Plan for prison on island guarded by crocodiles
JAKARTA • Indonesia's anti-drugs agency has proposed building a prison on an island guarded by crocodiles to hold death row drug convicts, an official said yesterday, an idea that would not be out of place in a James Bond film.
The proposal is the pet project of anti-drugs chief Budi Waseso, who plans to visit various parts of the archipelago in his search for fierce reptiles to guard the jail.
"We will place as many crocodiles as we can there. I will search for the most ferocious type of crocodile," he was quoted as saying by local news website Tempo.
He said crocodiles would be better at preventing traffickers from escaping as they cannot be bribed - unlike human guards.
The plan is still in the early stages.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Maggi noodles back on shelves in India
MUMBAI • Nestle's popular Maggi noodles returned to shelves in India yesterday, five months after the government banned them over lead levels, in one of the biggest crises to hit the Swiss giant.
India's food safety watchdog banned the noodles nationwide in June, saying test results showed packets exceeded legal limits of lead, while criticising Nestle for failing to list flavour enhancer monosodium glutamate on labels.
But the Bombay High Court, the highest court in the western city of Mumbai, overturned the ruling two months later.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
N. Korea's state funeral list sparks talk of purge
SEOUL • A state funeral in North Korea has sparked another round of purge rumours after one of Kim Jong Un's most powerful aides was omitted from the official funeral committee list.
Marshal Ri Ul Sol, who died of lung cancer at the weekend, is to be given a state funeral tomorrow, and the list of 170 names published on Sunday - headed by Mr Kim - is an official who's who of the top political and military hierarchy.
A notable absentee, however, is Mr Choe Ryong Hae of the ruling party's Politburo Standing Committee and seen as one of Mr Kim's closest confidants.
Even if unwell, Mr Choe would normally be on such a list.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
