Palace reporters scolded for no hats

JAKARTA, Indonesia - President B.J. Habibie says the media can report what they want, but not wear what they want.

In a public outburst after a press conference, a palace official berated journalists.

Their offense was not critical coverage, invasion of privacy, or negative reports.

Instead, according to the Jakarta Post, the journalists had violated the palace dress code by refusing to wear peci, the traditional Muslim black cap that is a trademark of former authoritarian President Suharto and his protege Habibie.

"You are stupid!" a Merdeka Palace official reportedly bellowed at the press corps. "You have been told to wear peci if you are covering the president here, so why don't you wear one?"

Return to brothel sparks scandal

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - Foreign funding to a Cambodian relief organization has been frozen after seven teen-aged prostitutes it was rehabilitating wound up back in Phnom Penh brothels, a newspaper reported.

Police allege that the ethnic Vietnamese girls, all under the age of 18, were sold back to the brothels for $1,000, prompting the Cambodian Center for the Protection of Children's Rights to dismiss one of its case workers, the Cambodia Daily reported.

The dismissed staffer, Kuy Sopannha, was quoted by the newspaper as saying she was blameless of any wrongdoing and that family members requested the release of the girls from the shelter where they were living. She also denied accepting bribes.

The Cambodia Daily said that the Swedish aid agency Forum has frozen $40,000 in funding to the center because of the scandal and questions have been raised over the role played by the city's Department of Social Affairs.

Owner of `UFO' land wins libel suit

HONG KONG - Whether or not space aliens actually visited, a man who tried to cash in by selling a purported UFO landing site in the United States has won a defamation suit - but only token damages -against a newspaper that called the deal a hoax.

Paul Ki Ping-ki was awarded just 1 Hong Kong dollar (12 U.S. cents) in damages after taking the Oriental Daily News to court over its skeptical article about the UFO land deal.

Deputy Judge Anthony To called Wednesday's verdict "a curious result," after the jury deliberated for five hours.

Ki, 46, said extraterrestrial beings had visited the 26,400 square feet (2,376 square mile) property in the Midwestern state of Iowa. Ki was trying to sell the land as a novelty for 100 Hong Kong dollars ($12.80) per square inch.

Ki placed the UFO land ads in a local Chinese-language newspaper, the Apple Daily, on Sept. 7, 1995. Two days later, the Oriental Daily News ran its article questioning the validity of the land sale.