World Briefs

Author: Derek Schlickeisen

Catholics v. South Park

Leaders of the Catholic Church in New Zealand are urging a boycott of broadcaster C4 after the station announced it would air a controversial episode of "South Park." The installment, "Bloody Mary," shows a statue to the Virgin Mary covered in blood. "Press freedom is not a license to incite intolerance or promote hatred or derision based on religion," said New Zealand's bishops in a letter to the country's half-million Catholics. A spokesman for C4 said that if Catholics were offended by the episode - which also created controversy when it was aired in the U.S. - they simply should not watch.

-BBC News, London

Mass poultricide

In an effort to stop the spread of a deadly new strain of avian flue, officials in the Indian province of Maharashtra expanded the "dead zone" for all chickens and other birds this week to almost 400 square miles. Although only eight victims have checked into local hospitals with symptoms of bird flu, the Indian government plans to cull over 300,000 animals and shut down local poultry farms for three months. The eight join 162 others in 21 countries who have been infected with the deadly H5N1 strain.

-CNN, New Delhi

Cartoon protests

Following weeks of often-violent demonstrations against Danish caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad, Prime Minister Anders Rasmussen said Tuesday that he believed the worst was over. Media outlets in Denmark first published the cartoons that sparked mass outrage from Muslims in Europe and the Middle East, leading angry mobs to torch Danish embassies in Syria and Lebanon. On Monday, several hundred students assembled in the Afghan capitol of Kabul and chanted threats to join al-Qaeda. Rasmussen said Tuesday that he hoped for "more subdued demonstrations and statements in large parts of the Muslim world."

-Reuters, Copenhagen

Abramoff Int'l

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad revealed Tuesday that Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff received $1.2 million from unidentified sources to set up a meeting between him and President George W. Bush. Mohamad said he sought the meeting after the conservative Heritage Foundation convinced him he might be able to influence U.S. policy regarding the Southeast Asian nation. The Los Angeles Times reported last week that the $1.2 million came directly from the Malaysian government, but Mohamad refuted this claim.

-AP, Kuala Lumpur