■ Hong Kong
Lawmaker's office attacked
Pro-democracy lawmaker Emily Lau (劉慧卿), one of the Hong Kong government's most vocal critics, has complained to police after her office door was smeared with faeces in the latest of a string of attacks against her. "I am flabbergasted and very angry. I want to know if there is still a rule of law in Hong Kong if a legislative councillor's office can be attacked like that," the lawmaker said yesterday. A police spokeswoman said the culprit had yet to be found. Lau came under heavy criticism from China's official newspaper, the China Daily, and pro-Beijing figures after she addressed a Taipei seminar last month, hosted by a pro-Taiwan independence think-tank. "My office has been attacked several times in the last few months, and the police could not solve anything, and they said it was nothing orchestrated. But this is going too far," she said.
■ Australia
Foxes get contraception
Foxes feasting on penguins on an island in Australia are to be put on the pill to cut their numbers. Biologist Roger Kirkwood said yesterday the estimated 120 foxes on Phillip Island in Victoria looked set to wipe out the fairy penguin colony there. What's planned is a baiting program with the morning-after contraceptive Cabergoline that would abort the litters of female foxes and eventually wipe out the predators. "Foxes only live for five years," Kirkwood said. "If they can't breed for five years that would help to get foxes off the island."
■ Australia
Gay man wins UN ruling
A Sydney man was celebrating yesterday after a UN human rights body ruled the Australian government was wrong to deny him a pension after the death of his long-term homosexual partner. The UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) found Edward Young was entitled to a pension on the death of his partner, a World War II veteran, just like that paid to war widows. Young was refused on the grounds the legislation covering war pensions did not recognize same-sex relationships.
■ Japan
Disabled man climbs Fuji
A paraplegic American college student reached the summit of Japan's highest peak, Mount Fuji, yesterday in what is believed to be the first successful unassisted ascent by a wheelchair user. "It was awesome going up there. It is a great privilege to be there, where most people cannot be," 22-year-old Keegan Reilly said by phone shortly after reaching the 3,776m summit with a group of seven supporters. "A very few people use their legs to go up there. Here I am, just using my arms cranking my way for the first time [on Fuji]," said the computer science student from Oregon State University who lost the use of his legs following a car crash in 1996.
■ China
New fighter jet tested
China has conducted the first test flight of a fighter jet jointly developed with Pakistan with combat capability it says rivals the US F-16, state media said yesterday. China plans to export the Xiao Long, or Valiant Dragon, FC-1 to foreign countries two years from now, the semi-official China News Service said, adding that Pakistan was likely to be the first customer. The FC-1 has a maximum range of 3,000km and a maximum weapons payload of 3,600kg, it said. The relatively light plane underwent two test flights totalling 17 minutes above Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, on Aug. 25, the news agency said.
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