In Brief

NEW FACES – British surgeons have been given ethical permission to perform the world’s first full-face transplants, a spokesman for the Royal Free Hospital in London said yesterday.

* PUNISH THEM – Human rights groups called on Thailand’s army-appointed government yesterday to prosecute those involved in the deaths of nearly 80 Muslim protestors in military custody in the restive far south two years ago. * CHANGE OD HEART – South Korea said yesterday it had formed a task force to implement UN sanctions aimed at punishing North Korea for its nuclear test, while a top government minister offered to resign to take responsibility for the underground blast.* STRANGE – For the seventh year running, a mysterious black cloud has appeared over Cairo, triggering serious health concerns for the polluted city’s 16 million residents.Emissions of nitrogen dioxide, which caused serious health risks above certain levels, had reached record heights in the city, from the banks of the Nile, past the industrial suburbs of the delta and even in the desert areas.* SENTENCED – A Chinese court yesterday jailed a dissident for three years for inciting subversion with an Internet essay praising pro-rights protests in Hong Kong, a human rights group said.Li Jianping was sentenced in Zibo, in the eastern province of Shandong, the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said in a faxed statement on the latest example of China’s crackdown on Internet dissent.* COMPENSATE VICTIMS – A coalition of Zimbabwean human rights groups says it has in its possession “materials” implicating state security agents in widespread and systematic human rights violations, adding that President Robert Mugabe’s government should pay compensation for past and present rights abuses by its agents.Nampa-AP-AFP-Reuters-ZimOnline* CHANGE OD HEART – South Korea said yesterday it had formed a task force to implement UN sanctions aimed at punishing North Korea for its nuclear test, while a top government minister offered to resign to take responsibility for the underground blast.* STRANGE – For the seventh year running, a mysterious black cloud has appeared over Cairo, triggering serious health concerns for the polluted city’s 16 million residents.Emissions of nitrogen dioxide, which caused serious health risks above certain levels, had reached record heights in the city, from the banks of the Nile, past the industrial suburbs of the delta and even in the desert areas.* SENTENCED – A Chinese court yesterday jailed a dissident for three years for inciting subversion with an Internet essay praising pro-rights protests in Hong Kong, a human rights group said.Li Jianping was sentenced in Zibo, in the eastern province of Shandong, the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said in a faxed statement on the latest example of China’s crackdown on Internet dissent.* COMPENSATE VICTIMS – A coalition of Zimbabwean human rights groups says it has in its possession “materials” implicating state security agents in widespread and systematic human rights violations, adding that President Robert Mugabe’s government should pay compensation for past and present rights abuses by its agents.Nampa-AP-AFP-Reuters-ZimOnline