World briefs

CHINA A defense lawyer says prominent Chinese legal activist Pu Zhiqiang has denied a series of police charges against him that fellow activists say were trumped up to silence a vocal government critic. Mo Shaoping said yesterday that a police document suggested that prosecutors indict Pu on charges of inciting state subversion, fanning ethnic hatred, provoking trouble, and illegally obtaining personal information.

INDONESIA  A clash between security forces and local residents has left at least four people dead in Indonesia’s easternmost province of Papua, police said Tuesday. Ten other people were wounded in the clash, which took place Monday in Enarotali, the capital of Paniai District, said local police chief Maj. Gen. Yotje Mende.

THAILAND The short propaganda film commissioned by Thailand’s military rulers was supposed to promote the “12 core values” every Thai student must now learn. But there was one scene the junta has had trouble explaining: a grinning schoolboy painting an image of Adolf Hitler while his smiling classmate applauds.

INDIA’s government has decided to decriminalize suicide attempts, which earlier were punishable by up to a year in prison. Junior Home Minister Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary told Parliament yesterday that if a person attempts suicide and survives, he or she will no longer be treated as a criminal, with the government removing Section 309 of the Penal Code from the statute book.

S KOREA When South Koreans heard that a Korean Air Lines executive delayed a flight because she was angry at being served macadamia nuts in a bag there was outrage but no surprise. For many it was only the latest example of the high and mighty behavior they’ve come to expect from the families who make up Korea’s dynastic business elite and dominate the economy. More on p13

NORWAY Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan and Kailash Satyarthi of India yesterday received the Nobel Peace Prize for risking their lives to fight for children’s rights. The 17-year-old Malala, the youngest ever Nobel winner, and Satyarthi, age 60, collected the award at a ceremony in the Norwegian capital to a standing ovation.

MALDIVES Water supply in the Maldives’ capital, cut by a fire last week in its only treatment plant, won’t be fully restored until next week, a government official said yesterday.

UKRAINE says it will continue upholding a truce with Russian-backed separatists following a day which saw a significant reduction of exchanges of fire between the warring sides. Well, a significant reduction. The improvement follows a proposal last week by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to hold a “day of silence” as a bid to revive a largely ignored cease-fire deal reached in September.

USA An inmate was put to death early yesterday for fatally beating a 63-year-old woman with a hammer in 1998, the Missouri state’s record 10th lethal injection of 2014, matching Texas for the most executions in the U.S. this year.