British pop singer Gary Glitter will be freed from a Vietnam prison Aug. 19 after serving a three-year term for child molestation. Glitter, whose real name is Paul Francis Gadd, was arrested in Vietnam in 2005 for charges of committing obscene acts with two girls aged 11 and 12. Glitter was sentenced to three years jail in March 2006, but got a three-month reduction in 2007.

 

A growing number of forest fires in Indonesia’s Sumatra island has triggered fears that hazy skies could return to neighbouring Malaysia. Traditional farming methods in Indonesia are blamed for the choking haze.

Authorities say 15 fisherman have died of suspected alcohol poisoning in Indonesia’s eastern Papua province. A hospital official said that the dead men were among more than 90 people sickened after drinking alcohol in the port town of Merauke. He said all but one of the dead men were from Thailand.

More than half of Singapore’s workers regret what they chose to study during their stints at schools, polytechnics or universities, a survey said. One in three respondents also turned out to be uncertain about their ultimate career choices. Of those queried, 52 per cent wished they had studied something "totally different." About 10 per cent said they definitely selected the wrong career, while 20 were not sure. The biggest obstacle to switching careers was money, followed by inadequate time to search for a new career and family responsibilities.

Australia has banned imports of an exotic breed of cat, calling it an extreme risk to the country’s native wildlife. So-called ‘Savannah’ cats are a cross between domestic cats and an African wildcat known as the serval. They tend to be spotted with slightly larger ears than other cats and have become popular with some cat-lovers. But environmentalists fear they retain the strong hunting instincts of their African ancestors and could interbreed with millions of feral cats already in Australia, which have wrought havoc on the country’s indigenous wildlife.

 

A South Korean man won his appeal against a one-year jail term for assisting in a suicide by throwing a lighter to his gasoline-soaked rival in love. The Seoul appeal court reversed a lower court ruling, saying that the 30-year-old man had not believed the ex-lover of his girlfriend would actually set light to himself. Last September, the former boyfriend had stopped the couple in their car after dousing himself in petrol, threatening to kill himself if she did not get out. The defendant then threw him a lighter, saying: "Go ahead and kill yourself." The man died of his burns.

 

Catholic officials from two cities in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao are calling for protests against a government deal that increases the size of an autonomous region for Muslims. The agreement between Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which has taken more than 10 years to negotiate, gives more land to minority Muslims in the largely Catholic state and also gives them broader political and economic powers.

 

Taiwan doctors have found that many Asian people suffer gum disease due to extra or fused dental roots. Dr. Fu Er, head of the research team, said that many Taiwanese have extra or fused roots for the first molars of their lower jaw, resulting in thinner gums that make their alveolar bones more prone to infection or injury caused by improper brushing. He cited research data from abroad that showed that people from many nations, including Chinese, Japanese, native Americans and Inuits have similar problems.