Wife and teenage lover on trial for murder of husband

The wife of a slain disc jockey and her alleged teenage accomplice are expected to go on trial next month for murder. Aniza Essa, 25, and Muhammad Nasir Abdul Aziz, 17, on Thursday were committed to stand trial in the High Court.

Trial dates have been set for April 7 to 18.

The pair are accused of murdering Mr Manap Sarlip, 29, outside the couple’s flat at Block 74 Whampoa Drive on July 1 last year.

They were arrested separately a day after the killing.

Aniza and Muhammad Nasir had apparently met while they were working at a Beach Road pub. The teenager is said to be Aniza’s lover.

While the teen is charged with the murder, Aniza is charged with abetting his commission of the offence. (story)

Australian tourists taken hostage … briefly by Chinese man

Australian tourists briefly held hostage in China by a lone man armed with explosives on Thursday told of their ordeal as Canberra urged holidaymakers to heed travel warnings ahead of the Beijing Olympics.The man attacked a group of 10 Australian travel agents visiting the northwest city of Xi’an, famed as home of the Terracotta Warriors, on Wednesday before he was shot dead by a police sniper.

‘He was pacing up and down the bus, they couldn’t understand what he was saying. Then he turned around, opened up his jacket and he had a bomb strapped to him,’ said Sue Wynne, a friend of hostage Rhiannon Dunkley, after speaking to her.

Nine of the hostages were released by the man, but a 48-year-old woman was held captive for several hours before the gunman was killed.

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said there was nothing to suggest the Australians were deliberately targeted and the motive for the attack remained unclear.

‘We’ve asked for a full briefing to try to understand the motivation,’ Mr Smith told journalists in Melbourne.

The travel agents were on an educational tour to Beijing, Xi’an and Shanghai, organised by a Sydney-based travel wholesale company, when the attack took place. (story)

Ida Nerina speaks out on so-called sex video

It may look like us but it is definitely not us.That is what Ida Nerina and Fauzi Nawawi say.

The duo - both married to others - are reported to be the ’stars’ of a sex video making the rounds on the Internet.

But in an e-mail response to The New Paper, the Malaysian actress, who is in her 40s, said: ‘I am NOT the girl in the distasteful video in question.

‘She may look a little like me but it’s not me.’

The 10-minute clip shows a couple having sex in a room.

Ida is married to music producer Sha’arin Mohammed Razali.

She added that she made a police report and the authorities are investigating.

Singaporean audiences may remember Ida in her role as the mother in Yasmin Ahmad’s films, Sepet and Gubra.

The films were screened in Singapore in 2005 and 2006 respectively. (story)