Foreign Desk

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

SOUTHEAST ASIA


AUSTRALIAN HANGED IN SINGAPORE FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING SINGAPORE – Singapore executed a 25-year-old Australian on Friday for drug trafficking, despite appeals from the Australian government and hours after the condemned man had a visit with his family. Nguyen Tuong Van received a mandatory death sentence after he was caught in 2002 at Singapore’s airport on his way home to Melbourne carrying 14 ounces of heroin.


– Associated Press


SEXUAL ABUSE, BEATINGS, AND ELECTRIC SHOCKS USED IN BURMA


MAE SOT, Thailand – Torture techniques used by Burma’s security services to terrorize the regime’s opponents are revealed in unprecedented detail in a report released yesterday. Based on the testimony of 35 former political prisoners, it describes beatings, electric shocks, burning with lighters, water tortures, and attempts to use dogs to rape male prisoners. The new report on torture was compiled by an exile group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, based in Mae Sot, just over the Thai border.


The document is was published as the U.N. Security Council prepares to debate Burma for the first time at the request of America, which specifically cited the country’s 1,100 political prisoners.


– The Daily Telegraph


SOUTH AMERICA


ALL OF VENEZUELA’S MAJOR OPPOSITION PARTIES JOIN ELECTION BOYCOTT


CARACAS, Venezuela – All of Venezuela’s major opposition parties joined an election boycott yesterday, clearing the way for candidates aligned with President Chavez to expand their dominance of Congress in this weekend’s vote. The Social Christian Party and Justice First pulled out yesterday, joining parties including Democratic Action and Project Venezuela.


– Associated Press


CARIBBEAN


KIDNAPPERS SEIZE BUS CARRYING 14 CHILDREN; U.S. CITIZEN ABDUCTED


PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Armed kidnappers hijacked a school bus carrying 14 children yesterday. Police Commissioner Francois Henry Doussous told the Associated Press that the captors contacted the children’s families and demanded $50,000 for their release. The children are aged 5-17.


Also yesterday, gunmen shot and kidnapped an American missionary, Phillip Snyder, as he was driving on a road north of the capital, Doussous said. Mr. Snyder is the president of Glow Ministries International, based in Zeeland, Mich., according to the group’s Web site.


– Associated Press


NORTH AFRICA


POLICE CLASH WITH VOTERS, BLOCK POLLS IN EGYPT


MANSOURA, Egypt – Violence wracked Egypt’s parliamentary elections yesterday, as police opened fire on crowds and used nightsticks and tear gas to bar voters from entering polling stations in opposition strongholds. At least one person was killed and 60 wounded, a campaign worker for a leftist opposition candidate, Mohammed el-Ashqar, said. The Interior Ministry confirmed the death.


– Associated Press


WESTERN EUROPE


PRIME MINISTER SAYS PARENTS COULD BE FINED IF CHILDREN SKIP SCHOOL


PARIS – France will be able to impose fines on companies that discriminate against minorities and on parents whose children skip school, under a proposed law to improve opportunities in immigrant suburbs hit by recent riots, Prime Minister Villepin said yesterday. Under the measures to be proposed to parliament next year, principals, social workers, and mayors can make parents sign a “parental responsibility contract” promising to ensure that their children regularly attend school. Parents failing to sign will be fined, and those who receive family welfare benefits could have them suspended.


– Associated Press


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