Briefs, February 12, 2013
A British grandmother sentenced to death by firing squad for trafficking drugs into Indonesia lodged an appeal to the High Court.
DENPASAR, Indonesia - A British grandmother sentenced to death by firing squad for trafficking drugs into Indonesia lodged an appeal to the High Court yesterday. Lindsay Sandiford, 56, was sentenced to death on January 22 for smuggling nearly 5kg of cocaine worth US$2.4 million into Bali. Sandiford's lawyer Fadillah Agus said the death sentence "was not fair" and "not proportional". AFP
TOKYO - Japanese police detained a US airman in Okinawa accused of causing a car accident while driving drunk. Eric Simmons, 41, is stationed at the US Air Force's Kadena base. No one was injured. AFP
KARACHI, Pakistan - Pakistani police have moved to drop murder charges against the owners of a garment factory where 289 workers were killed in a fire last year. The owners of the Ali Enterprises factory in Karachi were charged in the wake of September's blaze, one of the worst industrial accidents in Pakistan's history. But police have now filed a new investigation report charging Shahid Bhaila and Arshad Bhaila with negligence but not murder. AFP
PHNOM PENH - Cambodian police have launched a murder investigation after the naked body of a 25-year-old female French tourist was found floating in a river in the southern province of Kampot. She was last seen alive leaving her guest house by bicycle a day earlier. AFP
SRINAGAR, India - Sporadic violence in the wake of the execution of a Kashmiri man convicted of a deadly 2001 attack on India's Parliament left two people dead in Indian-controlled Kashmir despite a curfew that was extended into a third day yesterday. Mohammed Afzal Guru was hanged in New Delhi. Hundreds of angry residents clashed with troops at dozens of places in the region on Sunday. AP
PESHAWAR, Pakistan - The Pakistani Taliban have warned shopkeepers in a popular market to stop selling "obscene films" and Viagra-style male potency pills. Shopkeepers found handwritten pamphlets containing the warnings in the Karkhano market in Peshawar. Dozens of shops in Karkhano openly sell pornographic films and male potency tablets. AFP
DHAKA - A bus carrying pilgrims to Bangladesh's beach resort town of Cox's Bazaar plunged into a dry river bed, killing at least 17 people and injuring another 26. The pilgrims were returning from a festival at Fatikchhari, home to one of the most visited Sufi Muslim shrines in Bangladesh. AFP
