In Brief

* VIRGINITY TESTING – South Africa is set to ban the age-old Zulu custom of virginity testing on young girls even though traditionalists have vowed to disregard the new measure.

The tradition, which involves the inspection of girls’ genitalia, has drawn an outcry from human rights advocates who say it is an invasion of privacy and degrading towards women. * MASS GRAVE UNEARTHED – Moroccan authorities have unearthed a mass grave holding the remains of up to 100 people killed 24 years ago in anti-government riots and re-buried them, angering relatives and rights activists.The excavation of the grave, part of a drive to lift the lid on past rights abuses, and the reburial of the remains in individual graves may have tampered with evidence needed to sue those who carried out the killings, families and activists said * BIRD FLU DEATHS- Indonesia’s ninth human death from bird flu has been confirmed, senior Health Ministry officials said on Tuesday, taking the global death toll from the disease to 71, all in Asia.* BAD BLOOD – A long-standing feud between Japan and China caught the spotlight on Tuesday on the eve of the first East Asian summit, rekindling concerns that the bad blood could thwart progress of the new grouping.* PRISONER THREAT – An inmate calling from inside a jail cell was behind a telephone threat that shut down the US embassy in the Philippines last week, a Filipino police official said Tuesday.The inmate has no known affiliations with any political organisation and it was unclear why the call was made, or how the caller got hold of a mobile telephone inside the suburban Manila prison * COVER-UP – Angry and terrified residents of a southern Chinese village where paramilitary forces last week opened fire on protesters yesterday accused authorities of trying to cover up the number of people killed.With little official information given, residents said they suspected the government had secretly burnt the corpses of some of those killed in the confrontation.The residents, including one man who said his brother was killed in the violence, demanded answers from the government.SOUTH AFRICAN RELEASED – A South African intelligence agent arrested a year ago for running a spy ring involving senior members of President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party was to be released yesterday, reports said.Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils traveled to Harare yesterday to escort Aubrey Welken back home.Welken was nabbed in December last year in Zimbabwe’s northwestern resort town of Victoria Falls after being lured there by Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) agents.- Nampa-AFP-AP- Sapa-Reuters* MASS GRAVE UNEARTHED – Moroccan authorities have unearthed a mass grave holding the remains of up to 100 people killed 24 years ago in anti-government riots and re-buried them, angering relatives and rights activists.The excavation of the grave, part of a drive to lift the lid on past rights abuses, and the reburial of the remains in individual graves may have tampered with evidence needed to sue those who carried out the killings, families and activists said * BIRD FLU DEATHS- Indonesia’s ninth human death from bird flu has been confirmed, senior Health Ministry officials said on Tuesday, taking the global death toll from the disease to 71, all in Asia.* BAD BLOOD – A long-standing feud between Japan and China caught the spotlight on Tuesday on the eve of the first East Asian summit, rekindling concerns that the bad blood could thwart progress of the new grouping. * PRISONER THREAT – An inmate calling from inside a jail cell was behind a telephone threat that shut down the US embassy in the Philippines last week, a Filipino police official said Tuesday.The inmate has no known affiliations with any political organisation and it was unclear why the call was made, or how the caller got hold of a mobile telephone inside the suburban Manila prison * COVER-UP – Angry and terrified residents of a southern Chinese village where paramilitary forces last week opened fire on protesters yesterday accused authorities of trying to cover up the number of people killed.With little official information given, residents said they suspected the government had secretly burnt the corpses of some of those killed in the confrontation.The residents, including one man who said his brother was killed in the violence, demanded answers from the government.SOUTH AFRICAN RELEASED – A South African intelligence agent arrested a year ago for running a spy ring involving senior members of President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party was to be released yesterday, reports said.Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils traveled to Harare yesterday to escort Aubrey Welken back home.Welken was nabbed in December last year in Zimbabwe’s northwestern resort town of Victoria Falls after being lured there by Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) agents.- Nampa-AFP-AP- Sapa-Reuters

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