BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — Three men convicted of gambling have been publicly caned under Islamic law in Indonesia’s conservative Aceh province. The chief of the civil service police, Rusli, said the three were each given seven lashes outside a mosque after Friday prayers in Jantho, the capital of Aceh Besar district. Dozens of onlookers watched the beating, the third there this year in the devout Islamic province. The men were questioned by police last month while playing dominos for money at a coffee shop. A fourth man who was also questioned failed to show up for the caning because of illness, said Rusli, who uses a single name. Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation with 240 million people, has a policy of secularism, but allows highly conservative Aceh province to implement a version of Sharia Islamic law. The first two canings this year were in Langsa, the capital of East Aceh district, where five gamblers were flogged in March, followed by 10 men and a woman in April for gambling and immoral behavior.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. says it has filed a motion with a U.S. court to add Apple’s iPhone 5 to their ongoing patent battle. Samsung says it filed the motion with the California court, alleging that Apple’s new phone infringes on eight of its patents. The two companies are locked in a struggle for supremacy in the global smartphone market, leading to legal cases in courts across the globe. Samsung released a statement saying, "We have always preferred to compete in the marketplace with our innovative products, rather than in courtrooms. However, Apple continues to take aggressive legal measures that will limit market competition." It said it had "little choice but to take the steps necessary to protect our innovations and intellectual property rights."

YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Rabies experts from 12 Asian countries recently concluded their annual meeting to exchange views and find practical solutions to the disease, which is still prevalent in the region. During the five-day meeting, experts from Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, and host Indonesia described their countries’ situations and addressed specific problems encountered in their clinical practices. Rita Kusriastuti, a senior official at Indonesia’s Health Ministry, said the discussion highlighted the need for united efforts, especially among paramedics and veterinarians. Rabies kills some 70,000 people annually. In Indonesia, it is endemic in 24 of the country’s 33 provinces, with the highest number of human cases on Bali island and East Nusatenggara. The World Society for the Protection of Animals says rabies cases in Bali have declined since 2010, when it led a project to vaccinate more than 200,000 dogs there in six months.

MANILA, The Philippines (AP) — The Philippine Supreme Court has suspended implementation of the country’s anti-cybercrime law for 120 days while it decides whether certain provisions violate civil liberties. Justice secretary Leila de Lima said the court issued a temporary restraining order stopping the government from enforcing the law signed by President Benigno Aquino III last month. The law, which aims to combat internet crimes such as hacking, identity theft, spamming, cybersex, and online child pornography, went into effect, but according to reports, nobody has been charged with violating it. Journalists and rights groups oppose the law because it also makes online libel a crime, with double the normal penalty, and because it blocks access to websites deemed to violate the law. They fear such provisions will be used by politicians to silence critics, and say the law also violates freedom of expression and due process.