Indonesia

An Indonesian worker burns coconut shells to make charcoal in a slum area of Jakarta early May 3, 2007.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will issue a report in Bangkok on May 4 showing the fight against climate change won't be a big brake on economic growth and that the world has the tools at hand.

A draft of the report, which draws on research by 2,500 scientists from more than 130 countries, looks at how governments and businesses can cut emissions and says tackling climate change should be viewed as a global economic problem, not just an environmental headache.

Blindfolded detainees

Blindfolded detainees sit on the ground next to a weapons cache after they were arrested during a raid in Yussifiya, 15km (10 miles) south of Baghdad May 2, 2007. A joint U.S.-Iraqi operation arrested 56 suspected insurgents during a raid and assorted weapons, bomb making materials and medicines were confiscated from them in Yussifiya district south of Baghdad, an Iraqi army officer said. (IRAQ)

Couple burned alive for "black magic"

An elderly Indian husband and wife were burnt to death after villagers accused them of practicing black magic, tied them together on a pyre and set them on fire, police said Thursday. "The aged couple died screaming for help," said police superintendent P.V. Sunil Kumar. Sayanna, 70, and his 61-year-old wife, Pochamma, were set ablaze after being doused with kerosene. Belief in black magic is common in some parts of rural India, despite the country's robust economic growth and cutting-edge high-technology industries. Dozens of women are murdered each year after being accused of witchcraft. Last year, a barber in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh killed his four-year-old son by slitting his throat with a razor after the man started seeing visions of the Hindu goddess Kali demanding a sacrifice.

Jail term cut for "neighbor from hell" granny

An 81-year-old British grandmother branded by a judge as "the original neighbor from hell" had her jail term cut Wednesday but lost a bid for freedom because she wouldn't apologize for her actions. Dorothy Evans, a widow from Wales, was jailed two weeks ago for harassment and breaching an Anti-Social Behavior Order after repeatedly shouting at her neighbors and hitting them with her walking stick.

Her lawyer said she was attacked in jail by another inmate Tuesday. She arrived at London's Appeal Court in a wheelchair flanked by three prison officers, with a plaster over one eye. Appeal Court Judge Nicholas Underhill cut Evans's six-month sentence by a third but said she must spend at least another four weeks locked up after refusing to apologize

"Old age is not a license to disregard the law or the requirements of decent behavior toward others," he said. In sentencing the grandmother, Judge Roderick Denyer said he had taken into account her age and would have jailed her for much longer if she had been younger.

Cashiers claim desperate measures

Cashiers at Chile's Santa Isabel supermarket chain say their employer is so stingy with their work breaks that they have had to resort to wearing diapers to make it through shifts without getting fired. The union at Santa Isabel, owned by Cencosud, one of Chile's largest chain retailers, said cashiers are not allowed to leave their work stations during their shifts, which last eight hours or longer. "They are not given permission to go to the bathroom and they can't last for so many hours; that's why some have started using diapers or sanitary pads," Marianela Fernandez, president of the Santa Isabel Supermarket workers union, told Reuters. Cencosud said any such incidents would have.

The complaint has been taken up by Chile's largest labor organization, the Central Workers Union, or CUT, which has requested government action in the case.

Naked man superglued to exercise bike

A gang stripped a South African man before supergluing him to an exercise bicycle while they ransacked his house, according to a report Thursday.

SAPA news agency said the attackers, dressed in suits, hijacked a man in his 50s and forced him at gunpoint to take them to his home in Johannesburg.

"The victim was then forced to strip, after which he was superglued to the seat of an exercise bicycle, his hands were superglued, as were his feet and then his mouth was superglued shut," SAPA quoted Mark Stokoe, a spokesman for emergency services Netcare 911, as saying. The man was rescued about three hours later when his partner arrived home.