KOLKATA, India
A sordid tale of sex, lies and coercion has unfolded in the recent murder of a realty firm secretary. The victim was blackmailed by a gang of youths after he entered into a homosexual relationship with one of them, a handsome young man called Shibu. When the blackmail plot went awry, 40-year-old Shrachi Group secretary Rakesh Gupta, whose wife was expecting, was killed in a house on the outskirts of Kolkata and his body dumped by the side of a pond. Four people, including Shibu and two women, have been arrested.

TOKYO, Japan
A Labrador retriever who discovered an elderly man floating in a freezing irrigation ditch in the dead of night, is been hailed as a hero after saving a life for the second time. Three-year-old black Lab, Dor, began barking while out for a walk with owner Koichi Wada. The dog led Wada to an irrigation canal where an 86-year-old man was floating “up to his ears” in icy water. Last year, Dor alerted his owner to a middle aged-man about to jump to his death from under a bridge.

BEIJING, China

Wildlife officials have started a massive helicopter search for about 100,000 migratory birds that mysteriously disappeared from the Poyang Lake Nature Reserve after the worst winter in 100 years hit southern China. Luo Shengjin, deputy director of the reserve in the eastern Jiangxi province, said about 200,000 wild swan geese and white cranes had arrived before the snow and freezing temperatures began last month, but officials could spot only 40,000 after the weather began to ease last week.

DHAKA, Bangladesh
A young man was lashed five times with a cane and fined $3 for kissing his sister in-law on Valentine's Day after the husband of the woman complained to local government officials and community police who meted out the punishment at the remote village of Uchna in northern Joypurjat district. Valentine's Day, celebrated on February 14, has grown in popularity among young people in Bangladesh in the past few years prompting crackdowns on unbridled displays of affection.

MANILA, The Philippines

Some 31 Filipinos, mostly children, die everyday from diarrhea due to poor sanitation, according to a recent study by the World Bank and the U.S. Agency for International Development. The report said 27 million Filipinos do not have toilets and are at risk of ingesting human fecal material in contaminated water sources. A single gram of human waste can contain 10 million viruses, a million bacteria and a million parasite cysts, it said, leading to bacterial infections such as dysentery, cholera, hepatitis A and typhoid.

MOUNT KUMGANG, N. Korea
Not war, armed troops nor befuddled border guards could stop South Korean dog sled teams from going to North Korea last weekend and mushing. About 80 dogs from the South made what is almost certainly the largest canine crossing of the heavily armed border for the race at the Mount Kumgang resort. About 35 dog teams pulled sleds on wheels along a coastal road. No N. Koreans competed. “The North Koreans think dogs are for eating, and not for sport,” said Yunis Cho, one of the S. Korean dog sled racers.

NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar

Myanmar’s military government is moving hundreds of zoo animals from Rangoon to Naypyidaw, the country's new capital in the middle of an expanse of tropical scrubland, far away from the main centres of population. Elephants, hippos, tigers, monkeys, bears and rhinos are among the animals being taken nearly 400km to the new zoo from the Rangoon’s 100-year-old zoological gardens. One zookeeper said the elephants howled and refused to eat when their herd was split up.

SUVA, Fiji

A lawyer who was visiting Fiji to assess its legal system has been refused entry by the country's military-led interim government and sent packing. British lawyer Felicia Johnston, from the International Bar Association, was detained shortly after arriving and put on a plane to Australia. Johnston had flown to Fiji from Los Angeles and was said to be the first of the five-strong delegation from the IBA's Human Rights Institute to arrive in the country to review Fiji’s judiciary following the 2006 coup.

TOKYO, Japan
In a bid to deflect international criticism that its refugee policy is too strict and exclusive, Japan has agreed to take in “dozens” of Myanmar refugees now staying in Thailand. If the move goes ahead, it will be the first time Tokyo has accepted refugees who are currently under the protection of a third country. According to UN figures, about 141,000 Myanmar refugees have fled to Thailand for fear of political persecution by the military government in their home country.