Ex-rocker convicted of obscene acts

A court convicted former British rocker Gary Glitter today of obscene acts with two Vietnamese girls and sentenced him to three years in prison. A melee erupted when Glitter shouted “I’m innocent.”

Reporters and onlookers, allowed into the courthouse in southern Ba Ria-Vung province to hear the verdict following the closed two-day trial, pressed toward Glitter in a scene of pandemonium as police fended them off and escorted him out of the building.

Glitter, 61, whose real name is Paul Francis Gadd, was convicted of committing obscene acts with the girls at his rented seaside villa in southern Vung Tau last year. They were ages 10 and 11 at the time.

He was then sentenced to three years in prison, followed by deportation from Vietnam.

The court verdict cited graphic testimony from the girls that Glitter had fondled and molested them, and took showers with them naked.

Manila, Philippines

Arroyo lifts state of emergency

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo lifted a week-old state of emergency today, after her security advisers assured her that the threat of a coup has eased.

Shortly before Arroyo made the announcement in a nationally televised address, two explosions hit near a police station and a shopping complex in a Manila suburb, but police said no one was hurt.

Arroyo declared the emergency last Friday to quash a coup plot allegedly involving disgruntled soldiers, communist rebels and civilian backers.

Authorities have filed criminal charges against at least 51 opposition members, military personnel and others for trying to overthrow the president. They include five left-wing lawmakers who sought refuge at the House of Representatives and refused to be interviewed by police.

Nairobi

Kenyan media firm raided by police

Heavily armed and masked police commandos smashed printing presses and seized transmission equipment Thursday in raids on Kenya’s second-largest media company, while three reporters were charged with creating public alarm in what officials said was a national security case.

The pre-dawn police action brought condemnation from the international community and concern that Kenya’s administration was becoming increasingly isolated amid multimillion-dollar corruption scandals and political intrigue.

Media in Kenya, which have reported aggressively on corruption scandals swirling around President Mwai Kibaki, were uncowed.

The Standard, which was targeted, managed to publish a special edition about the raids Thursday, and its sister Kenya Television Network was back on the air in the afternoon, taking viewer calls on the issue.

Several thousand Kenyans also marched on the offices of the Standard Group in central Nairobi in a defiant show of support.