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World News Quick Take

■ Indonesia
Nias island hit by quake
A moderate earthquake of 5.7 magnitude rattled the Nias island area yesterday, the US Geological Survey (USGS) reported. The epicenter was 170km west of Sibolga, Sumatra and 270km southwest of Medan, Sumatra, at a depth of 30km. The earthquake hit at 0128 GMT, the USGS said.

■ Afghanistan
US denies killing family
The US-led military coalition yesterday dismissed as untrue allegations by an Afghan member of parliament that it had killed and wounded his family members in an attack earlier this month. Legislator Abdul Khaliq told the media early this month that US-led troops mistakenly opened fire on a car carrying his family members in southern Uruzgan Province. Khaliq said his brother-in-law was killed while his wife, a daughter, a son and a nephew were wounded. An "investigation found no evidence of coalition involvement in the reported attack on a parliament member's family July 5," the military said in statement.

■ India
Polio campaign begins
The government launched an immunization drive yesterday targeting 45 million children after recording 136 cases of polio since January, an official said. "We have noticed 136 cases of polio in India so far," said Sobhan Sarkar, the national technical adviser on polio to the health ministry. "Of these 121 have been recorded from one state, Uttar Pradesh," Sarkar said. The other cases were in the eastern state of Bihar, neighboring Jharkhand and the central state of Madhya Pradesh, he said.

■ Malaysia
Weird names to be vetoed
Parents will no longer be allowed to give their children names deemed unsuitable by authorities, a report said yesterday. According to the New Straits Times, the National Registration Department will not allow names with undesirable meanings in the languages used by the country's three main ethnic groups. Malaysia's population of 26 million is dominated by some 60 percent Malays, 26 percent Chinese and eight percent Indians. Among the Malays, names such as Zani -- which means male adulterer, and Woti -- sexual intercourse, were banned, the report said.

■ Indonesia
Gossip shows may be `sin'
The nation's largest Islamic movement, the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), is considering issuing an edict that would ban Muslims from producing or watching popular television gossip shows, an NU official said yesterday. "It is still being debated and any final decision will have to be taken in a plenary later today [yesterday]," said Ali Machsan Musa, head of NU's East Java chapter. Musa the edict, if agreed by a congress of the organization in Surabaya, capital of East Java, would declare it a sin for Muslims to produce or watch the gossip shows, known as infotainment news. More than 40 gossip shows are broadcast weekly by the 11 television channels, the Jakarta Post daily said.

■ China
Bunker can shelter 200,000
An underground bunker has been built in Shanghai that can accommodate 200,000 people, state media said yesterday. The bunker was built to shelter people in the event of explosions, emissions of poisonous gas or nuclear radiation, the Xinhua news agency said. It covered a total area of more than 90,000m2, with 15 passages nearly 4,000m in length linked to office towers and residential apartments, it said. The bunker was connected to the city's subway system, allowing people to flee from one district to another, Xinhua said. Xinhua cited an official with the Civil Defense Office as saying that water, power and ventilation systems in the bunker could provide shelter for up to 15 days.

■ Seychelles
Presidential election held
Voters on the three largest Seychelles islands cast ballots yesterday in a closely fought presidential election that may bring an end to a nearly 30-year political dynasty. After two days of peaceful voting on outlying islands, the vast majority of the 64,026 eligible voters started queuing at polling stations on Mahe, Praslin and La Digue isles before they opened at 7am. Long lines snaked through courtyards at schools and community centers around the capital Victoria, a key battleground for the ruling Seychelles People's Progressive Front and opposition Seychelles National Party.

■ China
Jiang writes memoirs
It's not going to contain juicy details like Bill Clinton's memoirs, but China's former president has penned a book of his own. The book, entitled For a Better World: Jiang Zemin's Overseas Visit, was released at a ceremony at Beijing's Diaoyutai State Guesthouse yesterday, the Xinhua news agency said. At 654 pages, the publication about Jiang Zemin's (江澤民) official travels from 1990 to 2002 does not promise to be a page-turner but it is getting publicity in the state-run press and a lot of fanfare. Chinese leaders, current or retired, seldom write autobiographies.

■ United Kingdom
Offensive brick sold for £225
The charity Oxfam said on Saturday it had sold an ordinary brick used by thieves to break in to one of their shops for £225 (US$420) on an Internet auction site. The offending brick had been used to smash in the front door of Oxfam's bookshop in the well-to-do town of Altrincham in northwest England. The international development, relief and campaigning organization decided to auction the brick off to raise funds to repair the damage -- and 44 bids were made in the battle to own the brick. Despite falling short of the ?600 needed to repair the door, shop manager Jason Baker said the auction had brought a smile back to his staff's faces.

■ Netherlands
Dutch fear terrorist attacks
More than half the Dutch fear their country's military presence in Afghanistan increases the risk of a terrorist attack in the Netherlands, a survey showed on Saturday. The survey by Tangram pollsters, published by the Algemeen Dagblad daily, found that about 57 percent of those polled see a growing risk of a possible attack by Islamist fundamentalists because the Netherlands has sent troops on a mission to Afghanistan. The Netherlands sent some 1,400 troops earlier this year after being pressed by NATO allies to join a deployment in the country's volatile south and allow some US forces to withdraw.

■ Italy
Senate pardons 12,000
The Senate gave the final nod on Saturday to a pardon for 12,000 Italian inmates to alleviate prison crowding, but the controversial measure sparked a row among some of Prime Minister Romano Prodi's allies. In a rare event, most of the center-right opposition voted with the government to back the amnesty after it was extended to those guilty of corruption and white-collar crimes. Prodi enjoys only a two-seat majority in the upper house of parliament, meaning he needed opposition help to push through the measure, which required a two-thirds majority of votes.

■ United States
Six skydivers killed in crash
A small plane carrying skydivers crashed shortly after takeoff near Sullivan, Missouri, killing six people on board and injuring two others, authorities and witnesses said. Early reports on Saturday indicated the plane may have struck a telephone pole before hitting a tree, Franklin County Sheriff Gary Toelke said. It crashed about 3m from a house. Four people were dead at the scene and two more died at St. John's Mercy Hospital in Creve Couer, hospital spokesman David Downs said.

■ United Kingdom
Sperm donors wanted
The nation is suffering a sperm donation crisis due to the abolition of anonymity rights for the donors, the Independent on Sunday newspaper said. The newspaper said fertility clinics were having to close and turn away couples seeking treatment because they did not have enough sperm samples. Clinics quoted by the paper blamed the "acute shortage" on a change in the law last year allowing children to contact their biological fathers and replacing payment for donors with the simple reimbursement of expenses. The weekly claimed there was just one active donor in Scotland while only one man was supplying sperm to the entire county of Oxfordshire in southern England.

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