No NYT Thai edition after article on king

BANGKOK • The New York Times (NYT) said yesterday that its printer had refused to print the local edition of the international newspaper because it featured a front page article on the health of the ailing king. The condition of 87-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej - the world's longest-serving monarch - is a hugely controversial topic in Thailand.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Hanging of disabled convict delayed

LAHORE • Pakistan has postponed the execution of a paraplegic death row convict following appeals by human rights groups, officials said yesterday .

Abdul Basit, 43, who was convicted of murder in 2009, was due to be hanged yesterday, but a court delayed the execution after Justice Project Pakistan, the human rights law firm handling his case, raised concerns about how the wheelchair-bound man would mount the scaffold.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Bersih 'balloon girl' to be charged

KUALA LUMPUR • Bilqis Hijjas, the dancer who dropped Bersih 4 balloons at an event where Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife were attending last month, will be charged tomorrow in court for "insulting behaviour", reported The Malaysian Insider.

She will be charged under the Minor Offences Act 1955, according to legal rights advocacy group Lawyers for Liberty.