Indian mum kills daughter for wanting school

Indian mum kills daughter for wanting school
Taiwan returns two 1990s hijackers to China | Thai Supreme Court approves
Thaksin arrest warrant | Nokia warns on battery overheating risks | Toddler
stabbed to death in flat | Breast implants prize sparks ire in Australia
NEW DELHI (Aug 14, 2007): A 12-year-old Indian girl was beaten and then hanged
by her mother for demanding she be sent to school, the Hindustan Times newspaper
reported today.
The girl was beaten unconscious with a rolling pin by her mother in a village in
Jodhpur district in the western desert state of Rajasthan this month.

"The mother thought she had killed the girl and, in panic, decided to make it
appear like a suicide," a police officer was quoted as saying.

"She allegedly tied a rope around the girl's neck and hung her from the
ceiling."

The woman has been arrested.

The girl's father, a labourer, said he and his wife could not afford a bicycle
to send their daughter to school a few miles away.

Parents across large parts of rural India often prefer boys over girls because
sons are seen as future breadwinners and are expected to look after them in
their old age.

Girls, on the other hand, are seen as a liability for whom parents will have to
pay a huge dowry to get married.

The report from Rajasthan came a day after police in the northern state of Uttar
Pradesh said a man who yearned for a son killed his 11-year-old daughter, cut
her into pieces and threw parts of her body into a fire.

Millions of female foetuses have been illegally aborted in India over the past
two decades, and the country's sex ratio of 933 females to 1,000 males is one of
the world's most skewed. - Reuters

Taiwan returns two 1990s hijackers to China

TAIPEI (Aug 14, 2007): Taiwan sent two convicted aircraft hijackers back to
their homeland China today where they could face new trials and possible
execution.

Taiwan authorities returned hijackers Lin Wenqiang and Yang Mingde to China from
a port near the Chinese coast with help from the local Red Cross Society, the
government's Mainland Affairs Council said in a statement.

Both had just finished jail terms in Taiwan.

Lin and Yang were among 18 people - hoping for political asylum in Taiwan - who
diverted planes from China in a series of hijackings in the mid-1990s. Taiwan
has returned 17 people to date, with one remaining.

China has claimed sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan since the end of the
Chinese civil war in 1949. Beijing has vowed to bring the island back under
mainland rule, by force if necessary.

As Beijing does not recognise Taiwan's court rulings, it may retry the two
returnees for hijacking, a crime that carries the death penalty in China.

China has retried hijackers since the 1980s, said Nicolas Becquelin, a
researcher with Human Rights Watch in Hongkong.

"China takes a pretty dire view of hijacking, and it's definitely a crime for
which the death penalty is one option," Bacquelin said.

In 1994, Lin, then 35, dressed up as a Chinese policeman and used a fruit knife
and a fake bomb to force a China Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 carrying 130
people into Taipei.

Yang, then 31, was convicted of hijacking a Sichuan Airlines Tupolev 154 with a
knife and explosives in 1993.

Both served nine-year jail terms in Taiwan for hijacking and four more years
apiece for injuring Taiwan aviation workers.

Taiwan once welcomed fugitives from the mainland as heroes seeking freedom from
communism. But in the 1990s, Taiwan cracked down on hijackers to stabilise
relations with China. - Reuters

Thai Supreme Court approves Thaksin arrest warrant

BANGKOK (Aug 14, 2007): Thailand's Supreme Court approved today a prosecution
request to issue arrest warrants for exiled Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
and his wife on corruption charges.

The nine-judge panel ruling followed Thaksin's failure to answer the case in
court by today's deadline. - Reuters

Nokia warns on battery overheating risks

HELSINKI (Aug 14, 2007): The world's top cellphone maker Nokia said today 46
million batteries used in its phones could overheat and the company would
replace them at no cost to consumers.

Nokia said the Nokia-branded "BL-5C" batteries were made by Matsushita Electric
Industrial Co. Ltd. between December 2005 and November 2006.

The "BL-5C" is Nokia's most widely used battery and several suppliers have made
more than 300 million of them for Nokia.

Shares in Nokia dipped on the news and were 1.2% lower at 22.35 euros by 0831
GMT.

Nokia said replacing millions of batteries would have some direct costs and
financial impact to it, but Matsushita would pay part of the costs.

"Matsushita will cover certain costs," said Marianne Holmlund, spokeswoman for
Nokia.

Matsushita said there had been a rare problem in the manufacturing process,
noting the cost of it was still uncertain.

"We are still in discussion with Nokia about how to divide the replacement
cost," said Matsushita spokesman Akira Kadota.

"At the moment we cannot calculate what the effect will be on earnings," he
said.

Nokia said 100 overheating cases of batteries in question have been recorded
globally, but no serious injuries were reported.

"(The batteries) could potentially experience overheating initiated by a short
circuit while charging, causing the battery to dislodge," Nokia said in a
statement.

Nokia said it issued a product advisory to consumers based on preliminary
findings of an ongoing investigation and it hopes the warning would not hurt its
brand.

"By reacting swiftly and responsibly, and by being fully transparent, we believe
that consumers will continue to view Nokia as a responsible and trustworthy
brand," Robert Andersson, head of customer and market operations at Nokia told
Reuters.

Toddler stabbed to death in flat

LONDON (Aug 14, 2007): A toddler was found stabbed to death in an east London
flat early today.

The child, believed to be aged two, was found in the property in Barking just
after midnight.

A woman in her 20s was found with stab wounds in the flat and is recovering in
hospital.

"Her condition is believed to be serious, but not life threatening," a
Metropolitan Police spokesman said.

"Officers from the child abuse investigation command are investigating."

There have been no arrests. A post mortem on the child is due to be held. Police
released no more details of the incident. - Reuters

Breast implants prize sparks ire in Australia

CANBERRA (Aug 14, 2007): An Australian men's magazine offering readers a "boob
job" breast enhancement for their girlfriends will be investigated under laws
barring cosmetic surgery prizes, authorities said today.

Zoo Weekly, a magazine which regularly features pictures of skimpily-dressed
women, offered readers A$10,000 (US$8,400) for "a boob job for your girlfriend".

But the competition drew the ire of New South Wales state Gaming and Racing
Minister Graham West, who ordered an investigation into whether the magazine had
broken Lotteries laws forbidding the offer of cosmetic surgery as a prize.

"We have asked the state charities office to investigate if there's a breach," a
spokesman for the minister told Reuters.

Magazine editor Paul Merrill told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper the
competition was legal because it was simply offered cash, rather than a breast
enhancement operation.

"If they choose to spend it on surgery they can. We've checked out all the
legals," he said.

Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons President Howard Webster said any doctor
who provided an operation under the competition faced being struck off the
medical register.

(US$1=A$1.19) - Reuters


Updated: 08:41PM Tue, 14 Aug 2007
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