the raiding officers pushed the man to the floor without patting down his body for hidden weapons, he said. While police carried out a search of the room, the suspect picked up a small gun that had fallen from the waistband of his pants and started shooting, killing a 31-year-old officer instantly. Four others were hurt.