■ MalaysiaChemicals sprayed at crowd
Police sprayed water laced with chemical irritants yesterday to disperse more than 200 demonstrators who were demanding reforms of Malaysia's police force, including an inquiry into deaths of detainees. Seventeen activists were arrested after scuffles with police during the rally outside the federal police headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, said Ezam Mohamad Noor, youth leader of the opposition People's Justice Party. Police fired water cannons at the crowd after the protesters refused to comply with police instructions to disperse. Kuala Lumpur Police Chief Mustafa Abdullah said chemical irritants were used because it was the most effective way to scatter the protesters quickly.
■ Cambodia
Man arrested for pedophilia
Cambodian police have arrested another US man for pedophilia, child protection officials said yesterday. Charles Augustus Landis Jr., 37, was arrested in a police raid on his rented Phnom Penh apartment on Friday, said president of child protection organization Action Pour les Enfants Thierry Darnaudel. Darnaudel said his organization had passed on information about the man's activities which led to the arrest. He added there was a girl inside the apartment when the arrest was made, but he was uncertain of her age.
■ Australia
Youths gatecrash party
Some 200 youths gatecrashed a party overnight in a Perth suburb in Western Australia state, sparking a melee that seriously injured one police officer. The youths threw beer bottles and stones at two dozen officers in riot gear, said Constable Mick Emmanuel. Police said nine people were arrested. "People could have been killed or very seriously injured. Rocks and bottles were thrown with a tremendous amount of force," he told Channel Ten news, adding that one officer was beaten and seriously injured.
■ Singapore
Cut your hair or flunk out
Singapore schools have barred some students from collecting their exam results because their long or dyed hair breaks school rules, a head teacher and a newspaper said yesterday. About a dozen male students -- some of whom may have already finished their careers at school -- were blocked from entering Hong Kah Secondary School on Friday to pick up their O-level grades because they sported long or dyed hair -- and in some cases sideburns and earrings -- all of which were banned under state school rules, principal Mary Bay said. Similar scenes played out at secondary schools across the tightly controlled city-state as school authorities cracked down on 16 and 17-year-old students who had adopted a trendier look since taking their exams in October.
■ China
Transsexual denied limelight
Chinese promoters of the Miss World contest have denied entry into a local contest heat for a transsexual model, despite government officials' registering her as a woman, state media said yesterday. Fashion model Chen Lili underwent sex-change surgery last November and was given a new identity card stating she was a woman on Feb. 11, the official Xinhua news agency quoted local media as saying. Miss World organizers in the city of Chengdu said contestants must be female as their "natural gender," the agency said. Chen also underwent cosmetic surgery to her face and breasts, making her participation "unfair to other contestants," the organizers said.
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