Religious authorities in Malaysia yesterday postponed the caning of a Muslim woman convicted of drinking alcohol until after the holy month of Ramadan.

The planned caning of 32-year-old mother of two Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno has drawn criticism from rights groups concerned by the rise of Islamic laws in this traditionally moderate country, even though Ms Kartika had accepted the punishment.

Earlier yesterday it appeared she might have been freed when a court order that would have transferred her to a prison where she was to have been caned was ruled invalid by an Islamic justice official.

Ms Kartika was released from a van that would have transported her to the prison in Pahang state in eastern mainland Malaysia where she committed the offence that she admits and for which she wanted to be punished in public.

"The punishment has not been cancelled, it was postponed because of Ramadan," Pahang state Executive Councillor for Religion, Missionary Work and Unity, Mohamad Sahfri Abdul Aziz, told Reuters.

Ramadan, a time of fasting and contemplation for Muslims, started on Saturday and lasts a month and Mr Sahfri said that the decision was taken after consultations with Malaysia's Attorney-General. (Reuters)

Lockerbie bomber to write book

The Lockerbie bomber is planning to write an auto-biography to "proclaim his innocence" by disclosing new information behind Britain's deadliest terrorist attack, a report said yesterday.

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi was working on the book that would detail his life behind bars and reveal all he knows about the 1988 bombing that killed 270 people, the London Times said.

"He'll be writing a book to proclaim his innocence," said Libya's official envoy to Scotland, Abdurrhman Swessi.

The newspaper said Mr al-Megrahi's lawyers had collected information for an appeal in the Scottish courts before his release on compassionate grounds last week.

The book is expected to be used as Mr Megrahi's platform to argue that he was framed for the crime. (AFP)

Man glued to toilet 'released'

Australian police and civic leaders yesterday appealed for help catching pranksters who glued a man to a public toilet seat, forcing an embarrassing rescue by ambulance officers.

A 58-year-old was taken to hospital with the toilet seat still attached to his behind after he used a booby-trapped convenience in a shopping centre in the northeastern resort city of Cairns on Saturday.

Police investigating the incident made a public appeal for help finding the joker, while furious city officials described the stunt as a "sick joke".

Police said hospital staff removed the toilet seat from the humiliated victim's behind using industrial strength solvents. (AFP)

Bosnian woman kills husband, son

A Bosnian woman was arrested for murdering her five-year-old son by making him drink acid and stabbing her husband to death, a newspaper reported yesterday.

Eldina Dizdarevic, 37, confessed she forced her son to drink the acid at their home in a northwestern village on August 17, the Oslobodjenje daily said, citing a prosecutor.

She then sat by his bed and watched him die for five hours, according to the Sarajevo daily.

Authorities were alerted and admitted Ms Dizdarevic to a mental institution while a probe into the boy's death was launched.

On Saturday, she escaped from custody and returned to the village near the town of Novi Grad before killing her husband with a knife. (AFP)

Pig's head at Jewish cemetery

German prosecutors said yesterday they have brought charges against a man accused of hanging a blood-drenched pig's head at a Jewish cemetery in November and a banner denying the Holocaust.

The accused is also believed to have poured pig's blood at the entrance of another Jewish graveyard the same night with another man who has also been charged, the state prosecutor's office in the eastern city of Erfurt said.

Both men, aged 32 and 47, stand accused of disturbing the peace of the dead for the incident in Erfurt in which they allegedly poured pig's blood over a memorial plaque at the cemetery's main gate.

The charge carries a penalty of up to three years in prison or a fine.

In addition, the 47-year-old is believed to have hung the pig's head from the Star of David on the entrance gate to the graveyard in Gotha near Erfurt and thrown two glasses filled with pig's blood at the gate. Police also found a cloth banner reading "six million lies" in a reference to the number of Jews killed by the Nazis. (AFP)

Lindsay Lohan's home burgled again

Police were called for the second time in three months to the Hollywood Hills home of actress Lindsay Lohan on Sunday to investigate a burglary there.

No one was home during the break-in, which Ms Lohan discovered after the fact, according to an officer at the Los Angeles Police Department's Hollywood station. He gave no other details except to say that no arrests had been made.

A statement from the performer's publicist, Leslie Sloane, said "many of (Ms Lohan's) personal belongings were taken without remorse" in the break-in, which police said was reported at about 6.30 a.m. local time.

The celebrity news website TMZ.com reported that the actress found things amiss after coming home at about 3 a.m. and called her father, Michael Lohan, who called police.

He told TMZ that a safe was ripped off a wall in the home and that a couple of watches were taken, and that he believes the theft was "an inside job" because employees for his daughter had failed to turn on the house burglar alarm. (Reuters)