Sex video star held

SHANGHAI: A woman has been detained by Chinese police for spreading pornography on the Internet after posting a homemade sex video, state press reported. The woman, surnamed Huang, was detained by police in Shanghai after a video of her performing sex acts was seen by thousands of viewers, the China Daily reported over the weekend. “It soon became one of the most popular downloads on the mainland, with thousands of people downloading it last month,” the paper cited local police as saying. In an effort to profit from the racy video, the woman offered to provide admirers with exclusive information about herself for 4,400 dollars fee, it said, without elaborating on what the information was. — AFP

Bangladesh polls

DHAKA: More than 200,000 local and foreign observers will monitor landmark elections in Bangladesh next week, making it the most closely watched vote in the country’s history, an official said on Monday. Election commission spokesman SM Asaduzzaman said foreign observers, including those from the European Union, the Commonwealth and the United Nations, made up more than 500 of the total. — AFP

Lanka clashes

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s military says 67 fighters were killed after a fierce clash that took place close to a northern Tamil Tiger rebel stronghold Kilinochchi. — AP