A reporter for Singapore’s Straights Times was detained by Chinese officials and recently confessed to spying:

“Ching Cheong confessed: Following instructions from a foreign intelligence agency, he engaged in intelligence gathering activities in China and received a large spying fee,”Â? the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a written statement.

In response to the recent hubub over the conviction of an Aussie beauty therapist the Indonesian government has released a warning against any tourism boycott on Bali:

“With the greatest respect—and the greatest sympathy, also, even for the feelings of Australians to Miss Corby’s case—using this case [to] drive a wedge between the two peoples and two governments is … not advisable,”Â? [Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman] Mr. Natalegawa told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

Iraqi president Jalal Talabani expects Saddam Hussein’s trial to begin within 2 months:

“The Iraqi government is now doing its best to prepare the ground for a court… to decide… Saddam Hussein’s future,” he told CNN. ... Mr Talabani also told CNN it was possible that chemical and biological weapons could still be found in Iraq.

And in other news, Paris Hilton will tie the knot:

Paris has met Paris and is going to tie the knot. And if People magazine is to be believed, they are going to have children. The U.S. celebrity weekly reported that Hilton hotel chain heiress and all-around glamour girl Paris Hilton has accepted a marriage proposal from Greek shipping heir and her boyfriend of the past five months, Paris Latsis.

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