World Briefs

CHINA A Chinese journalist and policeman have been detained over accusations of bribery and the leaking of documents relating to the case of a disgraced spiritual guide linked to celebrities and a fallen state minister, media reports say. The case involving investigative reporter Liu Wei of the state-run Southern Metropolis Daily newspaper has drawn the concern of foreign journalists’ advocates about the ability of reporters to do probing work in China.

TIBET The Dalai Lama urges strong global action to limit global warming and to protect fragile environments, including the Himalayan glaciers and Tibetan plateau. More on p10

CAMBODIA An unlicensed medical practitioner who infected more than 100 villagers in northwestern Cambodia with HIV by reusing unclean needles went on trial yesterday, facing three charges including murder, his lawyer said. Yem Chhrin faces up to life in prison if found guilty.

CAMBODIA welcomes the return of two stone statues from the Angkor period that were looted during the country’s civil war and taken to Europe, where they spent the past three decades.

AFGHANISTAN About 18 Afghan police officers are missing after the Taliban seized a remote district in the northwestern Faryab province, an official says.

PHILIPPINES A storm finally blows away from the main northern Philippine island after leaving at least 22 dead over the weekend and forcing more than 100,000 villagers into emergency shelters.

PHILIPPINES A mayor who helped the Philippine government combat insurgents is abducted and killed along with his son by suspected communist rebels, police and military officials say.

JAPAN’s government says a former worker at the Fukushima nuclear plant is the first person confirmed to have developed cancer from radiation exposure after meltdowns at three of the plant’s reactors.

BANGLADESH Police investigate an email sent to various media organizations reportedly by a banned Islamist group threatening to topple “towering buildings” and telling the media not to run anything that goes against what it called jihad.

S KOREA-JAPAN South Korean prosecutors ask for an 18-month prison term for a Japanese journalist for allegedly defaming South Korea’s president by reporting rumors that she was absent for seven hours during a ferry disaster last year because she was with a man.

INDIA The top official in the north Indian state of Punjab convenes an emergency meeting to try to defuse days of violent protests set off by the desecration of a Sikh holy book.

INDIA An overcrowded minibus falls from a Himalayan mountain road and plunges into a deep gorge in the disputed region of Kashmir, killing 14 passengers and leaving another 18 injured.