At a glance

JAKARTA: Indonesia's largest Muslim group has threatened to take the law into its own hands unless the military speedily ends a mysteriou...

JAKARTA: Indonesia8217;s largest Muslim group has threatened to take the law into its own hands unless the military speedily ends a mysterious wave of 8220;Ninja8221; killings in East Java, a report said Wednesday. 8220;We want that all matters be settled, rapidly and firmly, through the law. We know that a legal process needs time but it does not mean that we have to go on and tolerate it,8221; Nahdlatul Ulama secretary general Ahmad Bagja was quoted by the Kompas daily as saying. An NU fact-finding team has said that at least 178 people have been killed in East Java in recent months, including 96 NU members.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong8217;s last colonial governor Chris Patten returned to the territory Wednesday on his first visit since the 1997 handover to Chinese sovereignty. Patten is on a tour to promote his book East and West,8217; which is highly critical of the Chinese leadership.

During his four-day stay the former governor is scheduled to hold a private meeting on Friday with Hong Kong8217;s Beijing-picked leader,Chief Executive Tung Chee-Hwa.

AMMAN: Jordan has become more outspoken in its criticism of Syria, accusing it of harassing Jordanians and escalating the tension that has marked relations between the two since Amman signed a peace treaty with Israel four years ago. 8220;Jordan considers it unacceptable for our citizens to be detained or interrogated on arrival in Syria, or that they are asked to contact Syrian security,8221; Foreign Minister Abdel Ilah al-Khatib said Tuesday, following the brief detention of two Jo rdanian engineers in Syria at the weekend.

SAO PAULO: Animal protection activists in the the southern Brazilian metropolis of Sao Paulo are outraged that health officials are killing about a hundred street dogs per day as part of an effort to rid the finance and industry metropolis of more than a million stray dogs. The campaign to control numbers of dogs and cats in the city began in April of 1997, and was endorsed by veterinarians and animal protection activists at the time. Accordingto a new law associated with the campaign, poorer families will be able to have their animals spayed or neutered for reduced prices, with cooperating veterinarians to be reimbursed by the state.