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Asia Beat: 26th Feb 2009
HANOI, Vietnam
Police will prosecute the poachers who killed two rare langurs in central Vietnam last month. The species is included on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and hunting it is forbidden in Vietnam. High prices for rare animal meat at restaurants contributed to the problem of poaching. There are several communities of black-shanked Douc langurs in Vietnam, but each is estimated to have just 50 to 60 animals.
HONG KONG
A police report into an alleged assault by the wife of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on a Hong Kong photographer has been sent to the Department of Justice to decide whether she should be prosecuted. Richard Jones, chief photographer with Hong Kong’s Sinopix photo agency, claims he was repeatedly punched by the 43-year-old woman after he took pictures of her shopping during a visit to the city where her daughter Bona is a university student.
SEOUL, South Korea
A South Korean man who admitted killing eight women since 2006 may have murdered others including his wife and mother-in-law, officials said. Prosecutors said that Kang Ho-Sun, 38, was now accused of killing his spouse and her mother in a 2005 arson of their home. Kang met his victims in karaoke bars or picked them up from isolated bus stops. The case has sparked calls for the imposition of the death penalty, which remains on the statute books in South Korea despite a moratorium on its use since 1997.
BEIJING, China
Soccer star David Beckham is being illicitly used to promote a sex drug in an advertisement being shown on TV stations in China. Footage of Beckham in action and with his wife Victoria is used in the ad for Viagra-style pills called USA Selikon. Chinese voices are dubbed onto the film to show the AC Milan star apparently endorsing the product.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia
A Malaysian policewoman who kept hearing the sound of a crying baby made a shocking discovery when she found a five-day old baby stuffed in her Indonesian maid’s cupboard drawer. The 22-year old Indonesian maid known only as Yanti, admitted to giving birth to the baby girl on Thursday in her toilet. “I was afraid (sister) will scold me because I got pregnant. That’s why I gave birth in the toilet and hid the baby in a cupboard drawer,” Yanti was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times daily.
KOLKATA, India
About 5,000 Indian snake charmers took to the streets last week denouncing wildlife protection laws that proscribe the commercial use of wild animals, including performances with live snakes. Since the laws were implemented in the late 1990s, the estimated 800,000 snake charmers in India say they have effectively been deprived of their livelihood. The entertainers generally rip out the snakes’ fangs and feed them milk, meaning the animals are unable to catch prey and die when returned to their natural habitat.
JAKARTA, Indonesia
Nine people, including eight nuns, were killed when the car they were travelling in plunged into a ravine in Indonesia’s South Sumatra province. Another nun was critically injured. The nuns were on their way to pay homage to a deceased relative. Local media reported that a slippery road and lack of guard rails were to blame for the tragedy.
PATNA, India
Zooplanktons that play a critical role in the food chain of India’s holiest river Ganga are developing tumours, says biologist M. Omair from the University of Michigan. He says many of the zooplanktons eaten by small fish in the river have tumours. The small fish are in turn eaten by other fish, so the zooplanktons are getting into the entire food chain, including humans who eat fish from the river.
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