PORT-AU-PRINCE - PICKING his way through the patchwork of moaning bodies lying on makeshift pavement beds the young man touches my arm. 'Please Miss, do you speak French? My father has just died, what should I do? Can you help?'
A volunteer medic checks the pulse of the old man, who has lain here on a wooden door for two days, his broken foot wrapped in a blanket, and confirms he died a few moments ago, another victim of Tuesday's devastating earthquake.
HONG KONG - CHINA on Friday denounced a move by Hong Kong's opposition legislators to pressure Beijing for full democracy by resigning their seats, calling it a challenge to its authority over the former British colony.
While Hong Kong enjoys Western-style civil liberties such as freedom of speech as part of its semiautonomous status under Chinese rule, its leader is chosen by a committee stacked with Beijing's allies. Its 60-member legislature is half elected, half chosen by interest groups.
KUALA LUMPUR - THE United States embassy in Malaysia issued a warning on Friday that criminal and terrorist groups are planning attacks against foreigners in Sabah state on Borneo island.
The embassy said there was 'present concern' over resorts in isolated areas in eastern Sabah including the diving island of Sipadan where foreign hostages were snatched in 2000.
FROM Feb 1, the Health Ministry will extend Medifund to needy Singaporeans who require human immunovirus (HIV) treatment, with $8.5 million pumped in for this.
The decision was made after repeated calls from welfare groups and doctors to help those who cannot afford the expensive anti-retroviral drugs against the virus that causes Aids.
