■ AustraliaXenophobe stays in jail
Former right-wing leader Pauline Hanson was ordered yesterday to remain in jail while she appeals a three-year sentence for electoral fraud. Hanson's lawyers asked Queensland state's Court of Appeal for her release after being denied bail by Supreme Court Justice Richard Chesterman earlier this month. After mulling the decision for almost a week, Court of Appeal Justice John Jerrard upheld Chesterman's ruling. Hanson was convicted of campaign fraud.
■ Cambodia
Suspected vandals freed
A Cambodian court Monday freed 56 defendants accused of destroying the Thai Embassy and businesses during a riot, saying they had already spent enough time in jail or on bail. Two others will serve short prison terms. Presiding Judge Tan Sinarong convicted the 56 of theft and attempted theft in the Jan. 29 rampage by mobs who set fire to the embassy and destroyed a number of Thai businesses in the Cambodian capital.
■ China
Farmer sets himself ablaze
A Chinese farmer set himself ablaze in Beijing's Tiananmen Square yesterday, suffering burns to his arms and back before police stopped his apparent self-immolation attempt, state media said. Zhu Zhengliang, 45, was upset by a local government plan to relocate his family, the official Xinhua news agency. He traveled to Beijing with his wife on Sunday from Qingyang county, in the eastern province of Anhui, the agency said. Zhu's wife sat beside him as he ignited petrol that he had poured over himself, but police "stopped Zhu immediately after they caught sight of the farmer's suicidal action." Police in Tiananmen Square are on constant alert for self-immolation attempts.
■ India
Constable kills truck driver
A Delhi police constable who was upset at a truck driver whose vehicle crashed into his motorcycle shot dead the truck driver in an angry rage, a news report said yesterday. Constable Anil Kumar, 25, gunned down driver Raju Bhandari on Sunday after a heated argument. He then rang up the police control room and confessed his crime, the Indian Express newspaper reported. "It looks like a case of road rage. The constable signaled the driver to stop but he didn't. Finally he chased him and there was a heated argument," said the city's deputy commissioner of police Vivek Gogia. The killing led to truck drivers going on the rampage blocking roads and pelting stones. Some transporters alleged that Kumar tried to extort money from Bhandari and when he refused he was shot dead. Police denied this account.
■ Japan
Earthquake expected to hit
A Japanese researcher is causing a stir in Tokyo with a prediction based on his study of radio waves that a major destructive earthquake is highly likely to hit the city this week. Yoshio Kushida, a well-known self-taught astronomer who runs his own observatory just outside Tokyo, published on his Web site his prediction that a quake with a magnitude of 7 or greater on the Richter scale was likely to strike the metropolitan area today or tomorrow. The prediction was soon picked up by a popular weekly magazine and a major daily. It has since been spread by word of mouth, prompting some of the more nervous residents of Japan's quake-prone capital to stock up on bottled water, candles and other disaster preparations.
■ United KingdomMadonna writes kids' book
Madonna yesterday completed her latest career transformation as a million copies of her new morality tale for children are published worldwide. The English Roses has already found its way into publishing history as the widest, simultaneous multi-language release, with a target of more than 100 countries in 30 languages. Madonna hosted an elaborate tea-party launch without a single copy of the book yesterday. Around 100 children turned up, including a batch of celebrity offspring. They were met with more than 1,000 rose garlands, floating clouds, plenty of champagne and stilt-walkers dressed as swans. But there were no hard copies of the product.
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