Tremor felt in South Jakarta

INDONESIA: A tremor jolted Bintaro, South Jakarta, and Depok to the south of the capital on Saturday at 7:16 p.m.

There were no reports of damage or fatalities but the tremor panicked residents, who ran out of their homes, detikcom news portal reported.

"Many things inside my house suddenly shook," said Triadji, a Depok resident.

Sari, a Bintaro resident, said the tremor lasted only four seconds, but she was unsure of whether it was an earthquake.

The Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) could not be reached for confirmation. -- JP

;JP;IWA; ANPAa..r.. Death-people-torture Student dies due to torture by seniors JP/2/HIGH

Family reports student's death to police

INDONESIA: A student of state Sunan Gunung Djati Islamic Institute in West Java died during extracurricular activities late Friday.

Imam Nawawi, 23, a fifth semester student, reportedly died while attending a course called Basic Training Education for Nature Lovers.

Fellow students initially took his remains to Ujungberung Hospital, which rejected them. The students then took his body to Hassan Sadikin Hospital. Both hospitals are in Bandung, West Java.

Imam's brother Abdullah Basit, who was told that his brother's death was accidental, reported the case to the Bandung Police.

No police officer was available to comment on Imam's death.

Torture among young students by older students has claimed a number of lives in the past.In September 2003, Wahyu Hidayat, 21, a student of the Institute of Public Administration (STPDN) in West Java died after older seniors beat him. -- JP

;AP; ANPAn ..r.. Japan-Mad Cow URGENT JP/2/HIGH

Suspected mad cow case found in Japan

JAPAN: Japanese authorities have found a cow suspected of being infected with mad cow disease, media reports said Saturday -- the first case in more than three months.

If confirmed, the animal would be Japan's 10th cow to be infected with the fatal brain-wasting disease.

Kyodo News agency said preliminary tests on the cow, found in Kanagawa prefecture, just west of Tokyo, turned up positive for the fatal bovine illness, known formally as bovine spongiform encephalopathy.--AP

;AP; ANPA ..r.. Asia-Bird Flu WHO says bird flu in house cats unlikely to increase risk of human JP/2/HIGH

WHO downplays bird flu in cats

THAILAND: The appearance of bird flu in domestic cats in Thailand is not likely to increase the current risk to human health from the virus that has swept through Asia, killing millions of birds and at least 22 people, the World Health Organization said.

Bird flu killed three house cats near Bangkok, Thai officials reported on Friday. Health experts are concerned that if bird flu sickens other animals, it could mutate into a strain more easily passed on to humans.

In a report posted on its website, WHO tried to quell concerns that infections in cats by the H5N1 bird flu virus would increase the risk to people. --AP

;AP; ANPA ..u.. Red Cross-Saddam Red Cross visits Saddam Hussein JP/2/HIGH

Red Cross visits Saddam

SWITZERLAND: Members of the international Red Cross visited former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in U.S. custody in Iraq for the first time since his capture last December, a spokeswoman said Saturday.

Two delegates, one of whom was a doctor, saw Saddam at an undisclosed location in Iraq earlier Saturday, said Nada Doumani, spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross.

"We want to see whether he is getting enough food and water and also to check his health condition and to give him the possibility to write a message to his family, which he did." --AP

;AP; ANPA ..r.. Britain-MMR Medical journal says it was wrong to publish controversial vaccine JP/2/HIGH

Journal regrets autism report

BRITAIN: A leading medical journal said Saturday it should not have published a controversial 1998 study that claimed a link between childhood vaccinations and autism.

The editor of the Lancet, Richard Horton, said that British scientists who researched the paper on the triple measles-mumps- rubella (MMR) vaccine, led by Andrew Wakefield, had failed to declare a "fatal conflict of interest."

Wakefield's study has since been discredited on scientific grounds but some parents have clung to the findings and health officials say that vaccinations have fallen dangerously low since its publication. --AP

;DPA; ANPAi..r.. Singapore-Terrorism Singapore center focuses on terrorist's mind JP/2/HIGH

S'pore center taps terrorist mind

SINGAPORE: A new center manned by 16 international researchers has opened in Singapore with the aim of probing the terrorist's mind, it was reported on Saturday.

Data collected from interviews with former terrorists, first- hand reports on trips to conflict zones and material from the Internet, newspapers and terrorist literature will be analyzed, The Straits Times said.

"We need to address the ideological persuasion of the extremists and neutralize any appeal it may have to the impressionable and the naive", said Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng in opening the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research. --DPA

;REUTERS; ANPAi..u.. RIGHTS-GAYS-SCHWARZENEGGER Calif. governor tries to stop gay marriages-report JP/2/HIGH

Arnie 'tries to stop' gay marriages

UNITED STATES: Hours after a second Superior Court judge refused to stop same-sex weddings in San Francisco, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger told the state's attorney general on Friday to take "immediate steps" to stop the gay marriages, the Los Angeles Times reported.

According to the newspaper's website, Schwarzenegger sent a letter to Attorney General Bill Lockyer saying, because the city's actions "are directly contrary to state law and present an imminent risk to civil order, I hereby direct you to take immediate steps to obtain a definite judicial resolution of this controversy."

In a speech to California's state Republican Party convention, Schwarzenegger said he asked the attorney general to move as quickly as possible on the issue of gay marriages. -- AP